MCBUCK
Senior Member
good read.
http://bulldawgillustrated.com/2014/09/17/step-away-ledge/
Saturday night’s loss to the South Carolina chickens was a tough one to stomach for this Dawg fan. It felt like being a freshmen in high school and getting broken up with via text message. A true heart breaker. But after taking some time to collect my thoughts, and taking a few steps back from the ledge I almost jumped off of, I am feeling much more optimistic today.
.
Every fan has the dream of an undefeated record at the beginning of the season. It’s inevitable. It’s the ultimate prize! But how many of us honestly expected this year’s Georgia Bulldogs to run the table? With questions all over the secondary, offensive line, and breaking in a new Quarterback, you would have to have been REALLY drinking the Kool-aid to believe we’d get through this season unscathed. I’d say a realistic Georgia fan would have predicted 1 loss at best, and 3 losses at worst. So we got our 1 loss, and we got it early. But if you really break it down and think about it, this could turn out to be the best thing that could’ve happened to us.
.Our goals at the beginning of the year were simple:
1.) Win the East
2.) Win the SEC
3.) Make it to the 4 team playoff
.
All of those goals are still very much intact; yes, even the last one. The fact that we lost so early in the season really helps us in the long term picture. We lost to a South Carolina team who will undoubtedly end the season ranked in the top 25, and lost to them on the road by 3 points. In the latest AP poll we only dropped to 13, which is only 9 ranks away from one of those coveted 4 playoff spots and we still have 3 months of football to play. Our schedule will by no means be easy the rest of the way, but we will be favored in every game excluding the Auburn “revenge” game. South Carolina on the other hand always seems to slip up at least once when they have the lead in the division(just look at the last 3 times it’s happened). It’s not the greatest feeling to no longer control your own destiny, but it beats being out of contention.
.
Now to the team’s performance: It’s always easy to nit-pick a game, or play calls in hindsight… But the fact of the matter is, we lost a very winnable game, in the most hostile environment we will play in this season to a bitter rival. It’s college football, it happens. Offensively we should be fine. I’ll be the first to admit that Hutson has looked less than average the first couple of games, but we still scored 35 points which should always be enough to get the W. Todd Gurley racked up over 130 yards with 8-9 SEC defenders in the box on every down. Even if Hutson continues the lackluster play, the Dawgs should feel just fine about the Offense. Defensively we were exposed. The secondary played way too far off the ball and was lit up by the pass all game. The pass rush was completely ineffective and it seemed like Dylan Thompson made all the right checks when we showed blitz. But I believe if anyone can correct those mistakes it’s Jeremy Pruitt. Do I think we are going to turn into a shut down defense by the time Tennessee comes to town? No shot. But do I think we will be able to play good enough defense to let our Offense out score the other team? Absolutely.
.
So with that, step away from the ledge, Georgia fan. We’ve got a lot to play for this season, and a really talented team wearing those beautiful red helmets. We don’t need a new coach, we don’t need new pre-game rituals… we just need 92,000+ fans screaming their heads off in Sanford and even more from their couches.
.
Go Dawgs!
http://bulldawgillustrated.com/2014/09/17/step-away-ledge/
Saturday night’s loss to the South Carolina chickens was a tough one to stomach for this Dawg fan. It felt like being a freshmen in high school and getting broken up with via text message. A true heart breaker. But after taking some time to collect my thoughts, and taking a few steps back from the ledge I almost jumped off of, I am feeling much more optimistic today.
.
Every fan has the dream of an undefeated record at the beginning of the season. It’s inevitable. It’s the ultimate prize! But how many of us honestly expected this year’s Georgia Bulldogs to run the table? With questions all over the secondary, offensive line, and breaking in a new Quarterback, you would have to have been REALLY drinking the Kool-aid to believe we’d get through this season unscathed. I’d say a realistic Georgia fan would have predicted 1 loss at best, and 3 losses at worst. So we got our 1 loss, and we got it early. But if you really break it down and think about it, this could turn out to be the best thing that could’ve happened to us.
.Our goals at the beginning of the year were simple:
1.) Win the East
2.) Win the SEC
3.) Make it to the 4 team playoff
.
All of those goals are still very much intact; yes, even the last one. The fact that we lost so early in the season really helps us in the long term picture. We lost to a South Carolina team who will undoubtedly end the season ranked in the top 25, and lost to them on the road by 3 points. In the latest AP poll we only dropped to 13, which is only 9 ranks away from one of those coveted 4 playoff spots and we still have 3 months of football to play. Our schedule will by no means be easy the rest of the way, but we will be favored in every game excluding the Auburn “revenge” game. South Carolina on the other hand always seems to slip up at least once when they have the lead in the division(just look at the last 3 times it’s happened). It’s not the greatest feeling to no longer control your own destiny, but it beats being out of contention.
.
Now to the team’s performance: It’s always easy to nit-pick a game, or play calls in hindsight… But the fact of the matter is, we lost a very winnable game, in the most hostile environment we will play in this season to a bitter rival. It’s college football, it happens. Offensively we should be fine. I’ll be the first to admit that Hutson has looked less than average the first couple of games, but we still scored 35 points which should always be enough to get the W. Todd Gurley racked up over 130 yards with 8-9 SEC defenders in the box on every down. Even if Hutson continues the lackluster play, the Dawgs should feel just fine about the Offense. Defensively we were exposed. The secondary played way too far off the ball and was lit up by the pass all game. The pass rush was completely ineffective and it seemed like Dylan Thompson made all the right checks when we showed blitz. But I believe if anyone can correct those mistakes it’s Jeremy Pruitt. Do I think we are going to turn into a shut down defense by the time Tennessee comes to town? No shot. But do I think we will be able to play good enough defense to let our Offense out score the other team? Absolutely.
.
So with that, step away from the ledge, Georgia fan. We’ve got a lot to play for this season, and a really talented team wearing those beautiful red helmets. We don’t need a new coach, we don’t need new pre-game rituals… we just need 92,000+ fans screaming their heads off in Sanford and even more from their couches.
.
Go Dawgs!
