Finding the Good in a Loss

The Georgia Bulldogs played a game against Alabama, that could not have been more of a tale of two halves. The Dawgs came out flat footed, and not ready to play, but they were able to rally in the second half to almost win the game. Georgia coming out flat footed is not normal for a Kirby Smart football team, but I expect that to be the last time we see that this season. Let's get the bad out of the way and then let's get into the good.

If you read my blog about what the Dawgs need to do to win this game, you would have seen me call for a deep ball to Arian Smith on the first possession of the game, and it seems like Mike Bobo might be a fan of the DirtyDawg Blog. Bobo dialed up a deep ball to Smith, and while smith created separation and Carson Beck threw a beautiful ball, the pass was dropped. This is where the first half started going downhill for the Dawgs. If Arian Smith is able to catch that ball it is a huge gain to open up for the Dawgs on offense if not a touchdown. I think if this was able to be a completion for Beck we would have seen a completely different game from him. Beck made so many uncharacteristic mistakes for him. Carson Beck ended up finishing the game with four turnovers, which kind of makes it surprising that this game ended as close as it did. Carson Beck has to take better care of the ball for Georgia to have success against the top competition that is on their schedule. Even though he ended up playing good towards the end of the game, any game that your quarterback turns the ball over four times you will find yourself losing pretty much every time. The other glaring issue was on the defensive side of the ball. Georgia ran a lot of man in the first half which is fine, Georgia has the talent on defense to man up with every team in the nation. The issue with the Dawgs defense was the defensive players were following their man on the motion, against a motion heavy Kalen Deboer offense. Kalen Deboer would motion a receiver over to empty one side of the field out, and when Georgia took the bait and followed the motion Alabama won the play. Deboer would motion into trips to one side, and when the defender followed they would run it to the empty side. The thought process is it would be two on two. A lead blocker and a linebacker, and Jalen Milroe and a safety. Alabama was happy to take the matchup of Jalen Milroe and a safety in open field, and it proved to be a smart strategy as Milroe ran all over the Dawgs. The coaching staff was able to fix this at halftime, but why does it take until halftime to make this adjustment. The damage was already done.

The glaring positive to take away from this game is the fight that the Georgia Bulldogs football team showed. Most teams lay down in those situations. Stepping back into Bryant-Denny Stadium down a whopping twenty three points after halftime. Most teams lay down, but not Kirby Smart led football teams. Kirby was able to calm down his quarterback, and adjust his defense. The Dawgs were able to jab their way back into the game by grinding out stops and sustaining long drives and eventually punch it in. The Dawgs were awful on third down, but it was not as glaring due to their success on fourth down. Carson Beck also came alive in the second half. He lost his happy feet that he had in the first half, and was able to stand in the face of pressure and deliver accurate balls. The Dawgs were also able to get their revenge for the dropped deep ball on the first drive with a deep ball to Dillon Bell to take the lead for the first time. In the end the Dawgs were not able to climb out of the hole that they dug for themselves, but I think the team that played in the second half is the one that will show up for the rest of the season. I know that Dawg fans are not used to losing regular season games but relax. This game punched them in the mouth, but will prove to be a blessing in disguise. I can guarantee that this team will not show up flat footed again this season. The Dawgs have three more top ten games left on their schedule. They need to go at minimum 2-1 in those games to guarantee a spot in the playoffs. I believe that they can do it, and don't think the first half is a true representation of this team. My expectations are still National Champions.

Go Dawgs