Upon Further Review: Be Afraid… Be Very Afraid of UGA Football

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ATHENS - Upon Further Review – Be Afraid…Be Very Afraid

As evidenced by last Saturday’s result, when UGA Football decides to let loose hide your children. While
the numerous drunk Florida fans (and some bloodied and handcuffed) will attest, killing the pain early puts hope in the appropriate place. After giving up a first-drive touchdown the Dawg defense locked the Gators down for the next 2-plus quarters, only allowing a Florida score once the game was truly out of hand.

It almost felt like the Kirby and his merry band of marauders gave the Gator contingent just enough
hope to generate positive feelings…and then they stepped on every Gator neck in attendance and
worldwide. Be afraid. No Brock Bowers, no problem. Carson Beck found eight different pass catchers Saturday, accumulating 315 passing yards in the process. Two 50+ yard pass plays showed the Dawg offense is still potent without Bowers and may be harder to defend without the true go-to talent.

The rushing attack took its toll on the Gator defense as Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton got chunk yards when they needed to behind an offensive line that is rounding into the form we all expected earlier this season.

Special teams also made an appearance in the box score with a blocked punt for a safety. This victory was also a UGA record-setting performance in that it’s the first time in this series’ storied history that the Dawgs have three consecutive 20+ point wins over Florida. Be afraid.

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There wasn’t much to be unhappy about Saturday. Much like the Kentucky contest, Georgia jumped
on Florida early and often thus making this version of the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party a
snoozer after halftime. There were three areas, however, that bear watching going forward against the hardest part of the Dawg schedule. Here goes:

1) Red Zone Defense – Florida was 2/2 in Red Zone scoring opportunities Saturday, albeit with one
coming against Georgia’s 2d / 3d team defense. The Dawgs have the 100 th ranked red zone
defense now after allowing 2 more scores. The good news is that Georgia has allowed the 4 th
fewest red zone trips in the nation at 16. Against better offenses that number may change.
Looking ahead, the Dawgs will face the #30 offense (Mizzou), #12 (Ole Miss) and #28
(Tennessee). For comparison purposes, Florida had the #52 ranked offense. It gets tougher going
forward.

2) Daylen Everette – I know he’s a first-time starter and a young guy at that. However, Everette’s
play has been a concern all season. The 5 slants given up by the Dawg defense were all at #6.
Why they didn’t run that play over and over is a mystery to me. Florida’s first touchdown was on
a slant where Everette played with too much cushion and the safety was out of position to make
a score-saving play. Teams find him on the field and attack him. Upcoming opponents have
multiple threats on the perimeter that will challenge this secondary. Julian Humphrey saw 14
total snaps Saturday and some of them came with the first team defense. Is a change brewing?

3) Streaky offense – The Dawgs scored on their first 4 possessions (FG, 3 TDs) then went scoreless
on their next 4 drives through the end of the second quarter into mid-third quarter. Now, is this
splitting hairs? Yeah, probably. Was that scoring drought, with two drives that ended in Florida
territory, a lack of focus outcome or something else? The Dawg defense made the streaky
offense irrelevant as Florida had less than 200 total yards going into the 4 th quarter. Again,
against better offenses (and they are coming) consistency will be better than streaky.

The whipping of Florida also showed several areas that were positive, especially when looking
through the prism of the next three games:

1) Moving the ball without Brock – 486 total yards is a good day at the office when you have all of
your weapons. Without Bowers, the Dawgs didn’t appear to miss a beat. 8 different receivers
touched the ball. Georgia averaged 4.5 yards per rush and only gave up 1 sack behind an
offensive line that continues to get better. The Dawgs were also 50% (6-12) on third down. All
this against the #34 team in total defense. Beck looked comfortable finding Ladd McConkey and
others who seemed to find separation frequently. This looks to be a positive trend as the Dawgs
come home for 2 of the next 3 games.

2) Outside linebacker play – I have been critical of the outside linebacker play this season,
especially when setting the edge. Florida had zero successful running plays outside the tackle. In
fact, each of the 5 chunk running plays came because of poor run fits from inside linebackers.
Regardless, Chazz Chambliss, Marvin Jones, Jr. and Jalon Walker played their best overall game
all season. Walker recorded a sack while Jones recovered a fumble and spent all day in the
backfield. Each stood up well in the run game as well, recording three of the eight tackles for
loss on the day. Each of the remaining three ranked teams have a mobile quarterback to go
along with an offense predicated on a strong running attack. Improving outside linebacker play,
as we saw Saturday, is critical to the core function of this defense and can only be viewed as a
positive going forward.

3) Offensive line depth – The starters – Greene, Fairchild, Van Pran, Ratledge, Truss – were
incredibly solid when playing together. Both Micah Morris and Monroe Freeling saw significant
action in place of Fairchild and Truss with no degradation in the offensive line play. With
Amarius Mims getting closer to returning, the quality depth that’s been built because of injuries
bodes well for the last part of the season.

4) A healthy Milton – Kendall Milton only carried the ball 13 times for 55 yards. But it wasn’t the
volume but the effect of having two healthy backs to tote the rock. Milton’s power is a great
compliment to Edwards’ slipperiness, and the Dawgs will need both players to help provide an
offset to Beck’s passing game. Georgia won’t face an offense in the next four games (to include
Georgia Tech, by the way) that ranks lower than 30 th (Missouri) in total offense. A healthy,
dynamic backfield helps shorten games and keep the opponent’s offense on the bench.

5) Third down defense – The Dawg defense leads the country in 3d down percentage allowed –
offenses only convert 25% of their third down opportunities. While Missouri has the 30 th ranked
offense (149 ypg rushing, 294 passing) they only convert 41% of their third down opportunities.
To keep Missouri off schedule, Georgia will have to continue to have great third down defense.
Put Mizzou quarterback Brady Cook in tough situations on the road and force him to make plays
in a hostile environment. I like that matchup outcome for the Dawgs.

This Dawg team still hasn’t played its best game regardless of what last Saturday looked like. There
are still little things to clean up and refine before embarking on the toughest part of the schedule. This team, however, continues to get better and the domination in Jacksonville should invoke some fear in our upcoming opponents. This is a deep, talented team that seems to turn up the intensity notch for the tougher matchups. Hanging 43 on Florida without Brock Bowers is scary. Keeping Florida out of the endzone for 2+ quarters is scary.

A team that is continuing to improve this late in the season is scary. Just like Kirby wanted it.

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