Legge's Thoughts: Panic Time at Georgia? Nah
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ATHENS - I’ve seen Kirby Smart’s No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs play better than they did in the 39-22 win over Kent State.
I’ve also seen worse. All due credit to Kent State - they played probably as well as they could play. They are not in Georgia’s universe, and Saturday showed that. As poorly as Georgia played Saturday, and it was relatively poor, they won by 17 points.
This was during a game that Georgia turned it over three times and dropped multiple touchdown passes (or would-be touchdown passes). It wasn’t crisp. It wasn’t too different than a slew of noon kickoffs we’ve seen from Georgia under Kirby (and Mark Richt) in Athens through the years.
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Now that’s gone away of late a little bit more. Georgia throttled Arkansas at noon last year; they did the same to Charleston Southern. But Gameday was in down for the Hogs, and Charleston Southern is a 1-AA school.
No matter the kickoff time, it is up to the players in Silver Britches to create their own energy - to play the game they are playing at that moment. There wasn’t anything wrong with the crowd Saturday - it was packed at the start of the game.
Georgia just didn’t play well - it certainly didn’t play up to its potential. If this is about playing to a standard - that didn’t happen as it relates to the entire team. There was actually a lot of like about Saturday.
Brock Bowers is something else. Another multi-touchdown game. I thought the defense, pretty much most of the day, was really pretty good. The Flashes (is that plural? Like there are several lighting strikes?) got down to the Georgia one-yard line, and the Dawgs’ defense turned them away - forcing a FG.
Kent State had two drives Saturday - that was one of them. The other came on the next drive - 12 plays for 75 yards and a touchdown. That was it.
Kent State had nine drives Saturday. They had four plays or fewer on six of their drives. Georgia’s defense played well Saturday.
Contrast that with Georgia’s offensive possessions. The only time the Dawgs have a drive with fewer than seven plays was the first drive of the game with Bowers flying down the field. Consider: Georgia only failed to score on offense when the Dawgs turned the ball over.
What happens when UGA “doesn’t” have a turnover in a game? What? They win this game something like 49-13? Like I said, I’ve seen worse.
The truth is Georgia whipped Kent State’s ass Saturday, but when you turn the ball over three times… that’s when you let other teams hang around.
Since 2010, Georgia has had a turnover margin of -2 or worse 16 times. The Dawgs are 5-11 in those games. Four of those 16 games kicked off at noon in Athens. How many more noon games will there be this fall in Athens?
Maybe one. Maybe.
This is a matter of cleaning a few things up. It is also a matter of respecting the fact that any one play can change a game. Georgia gave Kent State the chance to change the game three times on Saturday with a free football. It wasn’t enough for the Flashes.
It was enough for Texas A&M, which all but stole a win over the Hogs in Jerrah World Saturday night. You can be the better team and lose. Arkansas proved that in a game it should have won. But one play - a bizarre 82-yard fumble return from Demani Richardson that flipped a game that seemed headed to Arkansas being up 21-7 to the Aggies being down one (A&M went for two after the TD - more on odd two-point conversion decisions soon).
A crushing missed FG late in the game that struck the antenna on top of the goal posts was a draining way to lose a game for Arkansas. The Hogs gave that game away.
Ohio State continues to score. Alabama certainly looked good Saturday night against Vanderbilt. Michigan routined Maryland. Kentucky did not look good Saturday. The Cats were tied at the half with Northern Illinois (a three-loss team that includes losses to Vandy and Tulsa) before pushing away for a 31-23 win.
NC State looks like the best team in the ACC. Florida State doesn’t look bad, either. Are we buckled in and ready for ACC talk? (This is usually the most exciting part of Legge’s Thoughts each week.)
UCF beat Georgia Tech. I’ve got nothing bad left to say. Georgia Tech under Collins has become a total shit show. No one cares. Ten wins in four seasons. It just isn’t good enough, and there isn’t a certain win left of the Jackets’ schedule. Tech could roll into Athens 1-10.
There needs to be a deep dive on North Ave about where they want to go with things. I have been told to watch former Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall on the Tech front. There are these slight rumblings about Jackson State coach Deion Sanders getting a look at Tech.
I don’t know why Sanders would take that job. Tech, in my view, would be smart to try to hire him. I’m not sure if it is a fit for the fancies at Tech, but he would get folks talking about the Jackets. And that might be worth it. If that would work or not - we can’t know.
I know what isn’t working - Geoff Collins.
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North Carolina was destroyed by ACC step brother Notre Dame. Duke lost to undefeated and likely ranked Kansas. Miami, the CANES!, were throttled by MTSU.
M.T.S.U.
Goodness.
And then there was the Wake-Clemson game. We know Clemson tends to win these games - saving themselves against teams that are not as good as they are. You can pull that off in this league. But the Taters were fortunate to win on a day where they gave up 45 points and 447 yards. DJ Uiagalelei played about as well has he could play - 371 yards passing; 52 yards rushing and five touchdowns - and Clemson had to win in overtime.
But a win is a win, and Oklahoma couldn’t do that at home against Kansas State. This is the same old Oklahoma. Nothing has changed - certainly not for the better. Folks in crimson and cream are totally delusional if they think they are in a better situation than a year ago.
The better situation was watching his No. 7 Trojans save themselves at Oregon State. That was a huge win for USC. Huge.
Then again, Oklahoma losing to Kansas State isn’t anything new. Texas lost to Texas Tech. The Horns have multiple losses heading into October, so nothing is new there, either.
And then we’ve got the Gators, who are 0-2 in the SEC and are a play or two a way from being 0-4. Florida wasn’t the better team in Knoxville Saturday. The Vols earned the win over the Gators - not that it was easy.
But Florida coach Billy Napier’s… curious(?) decision to go for two down 11 is hard to understand/justify. If you convert you are down nine, which, and I went to school in DeKalb County, means you are still down two scores… right? Magically, the Gators didn’t convert.
Inexplicably, Florida scored once more; went for two because they were down five (which makes sense). All this math. What about just kicking the extra point the first time when you were trying to cut the lead to… nine?
Florida recovered an onside kick, and were at the Tennessee 39-yard line with 11 seconds left. Imagine trying a 55-yard FG to tie the game? That wasn’t possible because of Napier’s 'Scared money don't make money’ mentality.
You know what else doesn’t make money? Doing dumb things.
The Gators get a few weeks to get things right - Eastern Washington and Missouri are on the schedule. Then it’s LSU, the Dawgs and Texas A&M. Florida fans will forgive losing games. They will give some slack for a first-year coach.
But they aren’t dumb - and they expect their coach to help their team - not hurt it. And Napier did plenty of hurting Saturday.
