AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2008 > September > 15
Monday, September 15, 2008
No. 3 Georgia still has some work to do
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So what did we learn over the weekend?
1. Georgia still has some work to do: Bulldog fans need to be careful not to read too much into Georgia’s 14-7 win at South Carolina. It’s one of those strange quirks in college football but most of the time Georgia just seems to play an ugly game when the Dawgs go to Columbia. Any time you can win on the road in the SEC, you take it and you don’t worry about the style points. It’s just too hard.
But having said that, it’s clear that the offensive line needs to get better both in run blocking and protecting the passer. South Carolina has one of the better defensive front sevens in the SEC but LSU is better and I think Auburn may be just as good. South Carolina geared its defense so that Knowshon Moreno would not have a big day (he had only 79 yards and his longest run was 11 yards). Georgia has to get more pressure on the quarterback, even if the Bulldogs need to send an extra person. South Carolina moved the ball pretty effectively in the fourth quarter because their quarterback, Chris Smelley, was not pressured enough.
Georgia is No. 3 now and based on their play on the field, and the play of Southern Cal and Oklahoma, that is about where the Bulldogs should be. But it is no time for the Bulldawg Nation to panic and think they will be treated like Auburn in 2004.
I will stick with my original position: If Georgia goes 13-0 against that schedule, the Bulldogs will be in the big game. But Georgia will not go 13-0 unless some areas of the team improve.
2. Overcoming turnovers will be a way of life at Georgia Tech this season: Last week Georgia Tech was able to overcome its turnovers and win at Boston College. On Saturday the Yellow Jackets could not overcome putting the ball on the ground and committing way too many penalties at Virginia Tech. The learning curve and execution curve on Paul Johnson’s offense is very steep. In the short term there are simply going to be mistakes by young players who are trying to become comfortable in this system. The question will be whether or not Georgia Tech can make enough big plays on offense and defense to counter balance the mistakes. There will come a day when the offense clicks like a well-oiled machine and mistakes will be rare. But that time is not now. For now, Tech fans had just better buckle up and hold on. This season is going to be a wild ride. Fun, but wild.
3. Southern Cal can punch its ticket to the BCS championship game: Southern Cal was just toying with Ohio State Saturday night. It was men playing against boys. Sorry, Ohio State fans. It’s just the truth. The score could have easily been worse than 35-3 if Pete Carroll had wanted to run it up. As I said last week, you can go ahead and plan on the Trojans being in the BCS championship game on Jan. 8. I know that Southern Cal lost to Stanford, a 41-point favorite, last season. This team is not going to do that. It has great leadership and a quarterback (Matt Sanchez) who is a gamer. It gets Oregon, Arizona State, and California at home and after watching UCLA, California, and Arizona State get beat this, the rest of the Pac-10 looks pretty average.
This team has an awesome offense led by Sanchez and a scary defense. I could be wrong but as of today I think everybody else is playing for No. 2.
4. Auburn’s offense had better get better-and fast: Auburn’s offense made so many mistakes on Saturday’s night’s 3-2 (yes, that’s right, 3-2) win over Mississippi State that coach Tommy Tuberville basically quit counting. The installation of Tony Franklin’s spread offense has not gone particularly smoothly. All I can say is that whatever problems exist had better be worked out by the time No. 6 LSU (2-0) comes to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night. Auburn has a chance to win that game because its defense is really, really good. But if the offense keeps making mistakes Auburn can’t win.
Part of the problem, Franklin told me Sunday night, is that the Tigers are trying to do too much with the offense and mistakes usually follow that. Look for Auburn to really simplify things this Saturday night.
5. Tennessee may be headed for a beat down: I do not believe in comparative scores but this one is hard to ignore. Tennessee played a lousy game and lost at UCLA 27-24 (overtime) on Sept. 1. UCLA was probably feeling pretty good about things and then the Bruins went to BYU, where they were taken to the woodshed 59-0. So if you’re Tennessee, you woke up Sunday morning knowing that the team that beat you got more than half a hundred laid on them in Provo. You also know that No. 4 Florida has had a week off to get ready for Saturday’s trip to Knoxville. You also know that No. 10 Auburn, and No. 3 Georgia are coming up in the next three weeks. It’s just something to think about.
A bonus What We Learned:
It’s the SEC. End of discussion: For the first time in history there are five SEC teams ranked in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll. They are: Georgia (3), Florida (4), LSU (6), Alabama (9), and Auburn (10). Now you know why CBS and ESPN are willing to invest $3 billion over the next 15 years into this league.
The second best conference? That’s easy too. It’s the Big 12 with Oklahoma (2), Missouri (5) and Texas (7).
Bottom line: Either the SEC champion or the Big 12 champion is going to play Southern Cal in the BCS championship game. If both are undefeated or both have one loss, it is going to be a fun argument.
