UGA football: a midseason report

By Tim Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia's football season reached halftime with a .500 record (3-3), a two-game losing streak and fans calling for firings. Today, we take a midseason look at a team in distress.

What's going right?

Not much lately. But here a few isolated things:

1. Wide receiver A.J. Green. He was phenomenally good as a freshman and has been even better as a sophomore (38 catches, 587 yards, five touchdowns). Imagine how few, if any, games Georgia would have won without him this half-season.

2. Punter Drew Butler. In his first season as the Dogs' punter, he leads the NCAA with a 49.8-yard average, which also would break the school record if it holds up.

3. Placekicker Blair Walsh. He has made 9 of 10 field-goal attempts, including 3 of 3 from 50-plus yards and a 37-yarder as time expired to beat Arizona State.

What's going wrong?

Too much to count. But start with these big-picture items:

1. Turnovers. The numbers are ridiculous: 16 turnovers lost, only five gained. That makes Georgia's minus-11 turnover margin worse than all but two of the 120 major-college teams.

2. The defense. It essentially picked up where it left off last season. Opponents are averaging 30.7 points per game and three of them scored 37-plus, as did four of the final six opponents last season. While turnovers and kicking-game breakdowns have exacerbated the problem, missed tackles and blown coverages have been bigger culprits.

3. The running game. Georgia is by far the worst rushing team in the SEC, averaging just 97.2 yards per game. No one has stepped to the forefront at tailback and the line hasn't distinguished itself, either.

Telling numbers

6 -- Games in which Georgia has trailed –- all of ‘em

3 -- Opposing quarterbacks who torched Georgia for career highs in passing yards – Tennessee's Jonathan Crompton (310), South Carolina's Stephen Garcia (313) and Arkansas' Ryan Mallett (408).

71-13 -- Margin by which Georgia has been outscored following turnovers.

Rising star

Sophomore cornerback Brandon Boykin became the first player in SEC history to have two 100-yard kickoff returns for touchdowns in the same season, let alone the same half-season. He also has two interceptions, half of Georgia's total. (Redshirt freshman Bacarri Rambo has the other two.)

Falling stars

The offensive line, expected to be a strength of the team, has struggled, especially in run-blocking. For the second year in a row, left tackle Trinton Sturdivant was lost to a season-ending knee injury in Game 1 and the loss seems to be having an even larger impact this year –- perhaps because Knowshon Moreno isn't in the backfield to make something out of nothing.

Enigma

Quarterback Joe Cox has been really good (a school-record-tying five touchdown passes vs. Arkansas), really bad (two interceptions and no touchdowns vs. Tennessee) and sometimes both in the same game (just one first down in the first half against LSU, then two touchdowns in the fourth quarter).

Same old same old

Last year's problems with penalties have continued. The Bulldogs have been penalized an average of 75.3 yards per game, which ranks 108th among 120 major-college teams.

Go figure

Georgia was blown out by Tennessee, which lost to Auburn, which lost to Arkansas, which lost to Georgia.

Honorable mention

Five plays that should be mentioned from the first half of the season:

*DeAngelo Tyson's blocked extra point against South Carolina to keep the Gamecocks from tying the game in the fourth quarter.

*Green's blocked field goal to keep Arizona State from taking a fourth-quarter lead.

*Richard Samuel's 80-yard run, untouched, against Arkansas.

*Rennie Curran's game-winning pass breakup in the final seconds vs. South Carolina.

*Green's spectacular catch to give Georgia a late lead vs. LSU, even if the lead lasted only 23 seconds.

Second-half prognosis

Georgia will be favored in two of its next three games (at Vanderbilt Saturday and vs. Tennessee Tech on Nov. 7) and a heavy underdog in the other (vs. Florida in Jacksonville on Oct. 31). If form holds in those games, the Bulldogs will enter the final stretch against Auburn-Kentucky-Georgia Tech with a 5-4 record and in need of two victories for a winning season and at least one for bowl eligibility.