UGA Postgame

[RyanS12]

Stop with the "he was in HS" stuff. He's played 12 games. He ran the wrong way several times and his blocking was atrocious. At that position we can't afford to have 1 run of 6 yards then 3 runs of negative plays or no gain. Hit the hole hard and fast and run the track. That's what a bb needs to do. That position is key to the offense. Our offense sucked bc our BB's sucked this year

I get it but no freshman has ever played this position. JD was a sophomore. Had a year of college football under his belt. Same as Allen, Sims, Day and Lasksy. Skove couldn't take the hits. Same as Allen. I think next year Marshall has a big year. Weather it's at b back or a back. The kid has talent. This is that year that all teams go through. Everyone's had them. We were due...

 

[Eli]

Kentucky is 5-7. Georgia Southern is the only FBS team with a winning record that they beat all year.

Idk why I thought Kentucky had a winning record

 

[okiemon]

You do realize we get the best players possible under the strict academic guidelines?

That's a cop-out.

 

[CuseJacket]

Just want to offer one thing that I think is getting lost in here, a point CPJ made postgame.

Our defense has been maybe average at best, including its performance today. Some are talking about holding a team to 6.8 yards per play as good. And that's ignoring the fact that UGA's offense is, well, not good.

I hate doing hypotheticals to try and prove a point but here it goes... Does anyone else think UGA got intentionally more conservative as the game went on, knowing how inept we were on offense? I mean they passed up a 4th and 1 to take a safe FG and a 13-0 lead. Now that can be interpreted by some as a stop. To me it was a sign they knew we couldn't get 2 TDs. If they needed a 1st down, I think odds were in their favor.

Similarly, I don't know how much stock I put in "stopping" their last drive of the game. Frankly it looked more like a knife-to-the-heart type of drive when our defense most needed a stop, and UGA was successful in running out the clock.

Moral of the story - we need to improve everywhere.

 

[JKMSJ]

That's a cop-out.

No it's not it is the truth.

 

[jzgt22]

I definitely agree that they were less aggressive as the game went on. In the first half they went for it on 4th down multiple times, but after seeing they didn't have to score touchdowns they were content to kick field goals and play ball control.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Havent seen any replays...just live at the game. These were my takes.

Offense was bad. Very few big plays. Turnovers continued. Blocking on the line and perimeter still subpar. Grade of D-.

Defense got some much needed stops. Played well enough to get a W if the offense had been even decent. Didn't get much pass rush at all. Really focused on stopping the run (rightly), but missed tackles and gave up too many runs of over 10 yards. Grade of C.

ST. Two kick offs were good. Missed a 55 yd fg...I've seen Butker get a better foot in the ball often but that was a tough try. Punting....had one great play downing a punt inside the 5. Punt coverage seemed decent. Punt returns were non existent but UGA didn't punt well either. Kickoff returns were forgettable. Grade of C.

Maybe slightly better than the rest of our season but pretty much par for the course.

 

[Matt E]

Just want to offer one thing that I think is getting lost in here, a point CPJ made postgame.

Our defense has been maybe average at best, including its performance today. Some are talking about holding a team to 6.8 yards per play as good. And that's ignoring the fact that UGA's offense is, well, not good.

I hate doing hypotheticals to try and prove a point but here it goes... Does anyone else think UGA got intentionally more conservative as the game went on, knowing how inept we were on offense? I mean they passed up a 4th and 1 to take a safe FG and a 13-0 lead. Now that can be interpreted by some as a stop. To me it was a sign they knew we couldn't get 2 TDs. If they needed a 1st down, I think odds were in their favor.

Similarly, I don't know how much stock I put in "stopping" their last drive of the game. Frankly it looked more like a knife-to-the-heart type of drive when our defense most needed a stop, and UGA was successful in running out the clock.

Moral of the story - we need to improve everywhere.

Good point. Everyone is asking for staff changes and shake up on offense, particularly on the line, but it wouldn't shock me to see some turn over on the defensive side of the ball. Check out what Stoops did after a disappointing season and a blow out bowl loss. 8 or 9 staff changes were made and by the looks of it, worked. I don't expect that kind of turnover, but there are times when there is value to having people around you that you trust, and other times when new blood is a positive. I'd like to see new blood on both sides of the ball.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I definitely agree that they were less aggressive as the game went on. In the first half they went for it on 4th down multiple times, but after seeing they didn't have to score touchdowns they were content to kick field goals and play ball control.

I think they have done that in other games too, so it's not a disrespect for our offense. Their offense just isn't that good either.

 

[stingyoa$$]

You clearly don't watch the games. I went back to look at the play by play based on your comment. He had 1 run of no gain, ZERO runs for negative yards, 2 for 2 yards, 1 for 3. The other 5 were for 5 plus.

Again, no negative plays, but I guess your eyes see what they want to see to fit your narrative. If you think our offense stunk because of the bback position, you might need to find another sport to follow. We stunk because our Oline was not very good. Most of which were in HS 4-5 years ago, not 6 months. They've played 30-40 games.

As for the "he was in HS" stuff, I believe you had this to say about freshman playing:


So you clearly see that there are learning curves that apply to freshman, just not to Marshall...

If mills comes in and wins the starting job I'd expect another bad year. In the 12th game I expect better.

This offense got worse as the year went on. I don't care about excuses on why or why not we lost. No explosive plays from the bb position this year against good competition. The bb is the engine that drives this offense. Our BB's were just a little better than terrible. Couldn't block worth a lick and ran the wrong way multiple times. BB's need to stay on track to make this offense successful. Everyone needs to do their job and unfortunately the 2nd most important position in this offense didn't perform. It is what it is but to totally blame the Oline is garbage. We had the same qb and pretty much the same Oline from last year. The difference was the AB's and BB's. Since the BB's get the ball the most in the running game they needed to perform. Ours didn't preform this year... Plain and simple. No excuses just reality.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

Good point. Everyone is asking for staff changes and shake up on offense, particularly on the line, but it wouldn't shock me to see some turn over on the defensive side of the ball. I'd like to see new blood on both sides of the ball.

You and me both with regards to a shake up on the O and D staff.

 

[Lee]

If mills comes in and wins the starting job I'd expect another bad year. In the 12th game I expect better.

This offense got worse as the year went on. I don't care about excuses on why or why not we lost. No explosive plays from the bb position this year against good competition. The bb is the engine that drives this offense. Our BB's were just a little better than terrible. Couldn't block worth a lick and ran the wrong way multiple times. BB's need to stay on track to make this offense successful. Everyone needs to do their job and unfortunately the 2nd most important position in this offense didn't perform. It is what it is but to totally blame the Oline is garbage. We had the same qb and pretty much the same Oline from last year. The difference was the AB's and BB's. Since the BB's get the ball the most in the running game they needed to perform. Ours didn't preform this year... Plain and simple. No excuses just reality.

You live in a false reality then.

First of all, nobody is saying that the Oline is totally to blame for our offensive woes this year. There is plenty of blame to go around, but to act like they aren't a big reason, if not the biggest, is asinine.

As for the lack of production from the bback spot, let's do a side by side comparison shall we?

Player A: 84 carries for 485 yards (5.8 per carry), 3 catches for 54 yards, 8 total TDs.
Player B: 86 carries for 654 yards (7.6 per carry), 3 catches for 42 yards, 4 TDs
Player C: 133 carries for 697 yards (5.2 per carry), 6 catches for 122, and 3 TDs

Who had the better year? Can you tell who is who? What if I told you player A was ZL as a Junior in 2013, player B is MM as a true freshman and player C is ZL as a sophomore. So Mr. "north south" himself had 2 less carries as a junior and finished with ~170 less yards...how is that possible? Same guy needed almost 50 more carries to get ~40 more yards his sophomore year? Can't be, MM dances too much... Even last year he had 90 more carries and only finished with less than 200 more yards with the best offensive line we've had since PJ has been here.

Don't as a jab at Laskey either because I loved the guy and thought he was a great bback. I wish we had him this year instead of wasting him his freshman year. This is to poke a huge hole in your assertion that bback was the issue this year and specifically that MM "dances" too much.

Does he need work in other areas? Yup, sure does. A lot of guys need work. Was he easily the best option and most explosive guy we had this year? Dang right he was. So you can continue to make stuff up to fit your narrative, but numbers don't lie. That's the reality, no excuses needed.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

We did not get the production out of the Bback this year that we need. MM needs to greatly improve on his blocking. That said, kid could have a very special career for us before all is said and done.

 

[Lee]

We did not get the production out of the Bback this year that we need. MM needs to greatly improve on his blocking. That said, kid could have a very special career for us before all is said and done.

I agree, but we also did not get the production out of any position on the offensive side of the ball that we needed. That's why we only won 3 games. We just weren't a good football team. I think part of the lack of production from the back spot was due to the limited touches that MM got. It was obvious that Skov was not the what we'd hope he would be coming in, yet we continued to give him the ball. I appreciate the effort and everything he did for us, but he should not have been getting as many carries as he did. He finished with the most touches out of that spot. The scary thing is that if he hadn't gotten hurt, I think he would have gotten even more and we wouldn't have gotten to see as much of MM and Allen. I think Allen has some good potential there as well, he just can't seem to stay healthy.

Like you said, MM will need to greatly improve his blocking among other things leading up to next season. The fact that he did as well as he did as a true freshman, with the incompetence in O that we had out there this year is still very impressive. He is the first true freshman to come in and play that spot in the PJ era. I think he did more than hold his own along with many of the other true freshman which gives me hope heading into the offseason.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

@Lee
Most of us are very pleased with the ability MM showed as a true frosh. What he can accomplish as he matures? Sky is the limit.

 

[chewybaka]

I agree, but we also did not get the production out of any position on the offensive side of the ball that we needed. That's why we only won 3 games. We just weren't a good football team. I think part of the lack of production from the back spot was due to the limited touches that MM got. It was obvious that Skov was not the what we'd hope he would be coming in, yet we continued to give him the ball. I appreciate the effort and everything he did for us, but he should not have been getting as many carries as he did. He finished with the most touches out of that spot. The scary thing is that if he hadn't gotten hurt, I think he would have gotten even more and we wouldn't have gotten to see as much of MM and Allen. I think Allen has some good potential there as well, he just can't seem to stay healthy.

Like you said, MM will need to greatly improve his blocking among other things leading up to next season. The fact that he did as well as he did as a true freshman, with the incompetence in O that we had out there this year is still very impressive. He is the first true freshman to come in and play that spot in the PJ era. I think he did more than hold his own along with many of the other true freshman which gives me hope heading into the offseason.

Clinton Lynch was solid running and receiving...

 

[tmhunter52]

On a positive note, this season saved me a LOT of money! Thinking that Tech had finally turned the corner after to 2014 campaign, I had contemplated going to Ireland for Tech -BC next September! Nothing like 3-9 to bring one to one's senses.

 

[FightWinDrink]

Kentucky is 5-7. Georgia Southern is the only FBS team with a winning record that they beat all year.

Really makes the loss that much more painful. I feel like almost any other offense unit in the CPJ era could have pulled out a win here or at least put us in a better position to attempt a win than a 25 sec full field drive. We really missed out a chance to string together victories against uga

 

[stingyoa$$]

You live in a false reality then.

First of all, nobody is saying that the Oline is totally to blame for our offensive woes this year. There is plenty of blame to go around, but to act like they aren't a big reason, if not the biggest, is asinine.

As for the lack of production from the bback spot, let's do a side by side comparison shall we?

Player A: 84 carries for 485 yards (5.8 per carry), 3 catches for 54 yards, 8 total TDs.
Player B: 86 carries for 654 yards (7.6 per carry), 3 catches for 42 yards, 4 TDs
Player C: 133 carries for 697 yards (5.2 per carry), 6 catches for 122, and 3 TDs

Who had the better year? Can you tell who is who? What if I told you player A was ZL as a Junior in 2013, player B is MM as a true freshman and player C is ZL as a sophomore. So Mr. "north south" himself had 2 less carries as a junior and finished with ~170 less yards...how is that possible? Same guy needed almost 50 more carries to get ~40 more yards his sophomore year? Can't be, MM dances too much... Even last year he had 90 more carries and only finished with less than 200 more yards with the best offensive line we've had since PJ has been here.

Don't as a jab at Laskey either because I loved the guy and thought he was a great bback. I wish we had him this year instead of wasting him his freshman year. This is to poke a huge hole in your assertion that bback was the issue this year and specifically that MM "dances" too much.

Does he need work in other areas? Yup, sure does. A lot of guys need work. Was he easily the best option and most explosive guy we had this year? Dang right he was. So you can continue to make stuff up to fit your narrative, but numbers don't lie. That's the reality, no excuses needed.

Under this scenario, you are comparing 2 players while I said the "position" has failed miserably this year. In 2012 BB production 1391...2013 (1475) ....2014 (1892) ....2015 (1209). So you can see that the position had the least production over the last 4 years with arguably the best QB and Oline (experience) during that time. Compounding the problems this year were fumbles and lack of blocking from the position. This position is vital to the success of the offense and just failed to perform IMO. We have had the least amount of production from the position the last 4 years this year and consequently we had the worse record. Also, during these years the offense was led by Tevin in 2012, Vad in 2013 and JT in 2014 and 2015. In theory this should have been the year that the offense shined because of JT. He just didn't have the skill guys around him doing enough of the things that are required to win games. We can agree to disagree on this. Bottom line most think (me included) that this is the 2nd most important position in the offense and it didn't perform well this year.

 

[Tech93]

The D played their hearts out today. Only wish the O would have showed...thought we were running the ball pretty good especially on the edges, but felt some of the sporadic pass calls threw the rhythm off.