Thoughts on Mississippi State

DE-FENSE (stomp, stomp) DE-FENSE (stomp, stomp)!

Wow. For all the issues Georgia may have on offense and special teams, the defense has surely made up for them. For three straight weeks, the Georgia defense has been absolutely dominant to the point where the offense knows it doesn't need to continue scoring points to win. At no point in the game after Georgia held state to a field goal to make the score 7-3 did I feel Georgia was in trouble. Todd Grantham's system is finally paying off and it makes me excited to see how the rest of the year goes. Here are my thoughts on the game from Saturday and what's coming next.

- Pressure was coming from the linebackers all day long. Jarvis Jones notched a pair of sacks and has clearly proven why he was a 5 star recruit out of high school. Cornelius Washington had the best game of his career, but of course he had to go out and do something stupid and get suspended. Hopefully this opens the door for the Pastor of Disaster to finally make his impact.

- What a difference having a true nose tackle makes. Having Geathers and Jenkins in the middle makes Abry Jones and Deangelo Tyson awesome. Speaking of Jenkins, he finally made his first big play at Georgia. I loved seeing him sling Perkins around like he was nothing.

- Amarlo Herrera has done an admirable job filling in but I was very glad to see Christian Robinson back in the lineup. He had a nice pass break up on a key third down that most players would not have made.

- The secondary coverage has been great. Now, if we just learn to actually catch those interceptions before we run for the TD, we'd be awesome. I counted three for sure pick sixes we dropped.

- Blair Walsh...ugh. I know a lot of these misses are from almost 50, but that last miss was BAD.

- Aaron Murray was up and down again. He had some nice throws but all three picks were bad. The passing game plan sucked in my opinion.

- Speaking of the play calling, why the hell was Murray throwing with the Dawgs up 21 on a first down inside MSU territory with 8 minutes on the clock. I know it was first and 18, but three more runs would have ran another two minutes off the clock. You pin them back deep and make them go the length of the field three times in 6 minutes instead of risking them getting the free touchdown. The other part of the offensive game plan I did not like is the complete lack of throws downfield. We went deep once (the incompletion to Bennett) and that was it.

- Orson Charles is in full beast mode. No linebacker in the SEC can cover him one on one (well, no linebacker currently on Georgia's schedule anyway).

- Crowell looked great in the first, not so much in the second. But the blocking was also much worse in the second half as MSU definitely made adjustments to clamp down Georgia's running attack outside the tackles. FWIW, I thought Crowell stayed in bounds from what I saw on the replay.

- Malcom Mitchell is only a freshman. I repeat, only a freshman. This kid is good.

Overall, another solid win over an SEC opponent. I said this to some friends the other night, but this season is starting to feel a lot like the 2003 team. A solid defense that keeps the team winning despite inconsistency on offense. Don't forget that Georgia's leading rushed in 2003 was Michael Cooper and David Greene only had 13 touchdowns to go with 11 interceptions. But that team found its way to the SEC Championship game and finished #7 in the country. The Dawgs are set up for similar results. A win over Rocky Top would continue to build this strong momentum as we get closer to the game that will most likely decide the SEC East, the Cocktail Party in Jacksonville.

GO DAWGS!!!

How Important is the Mississippi State Game?

My simple answer is that this is the most important game left on Georgia's schedule. While all of the big rivalry games remain on the schedule, they will have no added story lines unless the Dawgs beat the Dogs on Saturday. Walk with me.

A Georgia win means the Dawgs will be back over .500 in the SEC for the first time since early in the season in 2009. This will be Georgia's last home game for over a month, so now is the last chance to have the home crowd help the Dawgs build the confidence they need to compete in Jacksonville. The next two games are in the state of Tennessee against clubs that Georgia should be favored to beat.

Tennessee is still a very young team that lost its best offensive player (Justin Hunter) to injury. They put up impressive numbers against lesser schools to start the season, but against Florida they looked like the young team that they are. For Georgia, this game will not be easy to win, but coming into Neyland with a winning record should give them the extra boost of confidence needed to pull out the victory.

The next week is Vanderbilt, a team that many people think are much improved. But last Saturday night, Vanderbilt could not take advantage of 4 Stephen Garcia interceptions andcould only score 3 points on a South Carolina team that Georgia put up 42 on. This may not be the 40 something to nothing blowout like it was last year, but the Dawgs should win.

If all this shakes out, Georgia could find itself at 5-2 heading into the off week. With both losses coming against top 15 teams, they most certainly will be back in the national rankings. Florida is always tough and this year will be no exception. But knowing that a win the next week over New Mexico State will secure a bowl birth again should take some of the pressure off the Dawgs.

But none of this happens without a win Saturday. A loss on Saturday means a losing record heading into a month away from home.

Do you honestly think Coach Richt would survive coming home from Jacksonville with a 3-5 record and Auburn and Tech still left on the schedule? I don't think so.

Quick Observations from the LSU-Miss State Game

Because I have been at extended tailgates during the first two weeks of the season, I have not had a chance to sit down and watch much college football this season. But tonight I was able to sit on the couch and watch almost all of the Thursday night match up between LSU and Mississippi State. It was a throwback game to earlier days in the SEC when running the ball and defense ruled. Here are my thoughts about the game and the two teams:

LSU

- LSU's defense is ridiculous. Quick to the ball, solid tackling, and they make big plays. Mississippi State was averaging 300 yards a game rushing during the first two weeks. Tonight they barely had 200 yards of total offense.

- #17 for LSU (can't remember his name) was mentioned in the game as early target for MSU to pick on. The guy finished with two interceptions.

- LSU has enough talent on defense that they will never need to score a ton of points to win. That is good, because Jarrett Lee will not be lighting up the scoreboard. He is the very definition of a game manager.

- LSU has some good young receivers and the duo of Ware and Ford in the backfield are very solid.

Mississippi State

- All the injuries on the Mississippi State line are really killing them. They were getting little to no push against the LSU front.

- Relf makes some pretty good moves for such a big guy, but he doesn't sell play action well at all.

- Ballard is a bowling ball, you've got to keep him off his feet.

- Mississippi State's defense looked out of breath in the second half. If you can sustain long drives like LSU did tonight, you can wear them down and then begin hitting long passes.

- Overall, Mississippi State has not progressed much from last year. Don't get me wrong, they are a solid team who hung with the number 3 team in the country. But, they are still too one dimensional offense which makes them vulnerable late in the game (as evidenced by Relf being pulled in favor of Russell). The defense is solid, but they still rely so heavily on the blitz that a decent quarterback should have little trouble tearing them apart. Fortunately for them, Jarrett Lee is not that type of player. When they play Arkansas, expect big numbers from Wilson and his trio of receivers.

It was a really fun game to watch. I love seeing old school SEC games where you think the final score may be 6-3. I feel like the Dawgs will have a tough challenge when MSU comes to Athens in three weeks, but it won't be much different than waht we saw in Starkville last fall.

The Mississippi State Factor

2004 was Coach Richt's fourth year on the sideline for the Georgia Bulldogs. After already winning an SEC Championship and playing for another, Coach Richt had one item left on his SEC checklist: beat the Florida Gators. An experienced Georgia team led by seniors David Greene and David Pollack had thumped defending national champion LSU a few weeks earlier, and despite a slip up against Tennessee, were expected to compete for the SEC Championship.

Florida, on the other hand, was struggling. Coach Ron Zook was already on the hot seat the week before the Georgia game when he took his Gators to Starkville. Mississippi State was in its first year under Sylvester Croom and not expected to hang with Florida. On that day, the western Bulldogs beat the Gators 38-31, and the term "getting Croomed" was born. The next day, Florida made Ron Zook a lame duck coach by announcing that he would not return for the 2005 season.

With the Gator's struggling, Georgia took advantage and earned their first victory over Florida in the 2000's. David Greene hooked up with Fred Gibson in the fourth quarter to help seal the victory:


Six years later, the Dawgs head to Jacksonville with Gators reeling from a defeat at the hands of the Mississippi State Bulldogs. After the rough start for Georgia, the Dawgs have won three straight SEC games while scoring at least 41 points in all three contests. Florida has lost three games in a row, averaging only 14 points per game.

Will the Mississippi State factor be enough to help Georgia get back above .500? We'll find out Saturday in Jacksonville.

GO DAWGS!!!

Thoughts on the Pathetic Effort against Mississippi State

I have always tried to be an optimist. But there are absolutely no excuses for the play that we saw today. Georgia only had the ball 7 times (well technically 8, but the last drive meant nothing, including the touchdown pass). We were in the red zone 3 times and got only 6 points. We couldn't stop Mississippi State from simply running it straight up the middle with the QUARTERBACK!

And now, I am officially ready to join the fire Mike Bobo bandwagon. Mississippi State sent a blitz nearly every single play, yet Bob continued to call runs straight up the middle. Every pass play seems to have exactly two options: either their is only one person going out or the pass is towards the sideline. We threw no passes (with the exception of the one to Ealey that he fumbled) to the middle of the field. Considering the amount of blitzing they were doing up the gut, there should have been open receivers near the middle.

We are paying Todd Grantham $750,000 to do what? The 3-4 was supposed to be a blitzing offense that created turnovers. All I see is wide open receivers over the middle every time some one runs a pass play.

The effort was piss poor and there seems to be no excitement. The penalties returned and killed us. I am not sure what is going on it that locker room, but someone needs to take some responsibility.

I have not been on the crazy fringe up until now, but I feel myself getting a lot closer to edge right now.

We all better enjoy Colorado, because right now I don't see us playing in a bowl game.

A Must Win in Stark Vegas

Honestly, I hate the term must win. It is overused, especially in the world of college football because there is no playoff system. In other words, every game is a must win if you want to win a championship.

At this point in the 2010 season, we know that the Georgia Bulldogs will not be winning any type of championship this fall. With an 0-2 SEC record, Georgia would need to win all of its remaining conference games and hope that Florida loses at least one other conference game and South Carolina loses three conference games just to get a chance to play for the SEC Championship. It's not going to happen. But, what could happen is Georgia salvaging an ugly start with a series of big victories. This all begins Saturday in Starkville, where the hope of a respectible season for the Dawgs hangs in the balance.

Georgia should win this game, no doubt. The talent level of the Bizarro Bulldogs is nowhere near that found in Athens. State dropped a close game to Auburn two weeks ago but it was more about Auburn's inability to put points on the board as opposed to State playing well. Their quarterback play is unstable and with Anthony Dixon gone to the pros, they lack a true superstar in the backfield.

Bizarro Superman is an official supporter of the Bizarro Bulldogs.

While the losses the last two weeks have been bad, Georgia managed to hang close in both games against two opponents who are now ranked in the top 15 in the country. If the team can carry any momentum from the fourth quarter against Arkansas, this game could be over quickly.

Bring on the Cowbells! The resurrection of our season begins on Saturday.

Miss. State: A History

Although both are charter members of the conference, Georgia has only met the Western Bulldogs 21 times. The Good Dawgs hold a 16-5 advantage and have won 9 consecutive meetings, dating back to 1974 and a 38-14 MSU win in Jackson.

Georgia won the most recent meeting 27-24 in Athens in 2006, a game remembered for Mo Massaquoi hearing the boo birds after struggling with the droppsies midway through his sophomore season.

When they last met in Starkvegas in 2005, DJ Shockley led the way to a 23-10 victory, sending Georgia to a 4-0 start that culminated in an SEC Championship. Shockley finished the day with 312 yards and two touchdowns. Tight end Leonard Pope caught 3 passes for 55 yards and a touchdown, while MSU's running back Jerious Norwood was held to 43 yards on 14 carries. Clearly, the '05 SEC Champions could still remember the habits of a hard-nosed Brian VanGorder defense from a year prior.

And clearly today, the '10 version of the Red & Black Dawgs still remember those bad habits of a third-and-Willied defense.

Miss. State's a well-coached football team that provides enough danger to send Georgia to 1-3 in the stinging midst of ringing cowbells. The Good Dawgs have never lost 3 consecutive games under Richt, and if that trend is to continue, Georgia will probably have to run more than two formations on offense.

The 3-4 defensive growing pains may continue to suffer against a very good offensive mind like Mullen's. But at least Miss. State quarterbacks Chris Relf and Tyler Russell have shown a propensity to throw interceptions. Yet in a 29-7 loss to LSU last week, Miss. State outgained the Bayou Bengals in total yardage.

Starkvegas: Beware of Dog, but remember the first Miss. State mascot, Bully I, got hit by a bus on campus.

SEC Preview: Auburn @ Miss. State

Line: Auburn -2
Series: Auburn 58-23-2

Auburn travels to Starkvegas tonight to challenge the Western Bulldogs to another 3-2 tickle fight (2008). But with the performances of quarterbacks Cam Newton and Tyler Russell last week, it's safe to say at least one touchdown will be scored between the two cow colleges this time. So polish off those cowbells State fans because you can actually bring them again this year, and Ted Roof is calling the Auburn D.

In one of the few Thursday night games not featured in Columbia or on the Flats, the storyline will circle around two former Gators. Cam Newton, a former Dan Mullen pupil in Gainesville, has found a new home at Auburn and looked very comfortable in High School's offense last Saturday. Unfortunately, the Tigers coaching staff is concerned over some missing laptops with tonight's game plan on them.

Ring Responsibly? Yeah, right.

Meanwhile, Mullen is building a better Miss. State in the West. The maroon and white was only 1:39 away from shutting out Memphis in a 49-7 win, and QB Tyler Russell was named SEC Freshman of the Week, completing 13 of 16 passes. Manny Diaz was hired as defensive coordinator and brings with him an aggressive scheme in four successful seasons at Middle Tennessee. His squad finished second nationally in tackles for loss in 2009. Diaz' name was also bandied about in Georgia's defensive coordinator search.

The cowbells will be ringing tonight as Mullen notches his first big win, but not last, of the 2010 campaign.

Prediction: Miss. State in an upset, 31-24.