NOTES and OBSERVATIONS ON UGA

Aug 21, 2014, 9:49 PM

While watching the Spring Game and a few practice clips of UGA I have noticed a few differences in the offensive scheme. However let me express what I've noticed in general.

DEFENSIVE: The strength of their defense is not their line, but rather their LINE BACKERS. Not sure how well they will fare against a speedy CLEMSON RB who runs the Off Tackle. We shall see. They are good and jamming the middle though so a run between the tackles is not preferred unless we are going to use a power back to gain a yard or maybe two. Their secondary is a complete cluster f*ck. They have no clue what they are doing. However, they are speedy and very physical. The good news is that they won't know who the intended receiver is without Sammy and Byrant out there. I'm sure they will bring extra coverage to Williams and Peake, but they don't even expect Kitt, Priester, or Scott to be immediate contributions to Chad Morris and his team.

OFFENSE: While our Clemson offense is built around the QB their entire offense seems to revolve around the running game. One thing I noticed about Gurley was that he appears to have lost some weight this season. He is a lot faster this year. The way they used him in the spring game is a lot different from the way they used him last year. He was catching a lot of bubble screens on the outside and doing it pretty well. They are doing this to increase tempo and compensate for weakness on the offensive line. They do not have the tackles to run up the middle against a Clemson front 4. They will try to spread us this this season by attacking the edges and then going deep. Look out for NICK CHUBB... He doesn't have a whole lot of skill but he is very fast and has tons of power. He is just a very raw running back. With improvements on his footwork and agility he could be really dangerous. In fact more dangerous than Gurshall. Their wide outs look very capable of doing great things but will not fare well against the likes of Alexander and crew. "JUST MY OPINION" However, they are good enough to keep us honest. Their WR do not concern me nearly as much as their TE named ROME. He will need to be pressed hard to slow him down. Hutson Mason is easily rattled in the pocket so they don't want him having possession long. If we get to him early and often then he will have to run Gurshall up the middle and they will get stuffed in the box like last season. He will then make mistakes out of frustration and desperation. May see a few INTs in this game from him if our DE can get to him a few good times.

Special Teams: They are an atrocity. This is the result of having an arrogant coach that doesn't prepare his field goal units because they don't think they will need them to win a game. I can see many blunders this season. I believe they have Connely returning kicks and he has some good acceleration and speed to him. Not a big guy, but very tall and fast. Sort of reminds me of Aaron Kelly.

My recommendations:

OFFENSE: In my opinion we will need to run the ball very well to gain the respect of out ground attack. I do not recommend running up the middle between the tackles due to having great Line backers to run up against. I recommend the off tackle and lots of speed. Our TE game will be very crucial in winning this game. A few fake hand offs up the middle and a couple of quick passes underneath can keep drives alive. If we can get them to press the middle then we may have a shot a few deep routes, Corner Post and Screen passes. By far we will need to have a balanced attack with the ball being spread around to all skill players. This will keep them on their heals.

Defense: I would recommend a PRESS COVER TWO for the primary platform of play. This keeps their offense honest and if we play assignment football then I do not see us having any deep threats. However, if we cannot contain the edges then it will be a long night for Clemson in between the hedges. Pressure the QB like there is no tomorrow. He will then have no choice but to put the weight of the game on the running back and run him up the middle. This will not win the game for UGA. If we can contain the edges and pressure the QB then we will win easily.

MY PREDICTION: This will be a low scoring game if Stoudt doesn't find a mismatch early in their secondary. Our offensive line will need to protect against their line backers coming hard on blitzes. Should Stoudt execute his check downs and take what is open then we may have a blowout against UGA in their own stadium. If he gets pressured due to missed assignments on offensive line then it will be a disaster in Athens. It will not hurt for our defense to get a few pic 6 or scoop and score. So creating turnovers with our defense will be key to giving us the advantage for a win.

DISCLAIMER: This is strictly just an opinion. I'm sure that there are many factors about both Clemson and UGA that I am not aware of, but based on what I do know this is my opinion.

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The strength of the line will be greatly improved from a year ago. We are hearing much better things out of them since they all shed about 15-20 pounds in the off-season of excess weight. Grantham had them playing fat as part of his "style", which sucked. The linebackers should be better than last year as well, and more balanced. Our All-american in Ramik Wilson is being pushed for playing time, and was actually moved to second string this week. Jordan Jenkins has been coming into his own and actually has been wreaking havoc this off-season during practices/scrimmages. The secondary, though inexperienced, will be much better. Under Grantham, they had no clue what to do at any point in the season. They will play better football because there will be no more questioning position and responsibilities as the ball is snapped. However, unproven unit and it could get very dicey back there.

Offensively, Mason will do okay, but without our fastest two receivers on the field it will be a lot harder for him to find a receiver open for long gains. Mitchell and Justin Scott Wesley provided us with tremendous amounts of speed and athleticism, and unfortunately for us, both will be out this game. This will force us to rely on Bennett(great possession receiver), Conley (very quick and superb route runner with very good hands, and Tibbs who has been coming along quite well. Tibbs will be our weaker point and it will allow for your DBs to focus more on Conley and Bennett. The play of our TE/HB will be important, because of the receivers being dinged up a bit. At running back, I do respect that Chubb will be a great back in our system eventually. However, Gurley is unquestionably better. If you get to see the two standing side by side in the game on the sideline, then just take a look and you will understand. Gurley has incredible core strength, but his legs are like tree trunks. He is a much more all-around back, and a down hill runner. He will also be a threat in the receiving game as well, and has very very good hands for a running back.

Special teams: OMG.. please let us be better. They have addressed this issue a lot during the off-season by turning it over to more qualified hands. Also, rather than scrubs on the field, everyone is participating in special teams some way or another. This was not the case in recent years are Richt for some reason chose to ignore it. This off-season he could not ignore it, because the outrage was tremendous. Every game we lost could have been won if a catastrophic special teams blunder did not occur. Most teams expect maybe two of those per season, and we had nearly 8 of them. The only game that did not fall under this category was the Clemson game. Our special teams blunder that resulted in missed points was the 3 point fail at a very short field goal which would have only tied the game. Isaiah McKenzie is probably going to be the main return man from what I hear. Reggie Davis may get some opportunities here, but he also had a few blunders last year. Ultimately between the two, this will be decided by whomever provides the most protection to the football during the return.

I agree whole heartedly with your prediction section giving credit to both teams strengths and weaknesses, and what they would need to do to pull out the win.

NOTES and OBSERVATIONS ON UGA

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Lol at Supermutt

SuperDawg51

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See my link below... goes both ways bro.***

You're right... no LB can handle him...

link didn't work... look at 1:15:24***

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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!

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our #44 cleans their #40's clock!!! :-O

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If it had been a one-possession game, we wouldn't have

exactly-- if it had been a 1 score game, UGA wouldn't have

Re: exactly-- if it had been a 1 score game, UGA wouldn't have

Re: exactly-- if it had been a 1 score game, UGA wouldn't have

Re: If it had been a one-possession game, we wouldn't have

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ADAM HUMPHRIES

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