You see a lot from the press box or the stands, but sometimes you miss things the first time around. So every week, DawgNation will be re-watching the television copy of Georgia’s previous game in order to dive deeper into the game. More observations after rewatching Georgia’s 51-14 win over Louisiana-Monroe:
Quarterback
Greyson Lambert only had 12 pass attempts, but that’s enough to analyze. The first touchdown pass to Jeb Blazevich was placed perfectly to the tight end’s left side, away from the defender. It was good play-action by Lambert as well. It was also a great set-up by offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, as the Bulldogs had been using so much double-tight end formation for run plays. It was easy to suck the defense in with that call and leave an open passing lane between Lambert and Blazevich.
The touchdown pass to Malcolm Mitchell was also off play-action and while Mitchell made a stupendous grab, upon rewatching, Lambert’s pass was perfect as well. It had to be placed right in that corner and timed just for that moment. An underthrow could easily be an interception.
Lambert’s worst drive was obviously the first one of the second half. First he fumbled the handoff to Nick Chubb. That was all Lambert not having a good grip after the shotgun snap. Then came the two straight batted balls, something that should be unusual for a 6-foot-5 quarterback.
That vanilla offense
It wasn’t just the passing game that seemed self-contained. It was the running game too. Of the 35 total rush attempts, 16 were up the middle and eight more should be categorized as slightly to the left or right. These plays averaged 6.6 yards per carry, though the biggest chunks of yardage (runs of 14, 14, 23 and 18 yards) came from Chubb taking an inside handoff and cutting through the open hole.
There were 11 runs that were off-tackle and they averaged 8.8 yards per carry. There was pretty much a lack of stretch plays. No sweeps. The offensive line had a decent day. Not great.
Clearly Schottenheimer has more creative plays to use down the line. Maybe this week. Maybe later. But eventually the Bulldogs will need to open up the passing game or else the run game will be in danger of being contained.
The defense’s two bad drives
To be clear, Georgia’s defense had a very good day, pitching a shutout for seven drives. Then things got rough, as Louisiana-Monroe passed its way to consecutive touchdowns. What went wrong?
The first ULM scoring drive was a two-minute drill and the defense just didn’t respond. Personnel-wise, Georgia had two inside linebackers in the entire time, rather than a dime package. Leonard Floyd was in the entire drive, then Tim Kimbrough replaced Jake Ganus at the other ILB spot just before the 22-yard touchdown pass to Rashon Ceasar.
There wasn’t enough focus on Ceasar. The ULM receiver had caught seven passes, including three that drive, when he was left wide open in the middle of the field before his 22-yard touchdown play.
The second drive began with an 18-yard Ceasar catch-and-run, in which freshman Rico McGraw missed the tackle near the line of scrimmage when he took a bad angle. The next big play was an 11-yard pass that came after Aaron Davis missed a tackle. Then came the 29-yard touchdown pass, in which McGraw was on Ceasar but didn’t get any help.
In the broad sense, Georgia’s defense was caught off-guard by those two fast-paced drives. It’s no big deal against Louisiana-Monroe when the game was already in hand, but it also showed what can happen with a younger group of defenders, as defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt has warned.
In conclusion
Yes, it ultimately was a glorified preseason game, mainly because Georgia played well enough to make it seem like one. Lambert had a good day, though not so good it ended the debate. Not much was learned about Schottenheimer’s offense. Nobody at any position did so badly that they need to be benched this week. Georgia’s opening game didn’t do much to move the story. And that’s not really a bad thing.
