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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2006 > September > 07
Thursday, September 7, 2006
Looking for answers in Columbia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are some major questions that the Dawgs need to answer Saturday night in Columbia, but contrary to where most of the media and fan attention has been this week, the quarterback situation isn’t the most important.
Yes, it remains to be seen whether Joe T. can “manage” a game well enough to defeat an SEC opponent, and whether Matthew Stafford will play any against the Gamecocks, and if he does, whether he’ll look like the superstar in the making he is or the true freshman he also is.
But the question marks about the Dogs that seem to be of greater concern involve the offensive line’s less than impressive blocking (complicated by suspensions and injuries), and our ham-fisted receivers continuing to drop the ball.
Unless the line can open some holes, little Thomas Brown probably isn’t going to be that effective. Fortunately, Danny Ware looks hungry for playing time, and he and Kregg Lumpkin both have a better chance of running over some people.
As for the Dawg receivers, let’s hope the message that the coaching staff was sending with the demotion of starters Mohamed Massaquoi and Kenneth Harris was received loud and clear. Still, I think it’s a mixed message at best. If a couple of drops and not running their routes properly gets Massaquoi and Harris demoted, why is Martrez “Can’t Even Catch a Cold” Milner still starting at tight end after dropping yet another touchdown pass in the end zone last Saturday? And how come A.J. Bryant gets promoted to starter after muffing that fade in the end zone on the same series Milner dropped his sure TD?
On the other side of the ball, even with the confusion between Tra Battle and Ramarcus Brown that apparently allowed an easy Western Kentucky touchdown pass to a wide-open receiver, the defense looks to be fast and aggressive. I look forward to Quentin Moses and Charles Johnson getting to know Blake Mitchell extremely well Saturday night. I’m hopeful Paul Oliver and company in the secondary can force SC’s Sidney Rice to have another off night. And our previously suspect run defense looked much improved last week (though it’s hard to tell how good any aspect of our game was considering who we were playing — which is why this week should answer a lot of these questions).
I also really liked our special teams play, and not just the punt returns. It looks like maybe we’ll finally be a threat with kickoff returns this year, too. And I liked the way Brandon Coutu put most of his kicks in the end zone (and one through it), no matter which direction he was kicking. Let’s hope Coach Richt’s love affair with the high, short kickoff is over.
Stepping back a bit to look at the bigger picture, what concerns a lot of the Bulldog Nation is that while the players may change, Georgia over the past several years seems to have had consistent problems recruiting and keeping healthy offensive linemen, and getting them to play up to their potential when they are healthy. Likewise, for going on four seasons now we’ve been plagued with too many dropped passes, many in key games.
At what point do we conclude that a shakeup of the coaching staff in those areas might be in order?
