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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2006 > January > 03
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Did someone miss their wakeup call?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Maybe next time Georgia should try turning up BEFORE the second quarter.
Yeah, yeah, everyone seems to have underestimated how good West Virginia was, but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Dawgs defense show up less prepared for a game. They were flat-footed, slow, couldn’t tackle and looked as if they hadn’t watched any film or even been on a practice field for a month.
As ABC’s Bob Griese put it when the Dawgs were down 28-0, how could Georgia look so good against LSU a month ago and then play like they did Monday night?
The Georgia D eventually managed to slow down the Mountaineers’ spread-run juggernaut, except for a key lapse in the fourth quarter that allowed the last WVU score. And the offense, which had had its problems with fumbles, stupid penalties and dropped catchable passes early on, turned things around thanks to the creative play of D.J. Shockley and staged a remarkable comeback that SHOULD have put them in a position to win the game.
And then the Georgia coaching staff completely booted the ball.
WVU was facing fourth-and-long. Now, I’m no football genius, but it was perfectly obvious to me that considering the way the Dawgs had been moving the ball and scoring, Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez wasn’t about to give the ball back to Georgia with 1:45 on the clock if he could possibly avoid it. A fake punt was the obvious ploy.
Obvious to everyone except the Georgia coaching staff, that is.
Result: WVU runs the fake, catches the Dawgs punt receiving team napping, and gets the first down, icing the game. If ever there was a situation that called for a fake punt, that was it. How the Georgia coaching staff couldn’t see that just boggles the mind.
Asked about it after the game, Jon Fabris, the Dawgs’ punt team coordinator, had this to say: “I don’t discuss strategy, whether it’s good or bad.”
No discussion necessary, Jon. It was bad. And you blew it.
