Today I slept all the way until 5:22, so with much more rest to fortify me, I examined this morning's sports page to see what I'd missed. I'm glad I fell asleep. Not that I'm poo-pooing the Dawgs' second half touchdown, which sealed the game for Georgia. It's just that most of the second half displayed what I saw in the first: Georgia's offense struggled, and its defense earned a gold star.
Roger Clarkson of the Athens Banner-Herald summed up the game with a grade report (it was syndicated--at least across Morris News papers, so you may have read this piece already). I thought it aptly portrayed yesterday's performance (at least what I saw of it), but I have some comments of my own:
- Players of the Game: Clarkson identifies Jarvis Jones for his "seven tackles, 2 1/2 sacks, a forced fumble that set up Georgia's lone touchdown and a pass breakup." Yep. And on top of that, Jones has finally managed to keep his helmet on the entire game. Thumbs up to that. Clarkson also credits Blair Walsh for hitting "four straight field goals" which "account[ed] for 13 of Georgia's 19 points." He follows up with the comment, "The special teams have certainly stabilized the last couple of weeks." Fair enough, but I suppose I'm not so generous with my praise because Walsh did yesterday what should have been doing all along. When your head coach describes your performance as "scary" after the Florida game, the only direction you can go is up.
- Play of the Game: Clarkson lauds Jarvis Jones again for his third quarter tackle: "Jarvis Jones sacked Maxwell Smith and forced a fumble that Christian Robinson recovered at Kentucky's 10-yard line. Three plays later Georgia scored its only touchdown of the game to lead 19-10." I have to take Clarkson's word for it because I was asleep at the time, but if that tackle is the play of the game, then the play of the first half was Branden Smith's beautiful pass interception, which has been largely overlooked by the press. Clarkson simply writes that Brandon Boykin and Branden Smith "had pass interceptions." Now, he does give the passing defense an A- for their performance, but Smith's interception deserved a bit more atta-boys than it's gotten. So I'm putting it here: Way to go, Branden!
- Rushing Offense--C+: I thought that grade was generous, but maybe Clarkson is considering Isaiah Crowell's ankle injury. Add that to Richard Samuel's injury in Jacksonville, and that puts some holes in Georgia's offensive game. And to top that off, my new player to watch, Carlton "Skeeter" Thomas was a no-show. Sports announcers reported that he was away "for personal reasons," but Clarkson's article reports that he missed the game "after violating team rules." If that's true, then I'm perplexed. Last week's stunning game against Auburn was Thomas's way of apologizing to the fans for his game suspension that let him down. Note to Thomas: After you've made good on a past offense, it's not the best decision to violate team rules again. Could you just keep your nose clean until after the bowl games? Can you manage that much for us? Huh?
photo by David Goldman of the Associated Press
Once again, we'll be playing Tigers. Recently, Stephen and I conversed about how many football teams are named after felines. We've already played Kentucky Wildcats, and Auburn Tigers. So this morning I surveyed Georgia's opponents and categorized them, and as it turns out military officers are represented more often than ferocious felines, at least on our schedule:
- Military/Vocational Personnel: Vanderbilt Commodores, Tennessee Volunteers, New Mexico State Aggies, Mississippi Rebels
- Poultry: Carolina Gamecocks, Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
- Copycats: Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Other Sundry Animals: Boise State Broncos and Florida Gators
- Bugs: Georgia Tech Yellow jackets
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