I’m a little late to post any kind of extensive game recap, analysis, or go through the stats. I’ve been busy with school, life stuff, and quite frankly, I just didn’t feel like it. Besides, all of the other Georgia blogs have covered it and any attempt on my part would just be an act of redundancy.
I do have a few quick hits & thoughts about the game though, so indulge me.
My predicted score wasn’t that far off (UGA 31 Bama 24) actually. I’m pretty proud of that, maybe I should consider doing “The Vegas” sometime in the future.
My Dad was spot on with his points of optimism:
a. Never bet against Mark Richt on the road
b. Every year under Richt the Dawgs have a signature win
c. The Dawgs play better as the underdog
d. Practices weren’t closed this week for nothing
Good job Dad – you were right. Enjoy the moment, you don’t hear it often from me! 
My 5 keys to the game weren’t too far off base:
1. Matt Stafford did have a command of the offense. He played with confidence and rolled with the punches. The interceptions were mistakes, but not too costly. I said before, if he has a great day, then we grab momentum early and hang on for the win. Check.
2. The O-line did an amazing job. Considering the facts that Scott Havercamp didn’t even travel, Clint Boling played injured, and we started 3 freshman in an SEC road game, I’d say it was damn near phenomenal. They never gave up a sack, they made key blocks on the scoring drives, and made holes for the run.
3. The kick return coverage was outstanding. We only allowed 80 yards on 5 kicks (average of 16 yds/kick for those that don’t want to do the math). That’s a drastic improvement from the 211 yards (from 6 kicks) we yielded to WCU.
4. Knowshon. What can you say about this kid that hasn’t been said a thousand times? Here’s a new one: I heard Todd Blackledge compare him to Cadillac Williams. Fantastic; I’ll buy that. But, I need to mention as well that Thomas Brown had an equally fantastic night. In fact, he had more carries than Knowshown. I was really surprised when I saw that stat. It seemed like it was the Knowshon show; he’s definitely the topic of conversation right now. Meanwhile, Thomas quietly keeps pounding his way through defenses and down the field. Knowshon may have earned the SEC Freshman of the Week accolade, but Thomas deserves some major props as well.
5. The Defense kicked their butts into gear. This past Saturday they showed some GATA. The secondary was awesoe shutting down Bama’s passing game – the same passing game that lit up Arkansas the week before. The most impressive stat to me was the 3rd down conversion, or the lack thereof for the Tide. We limited them to converting only 3 of 15 – that’s only 20%. Outstanding! Brandon Miller recovered that botched punt; and even though we couldn’t do squat with it, at least he got after it. That’s progress, I guess. Asher Allen was a beast & stepped up when we needed him the most in OT, stopping Bama from converting on 3rd down. Midway through the 4th quarter they started to look slugish – and Bama’s scoreboard proves that – but it was impressive to see them regroup and get ugly in OT. Thank God.
There were a few negative things about the game I could point out, but I won’t. The fact is the Dawgs played with character, grit, & heart on Saturday and any negative talk would just ruin that right now. I don’t know how great the Dawgs are gonna be the rest of the season, but I do know they’re good. They’re good enough to win on the road in the SEC against an equally good team with an excellent coaching staff. They’re good enough to face adversity head-on, early in the season, and as a very young team. And that’s the real essence here: they are just that, a team. That was more evident to me on Saturday than anything else. Who knows what’s gonna happen in the coming weeks. Who knows where we’ll end up in the SEC standings, the polls, or bowls for that matter. I don’t. What I do know is that they’re already proven winners and the sky’s the limit for the foreseeable future.
image courtesy of ABH
Feels damn good to be a Dawg, dosen’t it?
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You missed a great trip; Tusca does suck ass, but the campus & stadium were incredible. The fans were really good to us – never been offered so much food and liquor in my life. Hate to say it, but the worst fan displays I saw were from UGA people. Some assholes tried to rip down a NC banner and we had some drunk UGA rednecks start shit in our section. I’ve got the pictures on my phone to prove it.
I like that last paragraph you wrote. Well said.
Hope you’re hand is getting better. Have a good one.
Yeah Rob, I would’ve loved to have been at that game. Seeing that td in OT must have been fucking awesome! Where were y’alls seats?
The differences on D and the KR coverage were the biggest differences for me. Tripp stands out as well. That’s 2 games now he’s fucked up. I want to see what Figgins will do.
Good post girl! Like the last paragraph – but you sound like Tony Robbins ;-D
Yeah ally, hope your fingers are getting better. That was nasty a burn. Thanks for the dance Sat & sorry I nearly broke your back. I can’t help it, I’m a BIG MAN! And you’re just too little for me.
Rob – stop by the tailgate Saturday if you’re coming. Me, Stephen and the boys will be out by 8.