UGA blog finds new home
Morning all. As I’ve said a couple of times this week, we’re converting this blog over to a WordPress platform and it will be a permanent move the first of next week.
Those of you who are regulars probably know that I’m not what you’d call techno-wizard when it comes to these things. But from what I understand the technology offered in this new format should make the blogging and commenting experience better for all. Of course, I’ll be learning as we go along, too. But I’m hoping to provide more pictures and video and things like that which should bring the blog more to life.
Of course, this blog is nothing without all you guys so I want to heartily invite (read: beg) you to come over to the new site by CLICKING HERE ON THE NEW ADDRESS and save it in your browsers. As of Monday, Feb. 23rd, this will be the permanent home of the UGA blog you so love or, in the case of some of you, love to loathe. If you’d prefer to copy and paste or just memorize, the new address is: http://blogs.ajc.com/uga-sports-blog/.
See at the new place!
AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2008 > October > 22
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The reason behind all these injuries
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
People have been asking me since this summer what I thought Florida coach Urban Meyer and the Gators were going to do to retaliate against Georgia for that silly little end zone celebration last year.
Now we know.
It took me a while to put two-and-two together but it’s obvious now. Clearly Meyer went deep down to Fort Lauderdale this summer and hired voodoo priestess Madam Simbi M’Arue — aka “Mama” — to put an injury curse on the Bulldogs this season. Mama, in case you haven’t heard, was purported in court proceedings this year to be have been utilized by Phyllis Tobias, the wife of Wall Street hot shot Seth Tobias. Mr. Tobias ended up, well, in his swimming pool not swimming. It was all over the Florida papers.
Seeing that, Meyer must’ve contacted Mama and directed her to put a spell on Georgia that would cause it to lose at least half its starters to injuries by the time the Dogs came down to Jacksonville for the big grudge match on the river next week. At the present rate the Bulldogs have been losing players, it would appear Mama has gotten it just about right.
By my count Georgia now has had 13 part-time or full-time starters miss games with injuries. The latest two, we found out Wednesday, came during Tuesday’s practice — tight end Aron White (shoulder) and linebacker Akeem Hebron (broken ankle). White, a one-time starter, is out at least one game. Hebron, a backup and special teams mainstay, is out for the season.
Once a third-stringer, White got his first career start two weeks ago because regular-starter Tripp Chandler (shoulder) and his backup Bruce Figgins (shoulder) were both injured. Not much question where Mama is sticking her pins on the tight ends.
Add White to the list that already included incumbent starting left tackle Trinton Sturdivant (knee/season), his initial backup Kiante Tripp (ankle/two games), LT/LG Vince Vance (knee/season), DT Jeff Owens (knee/season), FB Brannan Southerland (foot/five games), LB Dannell Ellerbe (knee/three games), Figgins (shoulder/three games), DE Rod Battle (neck/four games), SE Kris Durham (two games/ankle), DE Jeremy Lomax (toe/one game) and DT Kade Weston (knee/three games). I may well have missed one or two.
The effect? On offense Georgia has started four different left tackles, three different left guards, two centers, three right guards, three right tackles, three tight ends and two fullbacks. The defense has been only slightly better: three left ends, three defensive tackles, three right ends, two middle linebackers and two strongside linebackers.
And this is before the Bulldogs venture into Tiger Stadium on Saturday. Last time I checked LSU plays pretty physical in there. So by the time the Dogs to get down to Jacksonville, well, Mama M’Arue’s — or should we say Urban Meyer’s? — work will be done.
Seriously though what’s with all the injuries?
Some cheese for your mouse:
I’m sure Bulldogs’ fans are going to love Rivals.com’s latest bowl predictions. They’ve got Florida in the BCS title game and Georgia in the Outback… . Hey, could happen… .
Stewey Mandel jumps into the debate on which conference is the best in college football this season and where Big 12 offenses are truly great or their defenses justy suck. In fairness, he explores whether SEC defenses are really good or their offenses just suck… .
Here comes LSU’s Ricky Jean-Francois… .
David Hale, who covers the Dogs for the Macon and Columbus papers, addresses on his blog the rumors swirling around [utility player Kiante Tripp].
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Offensive, defensive philosophies questioned
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You, UGA bloggers, have spoken. And you have been heard.
Well, at least I heard your questions. OK, so I read them. But enough of that. I asked for your questions and I got them. By the hundreds. And now you get them. Answers, that is. By the ones.
Yesterday I asked what questions you would ask the Bulldogs given the opportunity. The flaw in my plan was I asked you on a Tuesday morning when we meet with coaches and players at lunchtime Tuesday. So there was not much time to actually relay your queries. But based on the tremendous response, we may make “Ask the Bulldogs” a regular feature. From now on I’ll just be sure to solicit your questions on Monday mornings.
Some qualifiers first. A lot of your questions this time were of the unanswerable variety. Things like, “Coach Richt, why don’t you fire Willie Martinez?” and “ask Mike Booboo why he’s such an idiot.” Well, of course those won’t get asked or answered. And a lot of what you wanted to know dealt directly with what gameplans and strategies the Dogs may or may not employ against LSU, or against Florida or the rest of the year. That stuff will never get answered directly for obvious reasons.
Otherwise, I lumped the most-oft-asked questions into categories. If CMR or one of his coaches or player addressed it I gave you their answer. Otherwise, I’ll gave you mine based on what I know or have heard. OK, let’s go:
(1) The number one asked question had to do with the Bulldogs’ defensive philosophy, specifically why do they play so soft.
I didn’t ask this directly Tuesday but I’ve asked it enough in the past that I know the standard reply. First of all, Georgia and CWM in particular don’t believe they play soft. The Bulldogs, like LSU and Alabama and Tennessee and others of that ilk, adhere closely to the fundamental principles of defense. Their base defense is a two-deep zone behind a 4-3 front and that protects against getting beaten deep. If you can produce pressure with a four-man front, all the better. But any SEC team has to alternate coverages regularly and switch up fronts and occasional blitzes. Georgia rarely “sells the ranch” and blitzes a lot of players at once. But it sends at least one player or sometimes two more often than you think, usually the boundary corner a safety or a middle linebacker. The problem has been they aren’t getting there as much.
(2) Numerous queries about lack of pressure from edge and what can be done about it.
I’ve asked CWM about this several times the last few weeks. Bottom line answer has been players there haven’t gotten it done. Injuries haven’t helped. Jeremy Lomax has been playing all season with real bad turf toe and Rod Battle (neck) just came back this week. Jarius Wynn has been good but not great and Demarcus Dobbs has been occasionally great but not consistently good. They like the athleticism of freshman Justin Houston but he gets out of position too much. Martinez categorically has said that they’re not interested in moving any of the linebackers there, which is mainly a depth issue there. Georgia’s strong in all aspects of defense except against the pass
(3) What’s with the playcalling, redzone woes.
Almost an equal number of you want to know why Georgia is not passing more as want to know why it is not running more. That’s probably a good sign for offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. The Dogs, more than almost any other SEC team, seek to achieve absolute balance offensively. That is the Richt philosophy and he still has way more to do with the offense than you might think. Georgia has run 458 plays; 248 have been rushes and 215 have been passes. It leads the SEC in total offense by a long shot with 429 yards per game. Bobo’s real careful not to throw his players under the bus but he said they’ve have some real ugly plays at times because of major assignment breakdowns. “As long as people are complaining and we’re winning I don’t mind,” he told me.
(4) Lot of questions about kick coverage and returns.
Richt said he’s happy with punt returns but not with kickoff returns. Said “frankly we quit blocking as well” but is going back to Remarcus Brown full time on kickoff returns. Kickoff problems have been a mixture of kick placement and personnel breakdowns. When you suffer a lot of injuries like Georgia has, that trickles down to special teams as well. Guys like Ellerbe, Chandler, Durham, Battle, Southerland have been special teams mainstays in the past but are unable to go.
(5) Lack of takeaways/interceptions.
CMR said that’s been a big point of emphasis this week. Dogs should have had at least four and probably five interceptions versus Vandy. CMR had DBs and LBs double their ball-handling work and also have worked a lot stripping the ball. The good news is Georgia has the second fewest turnovers in the league with eight all season so that’s not killing it right now.
OK, I’ll do better on this next week and try to get more direct answers from players/coaches.
Now some links for breakfast:
A report at uga.rivals.com says that quarterback Matthew Stafford has a Lloyd’s of London insurance policy against career-ending injury but that Knowshon Moreno does not… .
The Macon Telegraph reports that new leadership was born among the Bulldogs after coach Mark Richt put the onus of enforcing punishment for penalties and missed assignments on the players… .
Fanblogs.com rates the conferences this season. Here’s a shocker — it has the SEC at the top.
According to this blog in the New Orleans Times Picayune, LSU is using its loss to Georgia in the 2005 SEC Championship game as motivational fuel for this year’s game… .
A feature in the Baton Rouge Advocate concludes confidence gained from multiple fourth-quarter wins under coach Les Miles is what had made LSU so successful in recent years… .
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