Legge's Thoughts: This is the Way UGA Should Play All of the Time
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MIDDLE EARTH - Georgia is starting to come into its own… not that it has been a pretty process.
The Bulldogs all but wrapped up a New Year’s Six Bowl appearance with their 49-14 win over No. 25 Missouri. And No. 9 Georgia looked pissed off doing it. They seemed happy to send a message to the SEC, their boy haters in the national media (you know who you are) and perhaps themselves about what they are right now, and what they very well could be in the future.
Offensively Georgia was tremendous. The Dawgs racked up over 600 yards, seven scoring drives and no turnovers.
Defensively Georgia was tremendous. The Dawgs permitted only 200 yards of total offense for Missouri. The Tigers managed only one drive past 28 yards. One.
This was a total beating that happened to look close for about 20 minutes of actual time because of Missouri’s blocked punt. The two schools are not close right now.
Georgia isn’t close to a lot of schools, frankly. This is a program that didn’t play well in the two biggest games of the season. But other than that, Georgia has pretty well smoked everyone that wasn’t named Mississippi State.
Seven wins - six double-digit wins and five blowouts.
And much of that without the newly-found JT Daniels and his bangs, which are really competing these days. Daniels stuck in there and got the job done Saturday. When the Dawgs punted three times in the 2nd quarter Daniels was getting hit a lot.
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But he held on and stuck with it.
Daniels to Pickens is a very dangerous combination right now. It could be deadly in 2021.
For the first time all season it felt like almost everything was clicking for the Dawgs on offense. Zamir. Cook. JTD. Pickens in full freak mode. The receivers looked open a lot. Some throws were so simple.
Georgia made scoring look easy Saturday. Missouri had three “big plays”. Georgia had 18.
18, y’all. 18.
Consider all 18 of them:
47-yard run from Daijun Edwards
43-yard run from Zamir (TD)
37-yard pass to James Cook
36-yard pass to George Pickens (TD)
36-yard pass to Darnell Washington
36-yard run from Zamir
31-yard pass to George Pickens (TD)
29-yard pass to George Pickens
25-yard pass to Darnell Washington
25-yard run from Daijun Edwards
23-yard pass to George Pickens
18-yard run from Kenny McIntosh
17-yard pass to Kenny McIntosh
17-yard run from Zamir
16-yard pass to Jermaine Burton
16-yard run from Cook
12-yard run from Kenny McIntosh
11-yard run from Cook
That’s 475 yards of big plays. 77% of Georgia’s yardage came in the form of big plays. When has Georgia been like this? Not before now this season, and not much in 2019. I can’t remember a time since 2017 or perhaps early 2018 when Georgia just flew up and down the field.
But these were big plays from the run game as well as the passing game. It was both. And that was what was so difficult to stop.
And that’s the key to this thing. As Kirby put it after the game:
“Offenses are kicking butt in the SEC,” he said.
So now we are seeing a little less sausage making, and a little more sausage. The plays are there to be had. Georgia isn’t working the ball down the field any more. They are striking the ball down the field. Defenses are having a hard time dealing with the pass game.
And Georgia’s extremely reliable run game is rolling four backs out there who are giving teams trouble. Kendall Milton is on ice ready to do damage when he returns. Georgia’s offense is starting to look not just legit, but scary.
This was the game the Dawgs needed to win. A loss to Missouri would have been an unacceptable option (more on unacceptable losses later). There is a lot to be gained here at the end of the year. Yes, the close of this season is the opening to 2021. Georgia, in some ways, is simply starting its spring ball a few months earlier than everyone else.
This program looks like it could be special in 2021. W’eve got a long way to go, but if this keeps up… watch out.
ELSEWHERE…
There were some real wakeup calls on Saturday.
Compared to thier peers Miami is awful. I watched them live against Clemson in October, and they didn’t seem ready for prime time that night. They’ve not been great since. Three of their last four games have been wins by five or fewer against Virginia, NC State and Virginia Tech - not exactly power teams.
Then Saturday - gross.
North Carolina took Miami’s lunch money and likely the ACC’s spot in the Orange Bowl. I thought UNC would probably compete and perhaps win this game. I didn’t think they would blow the Canes out, but they 100% did. The 62-26 beating leaves Miami with not much to show for the season.
Meanwhile, Coastal Carolina needed a touchdown drive in the final minute of the game to survive 5-6 Troy. Its fun to include teams like Coastal in the discussion of stories of the season, but they simply are not in the same league as top ten teams. That they were ranked in front of both UGA and Oklahoma this past week in the AP poll is… well, frankly, ridiculous.
Voters in that poll should correct themselves this week, but I am not holding my breath. It will be really hard to take that poll seriously this week if those voters continue to reward a team that survived Troy, a team with a losing record in the Sun Belt, as high as they were placed a week ago.
Utah vanquished No. 21 Colorado 38-21 in the snow.USC looked up and down but managed to handle UCLA. The Pac 12 still seems like a mess. Although undefeated, the Trojans, with a one-point win over Arizona State, a four-point win over hopeless Arizona and last night’s showing, have no argument for the CFP. But there will be fools that make if for them.
This is what we do.
But it was the No. 6 Gators’ struggles with LSU that was so eye opening Saturday. The Gators have not played well for weeks. Scores, if you dont watch games, can give a false sense of how teams are playing.
This is the Florida team we are expecting to compete with the buzzsaw that is Alabama? That’s hard to picutre after Saturday night. The Gators are a scoring machine - no doubt. But they are not playing like they did when they beat UGA and Arkansas in back-to-back weeks. That was their top time playing this season.
Since then Florida has won, but the fist half of the Vandy, Kentucky and Tennessee games were unimpressive. Then Saturday night the Gators slopped around with LSU - a team starting a true freshman, Watkinsville native Max Johnson - deep into the second half.
Then someone fog rolled in, and someone threw a shoe. I thought I was watching part of my childhood on them streets of DeKalb County.
This season was a great opportunity for the Gators. They are not going to beat Georgia a ton with Kirby Smart as the head coach - I said it. So Florida has to take advantage when they can. And while they’ve done their part winning all of their games until now - including the beating of UGA - except the A&M game… what they are going to deal with next weekend in Atlanta is a different monster.
Alabama handled UGA in the second half of that game to power on to a win. But the Tide are better now than they were then. Think about that. Bama’s two most competitive games came in week three (Ole Miss; 15-point win) and four (UGA; 17-point win).
Since then Bama has won by: 31, 41, 60, 29, 38 and 48.
Their games with UGA and the Rebels were competitive - late. Ever other game Bama has played this season hasn’t been competitive. Period.
So Florida, going against a depleted LSU squad with issues all over the place, goofed around seemingly all night. Three turnovers; I mean, turnovers happen. But it was the defense running around late. Just not lined up. Folks are throwing cleats.
Georgia has Lindsey Scott. LSU has LShoe. The Gators will never hear the end of this.
Kyle Trask lost his hope for the Heisman Saaturday night. It was horrible for the Gators.
They actually lost to LSU. The Gators were a 23-point favorite to win. And they lost. This is the equivalent to UGA losing to the Coots last year, but that game didn’t mean Georgia couldn’t still win it all. National title for the Gators now? No way. Playoff? Nope. Not with A&M hanging out with one fewer loss and a win over the Gators themselves.
During the broadcast Sean McDonough and Todd Blackledge said they talked with Dan Mullen, and the head Gator said Florida would still get into the CFP if they lost to LSU and beat Alabama.
I mean… please stop. Darth Mullen was one thing - delusions of grandeur, as C3PO put it, are an entirley different galaxy.
Anyone can win any game so long as they have a shot to play. Florida is going to be able to score against anyone because they have scored on everyone. But the loss to LSU was a bad look. It is hard to imagine an Alabama team so tuned up as they are right now losing to a Gator team so disheveled and unbuttoned.
Alabama receivers will not drop passes with the skill and fervor the LSU receivers displayed Saturday night. But they will get their shot nonetheless. I don’t like Florida’s chances.
I’m not sure I like anyone’s chances against Bama right now.
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