For a solid quarter and a half, this looked to be another frustrating nail-biter for Richt and the boys. The offensive line wasn't giving Murray much time to get passes off, Mitchell and Bennett showed their youth with costly drops, and even Orson Charles got in on the act in the absence of Marlon Brown and Rantavious Wooten. After showing promise in the first 1.5 quarters, the defense and special teams started to give up easy yardage and were burned by a reverse pass, onside kick, and two punt returns for touchdown (one which was overturned due to penalty). Combined with a bobbled catch by Orson that turned into an interception, it looked like we were in a Magnolia state mess for a while there. Not to mention Lou Groza award finalist Blair Walsh missed three field goals.
However, the defense flexed its muscle for the most part, against an opponent with a pulse. They flew around as a unit all game, with Jarvis Jones, Bacarri Rambo, Sanders Commings, Branden Smith, Abry Jones, and Brandon Boykin coming together to lead an effort that limited the Rebels to 8 first downs and 183 total yards of offense. If, by some amazing stroke of luck, Christian Robinson is able to play against Dan Mullen and Mississippi State next week, I feel extremely confident about our chances to shut down their running game. I can only hope that the defense can work on staying disciplined and sniffing out misdirection plays over the next week. If we do so we've got a great shot to upset the Bizarro Bulldogs and His Highness, former Florida offensive coordinator and future ruler of the SEC Dan Mullen.
Isaiah Crowell continues to perform as advertised, with career highs in carries and yards (30, 147), this game serves as a testament to the coaches' goal to mold Crowell into a productive workhorse back. He'll face a stiff test against Mississippi State next week. Our offensive line did pretty well in run blocking, and if Chris Burnette can return soon the unit will only improve, barring injury. I'd like to see Gates get a shot at RT, with Glenn, Lee, Jones, and Burnette at the other spots. I'm concerned with how Justin Anderson may hold up against rushers like Fletcher Cox from Mississippi State, Jacques Smith from Tennessee, and Ronald Powell from Florida.
This game wasn't close enough to warrant extreme panic, but it was competitive enough to let the players know that they still are a loss away from being cast off into the proverbial SEC basement, as many are waiting for them to do. Crowell and Malcolm Mitchell will be freshmen All-SEC at the least, they both showed great toughness on Saturday, as did Amarlo Herrera. I feel good about our chances going into the Mississippi State game, but there's still some things we could improve on, and even though a lot of fans have been nitpicking about the game, I think it's obvious to the players that this game will serve as fuel for preparation for next week's game.
No comments:
Post a Comment