Thought I’d put some thoughts down after rewatching the game. I know some on here would say I’ve been divisive as of late, and to that I’d simply say that anything I write or believe is coming from a place of wanting this to be the best program in the country. I want that, largely in part because the man at the helm showed me that was possible. I’m actually not certain I would’ve felt that way before him, but he showed me it’s possible so why wouldn’t I expect that?
On the whole, the game went largely as I would’ve expected. We’re not as good Georgia at acquiring talent, at developing talent, or at coaching that talent on game day. We also don’t have nearly as good of a QB as them, we don’t typically start the season fast, and we were paying in their backyard. Not really a good combination to expect much of anything other than a loss. Wouldn’t have expected a beat down to this degree, but the defense playing well before eventually breaking late and being a double-digit loss sounds about right.
On the positive side of things, we were extremely physical on both lines of scrimmage! I don’t think the play calling or the QB did the OL many favors, and even with that they played pretty well. Georgia’s front seven can be run at north-south. Why we felt we should try to exploit those LBs on the perimeter is beyond me, but when we hit them north-south, we had success. It’s been a long time since we could be physical like that against a defense like Georgia so that is very encouraging to what Luke is developing.
The DL was very similar. Those cats are mean. Now I know we love overreacting so let’s make sure folks know they shouldn’t start anything close to the Power Rangers comps, but every one of those guys are elite impact players. I’ll also go ahead and take the L on doubting Woods at DE. I still think you shouldn’t dilute what could be an absolute buzzsaw strength to try to square peg a round hole solution, but that kid is truly special. Some of the plays he made on the perimeter at his size were beyond even some of the things CW42 did against Auburn when he played DE. Playing out of position this year likely won’t allow him to have as extreme of an impact as he could, but rest assured he is an All-American. When he gets back to DT next year, he’ll show it (and hell he may even show it this year out of position).
I also think that for what was a frustrating and overall ineffective performance that Cade did show improvement. It’s clear he’s not a natural reader and progressor of a QB, but atleast he improved on the hesitancy and skittishness that used to plague him. He also showed improvement on his deep ball in the beautiful throw to Antonio and on others that I think the WRs could have either kept running for or done a better job fighting for.
Now for the bad (which was most everything)…
Our play calling is extremely underwhelming folks, and it’s mainly because there’s no connectivity between our play calling. We don’t manipulate defenses or attack defenders’ eyes. We don’t run a jet sweep to stretch an OLB and then the next play dummy the jet sweep and curl a TE behind the OLB because he widened to defend the jet sweep. None of our plays are connected in how they exploit defenders’ tendencies.
Each of Riley’s plays are fine from a whiteboard standpoint, some of them I even like (I loved the first play from scrimmage that Cade threw at Mafah’s feet), but we don’t understand how to zero in on a defensive weakness, whether that’s the scheme or a specific personnel, and attack it through looks and sequential play calls that put the defender or the scheme’s structure in compromising positions. We have a Cheesecake Factory offense in that you could have street tacos next to someone eating an Asian tuna dish next to someone eating a pizza next to someone having a steak. An offense should be curated with appetizers and starters that compliment the mains and the desserts.
The loss of BV continues to show. Yes, the defense played really well for the most part, and at a certain point, when you’re playing the entire game uphill given the offense and special teams (woof) incompetence, all it takes is a single play or drive to break the dam, and then they’re snowballing on you. You can clearly tell that these LBs are not being taught by someone of BV’s capabilities to say the least. UGA’s entire second half offense and especially their opening drive felt like Bobo realizing our LB play was substandard and spending the rest of the game attacking it. This is also part of Wes' scheme continuing to be a much more passive, less aggressive scheme. We don't dictate to offenses with our scheme and playcalling nearly as much as we used to.
I also thought it was interesting how they targeted Terrell. I’m confident this isn’t an indication in any way of him setting up for a sophomore slump, but I do think they went about it a smart way. Terrell, like his brother, is so skilled in body coordination and technically sound that anything vertical or along the boundary, he’s gonna feel develop through the receiver and be all over. On in breaking and crossing routes, though, where you run away from him, some of that less than ideal speed can be used against him. Again, that is scouting and coaching and determine how you can attack a really good defender (and he is still a really good defender, just has his weaknesses like everyone).
On the WRs, I don’t even know what to say. Similar to not having a play caller who attacks a defense with complimentary playcalls, when you don’t have weapons on the perimeter that threaten a defense, you really limit your ability to attack it. A healthy Antonio is an absolute playmaker, but Randall and Turner are not elite starters. There’s just no way around it.
Randall is a big physical WR who doesn’t know how to use his body or strength, because he’s not a natural catcher. He doesn’t track and attack the ball the way you have to as a big WR. On the back shoulder throw, he is holding off the defender while continuing to run and fall away from the defender. That is NOT how you complete that play. As a physical WR, when that ball is in the air, you have to put your foot in the ground, stop your momentum, and use your strength to attack the ball THROUGH the defender. You do that and you either make the catch or there’s so much contact it is impossible not to throw the flag. That’s how Nuk did it. That’s how MW did it, but Randall doesn’t have confidence in his hands or ability to track and attack the ball to do that. That play was a referendum on everything he is and isn’t. I don’t even wanna start on Turner. He can apparently run fast in a straight line. Cool, have him join the track team. He has no jitter, no wiggle, and no ability to do anything other than run a go route.
None of this should’ve been a surprise, though, and that’s what’s so concerning. We have seen each of them and their abilities long enough to know that expecting them to be anything other than what they are is just a silly dream, and that’s the problem with Dabo’s approach to roster management in the current era. Is it possible for Cade to continue to improve and become something close to a serviceable starter? Sure! I actually imagine he will. Is it possible for him to be what Cam Ward was for Miami today? Of course not. Is it possible for Adam Randall to not make so many mistakes and be a serviceable starter? Sure. Is it possible for him to be the difference maker Keon Coleman was for FSU last year? Of course not.
We cannot continue to play the sport with less arrows in our quiver than everyone else. For as good as Woods was today, imagine him at DT because we got a Verse in the portal to play DE. Imagine us with a QB who can beat a team in a game like today. All of this is possible, but we refuse to adapt. Our head coach, a man who could rally this fan base like few could for their fan base in the entire country, has publicly scorned the very methods our opponents are using to beat us.
It just comes back to the fact that Dabo’s beliefs about the best ways to build a roster are simply not in alignment with this current era of college football. He has views on what college football is and should be. I respect those views, and I respect the fact that he is uncompromising in his commitment to those views. What I can’t respect is his willingness to continue to collect $10 Mil checks each year, when his price and out-of-date views limit our ability to win championships. If you don’t believe in the current state of college football, you shouldn’t be a part of college football. That would be something to praise. Continuing to make eight figures from a sport you don’t believe in doesn’t make you someone to praise, it makes you a hypocrite.
As I’ve said before, I say all of this impossibly grateful to Dabo for a level of success he delivered that I never thought possible. I would give anything to be wrong about this, but I won’t. Your grandpa who should no longer drive doesn’t suddenly get the keys back, because he has a couple of “good days”. We’ll probably have some of those too as the program still has talent, and the ACC still sucks. Be certain, though, that the days of us ever competing with elite programs is behind us without wholesale changes from a man who’s shown extreme unwillingness to change.
I know folks will say this is excessive, but my (admittedly extreme) urgency this season has all been because of the extreme dread I have about the timing of this regression. This could not happen at a worse time with what is unfolding in conference expansion. I know folks will say it could never happen, but if we continue to regress as a perennial 7-5/8-4 team, I don’t think an SEC/BIG offer is a given. What Dabo turned us into, a program that do lunched above its weight class, could be forgotten at a time when the landscape is permanently shifting. And if that happens, then we become a small school, in a small town, in a small state, in a small TV market, and then how certain are we of our future standing? I know everyone in the program feels certain of our future standing, but I don’t think it’s any sort of a given.
This is such a pivotal moment for this entire university, and it feels like we have someone who has so insulated himself from the changing landscape and from outside influences that we are stuck in the proverbial stone ages of our sport, potentially to the entire athletic department's permanent detriment depending on how conference realignment shakes out. I hope everyone is ready to call into what will surely be a testy call-in show this week. O wait, scratch that, I hope everyone has their text messages ready, because our $10 Mil a year coach is unwilling to face the music and told us we should be grateful for what we have after one fan had the gall to question his underperforming program.
On the whole, the game went largely as I would’ve expected. We’re not as good Georgia at acquiring talent, at developing talent, or at coaching that talent on game day. We also don’t have nearly as good of a QB as them, we don’t typically start the season fast, and we were paying in their backyard. Not really a good combination to expect much of anything other than a loss. Wouldn’t have expected a beat down to this degree, but the defense playing well before eventually breaking late and being a double-digit loss sounds about right.
On the positive side of things, we were extremely physical on both lines of scrimmage! I don’t think the play calling or the QB did the OL many favors, and even with that they played pretty well. Georgia’s front seven can be run at north-south. Why we felt we should try to exploit those LBs on the perimeter is beyond me, but when we hit them north-south, we had success. It’s been a long time since we could be physical like that against a defense like Georgia so that is very encouraging to what Luke is developing.
The DL was very similar. Those cats are mean. Now I know we love overreacting so let’s make sure folks know they shouldn’t start anything close to the Power Rangers comps, but every one of those guys are elite impact players. I’ll also go ahead and take the L on doubting Woods at DE. I still think you shouldn’t dilute what could be an absolute buzzsaw strength to try to square peg a round hole solution, but that kid is truly special. Some of the plays he made on the perimeter at his size were beyond even some of the things CW42 did against Auburn when he played DE. Playing out of position this year likely won’t allow him to have as extreme of an impact as he could, but rest assured he is an All-American. When he gets back to DT next year, he’ll show it (and hell he may even show it this year out of position).
I also think that for what was a frustrating and overall ineffective performance that Cade did show improvement. It’s clear he’s not a natural reader and progressor of a QB, but atleast he improved on the hesitancy and skittishness that used to plague him. He also showed improvement on his deep ball in the beautiful throw to Antonio and on others that I think the WRs could have either kept running for or done a better job fighting for.
Now for the bad (which was most everything)…
Our play calling is extremely underwhelming folks, and it’s mainly because there’s no connectivity between our play calling. We don’t manipulate defenses or attack defenders’ eyes. We don’t run a jet sweep to stretch an OLB and then the next play dummy the jet sweep and curl a TE behind the OLB because he widened to defend the jet sweep. None of our plays are connected in how they exploit defenders’ tendencies.
Each of Riley’s plays are fine from a whiteboard standpoint, some of them I even like (I loved the first play from scrimmage that Cade threw at Mafah’s feet), but we don’t understand how to zero in on a defensive weakness, whether that’s the scheme or a specific personnel, and attack it through looks and sequential play calls that put the defender or the scheme’s structure in compromising positions. We have a Cheesecake Factory offense in that you could have street tacos next to someone eating an Asian tuna dish next to someone eating a pizza next to someone having a steak. An offense should be curated with appetizers and starters that compliment the mains and the desserts.
The loss of BV continues to show. Yes, the defense played really well for the most part, and at a certain point, when you’re playing the entire game uphill given the offense and special teams (woof) incompetence, all it takes is a single play or drive to break the dam, and then they’re snowballing on you. You can clearly tell that these LBs are not being taught by someone of BV’s capabilities to say the least. UGA’s entire second half offense and especially their opening drive felt like Bobo realizing our LB play was substandard and spending the rest of the game attacking it. This is also part of Wes' scheme continuing to be a much more passive, less aggressive scheme. We don't dictate to offenses with our scheme and playcalling nearly as much as we used to.
I also thought it was interesting how they targeted Terrell. I’m confident this isn’t an indication in any way of him setting up for a sophomore slump, but I do think they went about it a smart way. Terrell, like his brother, is so skilled in body coordination and technically sound that anything vertical or along the boundary, he’s gonna feel develop through the receiver and be all over. On in breaking and crossing routes, though, where you run away from him, some of that less than ideal speed can be used against him. Again, that is scouting and coaching and determine how you can attack a really good defender (and he is still a really good defender, just has his weaknesses like everyone).
On the WRs, I don’t even know what to say. Similar to not having a play caller who attacks a defense with complimentary playcalls, when you don’t have weapons on the perimeter that threaten a defense, you really limit your ability to attack it. A healthy Antonio is an absolute playmaker, but Randall and Turner are not elite starters. There’s just no way around it.
Randall is a big physical WR who doesn’t know how to use his body or strength, because he’s not a natural catcher. He doesn’t track and attack the ball the way you have to as a big WR. On the back shoulder throw, he is holding off the defender while continuing to run and fall away from the defender. That is NOT how you complete that play. As a physical WR, when that ball is in the air, you have to put your foot in the ground, stop your momentum, and use your strength to attack the ball THROUGH the defender. You do that and you either make the catch or there’s so much contact it is impossible not to throw the flag. That’s how Nuk did it. That’s how MW did it, but Randall doesn’t have confidence in his hands or ability to track and attack the ball to do that. That play was a referendum on everything he is and isn’t. I don’t even wanna start on Turner. He can apparently run fast in a straight line. Cool, have him join the track team. He has no jitter, no wiggle, and no ability to do anything other than run a go route.
None of this should’ve been a surprise, though, and that’s what’s so concerning. We have seen each of them and their abilities long enough to know that expecting them to be anything other than what they are is just a silly dream, and that’s the problem with Dabo’s approach to roster management in the current era. Is it possible for Cade to continue to improve and become something close to a serviceable starter? Sure! I actually imagine he will. Is it possible for him to be what Cam Ward was for Miami today? Of course not. Is it possible for Adam Randall to not make so many mistakes and be a serviceable starter? Sure. Is it possible for him to be the difference maker Keon Coleman was for FSU last year? Of course not.
We cannot continue to play the sport with less arrows in our quiver than everyone else. For as good as Woods was today, imagine him at DT because we got a Verse in the portal to play DE. Imagine us with a QB who can beat a team in a game like today. All of this is possible, but we refuse to adapt. Our head coach, a man who could rally this fan base like few could for their fan base in the entire country, has publicly scorned the very methods our opponents are using to beat us.
It just comes back to the fact that Dabo’s beliefs about the best ways to build a roster are simply not in alignment with this current era of college football. He has views on what college football is and should be. I respect those views, and I respect the fact that he is uncompromising in his commitment to those views. What I can’t respect is his willingness to continue to collect $10 Mil checks each year, when his price and out-of-date views limit our ability to win championships. If you don’t believe in the current state of college football, you shouldn’t be a part of college football. That would be something to praise. Continuing to make eight figures from a sport you don’t believe in doesn’t make you someone to praise, it makes you a hypocrite.
As I’ve said before, I say all of this impossibly grateful to Dabo for a level of success he delivered that I never thought possible. I would give anything to be wrong about this, but I won’t. Your grandpa who should no longer drive doesn’t suddenly get the keys back, because he has a couple of “good days”. We’ll probably have some of those too as the program still has talent, and the ACC still sucks. Be certain, though, that the days of us ever competing with elite programs is behind us without wholesale changes from a man who’s shown extreme unwillingness to change.
I know folks will say this is excessive, but my (admittedly extreme) urgency this season has all been because of the extreme dread I have about the timing of this regression. This could not happen at a worse time with what is unfolding in conference expansion. I know folks will say it could never happen, but if we continue to regress as a perennial 7-5/8-4 team, I don’t think an SEC/BIG offer is a given. What Dabo turned us into, a program that do lunched above its weight class, could be forgotten at a time when the landscape is permanently shifting. And if that happens, then we become a small school, in a small town, in a small state, in a small TV market, and then how certain are we of our future standing? I know everyone in the program feels certain of our future standing, but I don’t think it’s any sort of a given.
This is such a pivotal moment for this entire university, and it feels like we have someone who has so insulated himself from the changing landscape and from outside influences that we are stuck in the proverbial stone ages of our sport, potentially to the entire athletic department's permanent detriment depending on how conference realignment shakes out. I hope everyone is ready to call into what will surely be a testy call-in show this week. O wait, scratch that, I hope everyone has their text messages ready, because our $10 Mil a year coach is unwilling to face the music and told us we should be grateful for what we have after one fan had the gall to question his underperforming program.
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