Monday Morning Quarterback: Vanderbilt Edition

I know it was Vanderbilt and everything needs to be kept in its proper perspective, but man does it sure feel good to get another win. I don't know about the rest of you but after a win just brightens my outlook on the entire upcoming week, even if it is against the bottom feeder of the conference. The win against Vanderbilt was exactly what we needed. I don't care who the win was over, we improved in areas of weakness, built on some encouraging developments, and created some confidence for ourselves as we head into the bye week and begin preparations for a very beatable Florida team. Here are a few specifics I took from the game.

• Again, I know it was Vandy, but I really liked the way our defense played. Sure, we had a small breakdown here and there, but our defensive line lived in the backfield much of the afternoon. Geno Atkins and Kade Weston were beasts on the interior. I believe as a whole we ended up with 12 tackles for a loss and 3 sacks. We got great pressure all game long an that is the type of production we need to be getting on a consistent basis from our front 7. I also want to give a shout out to the secondary. Larry Smith may be one of the worst QBs in the SEC, but so is Jonathon Crompton and we made him look like Peyton Manning. We were able to play solid in man coverage, read route combos and break on the ball, and keep our focus without having any egregious coverage breakdowns. All in all, Vandy was able to run the ball maybe a little better than I would have liked coming out of halftime, but when we have been so starved for a solid performance like this where we hold a team to under 300 yards of total offense it is hard for me to sit here and nit-pick.

• It was nice to see Reshad Jones actually break on a ball and get his first pick of the season. It would be great to start seeing a lot more of that.

• For the most part we tackled much better. There were not any of the ridiculous missed tackles that went for long gains that have killed us in recent weeks.

• Someone tell me again, why isn't Bacarri Rambo starting?

• Holding Vandy to 3 of 15 on 3rd down conversions is something to proud of and is definitely something to build off of. I would say a good portion of that success can be attributed to stopping Vandy for either a loss or short gain on a number of first and second down plays that resulted in third and long situations that the Vandy offense just is not really equipped to handle.

• I realize the running game did not get much going until the second half, or even the fourth quarter, but the bottom line is we managed to grind out 173 yards on the ground on 37 rushes. I know you cynics out there are invariably going to say "well take away the last two drives and Georgia didn't do much of anything running the football." My response: we can all sit here and twist the stats to support any conclusion or agenda we want, but regardless of what point in the game the yards were gained the bottom line is we did gain those yards and we had to block and hit the holes to earn them. I really hate this whole, "well if you take away...." notion that many fans and pundits out there subscribe to. It is just a tool used by cynics to distort actual on-the-field results to fit their conclusions. Sure I could say "well if you take away the two easy TD passes that Ryan Mallett missed against Florida then Arkansas would have won that game," but will that change what actually happened on the field? No, it won't. Sure I could say outside of his long TD pass to Thompson Tim Tebow did nothing through the air against Arkansas, but the bottom line is he did hit that pass and to simply discard his biggest play of the game because he did not have any others like it is just ridiculous. I guess I just don't understand the fascination some have with completely ignoring and discarding the best plays a team makes in order to emphasize the worst plays and weakest points.

• I think Washaun Ealey has what it takes to be a feature back. He struggled some early on, but once he got into a little bit of a rhythm he was able to show what he can do with the ball in his hands. He combines a powerful down-hill running style with quick feet and impressive patience. I really think once he gets more acquainted with the system and gets more playing time under his belt he has the potential to be very productive for us.

• I like what Carlton Thomas brings to the table and would love to see more of him. He might not be the prototype I-formation, run b/w the tackles back, but he has his own unique skill set that we need to take more advantage of in certain situations and formations. He has a lot to offer this team if we just use him the right way.

• Here is where I throw in my weekly worship of all things A.J. Green. The guy is simply an unstoppable freak of nature. I am not sure why we only threw the ball to him 5 times, resulting in 3 catches for 95 yards and a TD, but every time this guy gets a chance he makes the most of it. He needs to get A LOT more looks against Florida.

• Cox wasn't great, but he was efficient enough to get the job done. Still, a 51% completion percentage is not going to get the job done against better teams like the one we face in two weeks. His receivers did not help him out early in the game as they dropped several passes that were on the money, but he was again inaccurate on some relatively easy throws as well. If we want to have any chance of beating Florida and salvaging the rest of this season he needs to get that completion percentage up over 60%.

• Our kick coverage units did a much better job this week. They did better getting down the field and also actually making the tackle once they got down there.

• We may have our fair share of woes covering kicks, but our return teams are spectacular. The duo of Boykin returning kicks and Miller returning punts gives us one of the most dangerous return games in the SEC. It will take another great effort from them against the outstanding Florida special teams if we want to pull that upset.

• After Brandon Coutou left I was not so sure we would see a kicker as good as that for some while, but Blair Walsh is quickly proving me wrong. The kid has been money all season long. Let's just hope he keeps it up.

• The offensive line still has some work to do. We did a very nice job protecting Cox in passing situations, like we have done most of the year, but we are still struggling to get a consistent push off the ball in the run game.

• I like Bobo being on the sideline. He might not have as great a view of the game himself, but that is why you have spotters up in the booth for you. His energy and passion seemed to rub off on the players out there. It is great any time a coach can be out there and look his players in the eyes to instill confidence and calm in critical stretches of the game.

• Again, I know it was Vanderbilt, but our success in shutting down a spread offense has to be encouraging especially considering who we have up next.

Ultimately, this was exactly what we needed: an easy win where the players get a little bit of their confidence back and begin to feel good about themselves again as we head into the biggest matchup of the year. Florida is very beatable and we have the potential and talent to pull the upset, but in order for that to happen we have to spend the next two weeks ironing out our consistency issues and then come out on fire on Halloween. GO DAWGS!

2009 SEC Midseason Awards

Before the season I predicted the winners of my SEC Awards in a number of different categories ranging from most overrated player to most annoying figure. Well now that we are at the mid-way point on the season I thought it would be interesting to check in to see where I stand with those predictions and make updated picks where necessary. Some of my preseason picks are still looking good, while others are in need of some serious revision.

*TEAM MOST LIKELY TO EXCEED EXPECTATIONS
Preseason Picks: Winner: Georgia; Runner Up: Arkansas
Updated Pick: Auburn-We are all intimately familiar with the struggles we have experienced this year and Arkansas has been good, but not quite the surprise team I expected (although that could change with a victory over Florida tomorrow). Auburn, on the other hand, came out of the gates strong with a 5-0 start before slipping on the road to Arkansas last week. The Tigers have adjusted to Gus Malzahn's spread much quicker than I had anticipated and look to be a step ahead of schedule in the rebuilding process.

*TEAM MOST LIKELY TO FALL SHORT OF EXPECTATIONS
Preseason Picks: Winner: Florida; Runner Up: Alabama
Updated Pick: Ole Miss-Alright get it over with. Have your laugh at my expense. Sure, my picks in this category look to be comically inaccurate, but my original basis with those two picks was that even if Florida and Alabama lost 1 or 2 games that would be a disappointment to their respective fan bases based on their inflated expectations. But Ole Miss is the obvious mid-season pick here. Their preseason expectations, while unrealistic to begin with, have already been completely dashed.

*TEAM THAT WILL MAKE THE MOST OUT OF THE LEAST
Preseason Picks: Winner: Vanderbilt; Runner Up: Arkansas
Updated Pick: Arkansas-This is a tough category to pick seeing how most of the teams in the SEC are loaded with talent and those that are not are at the bottom of the heap. Arkansas is the pick here b/c while they are talented in some spots, there are many deficiencies on that team yet they have still managed to put together a solid season thus far with wins over Texas A&M and Auburn and another near win against Georgia.

*TEAM MOST LIKELY TO BE HUMBLED
Preseason Picks: Winner: LSU; Runner Up: Florida
Updated Pick: Georgia-I am not saying we were ever an arrogant fanbase, but this season is certainly a step backwards from what we have come to expect at Georgia.

*TEAM MOST LIKELY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP (RELATIVE TO PROGRAM)
Preseason Picks: Winner: Ole Miss; Runner Up: Tennessee
Updated Pick: Alabama- I realize they were ranked # 1 for much of the year last year and lost to Florida in the SEC title game, but I, unfortunately, expect Alabama to take the next step and win the SEC title this year and earn a shot at the national title game in Pasadena.

*BIGGEST SPOILER TEAM
Preseason Picks: Winner: Arkansas; Runner Up: Tennessee
Updated Pick: Same-I still like these two picks. Tennessee played Florida tough in the swamp and Arkansas still has a chance to play spoiler to Florida and LSU.

*MOST IMPROVED UNIT (OFFENSE, DEFENSE, SPECIAL TEAMS)
Preseason Picks: Winner: Georgia Defense; Runner Up: LSU Defense
Updated Pick: Auburn Offense-Here is another example where my wishful thinking regarding my Dawgs made me look like a fool. Anyway...Auburn's offense was dreadful last year but has really picked up the pace under OC Gus Malzahn averaging an SEC leading 490 yards per game. They have to be the obvious pick here.

*COACH THAT WILL MOST HOLD HIS TEAM BACK
Preseason Picks: Winner: Gene Chizik; Runner Up: Steve Spurrier
Updated Pick: Mark Richt- I truly hate to make this pick, but based on his refusal to make necessary changes (coaching staff, special teams, etc.) and the inconsistent and undisciplined nature of our team it is simply a pick in all objectivity I have to make. Never thought I would be saying that.

*MOST OVERRATED PLAYER
Preseason Picks: Winner: Jevan Snead; Runner Up: Terrance Cody
Updated Pick: Jevan Snead-With his below average play thus far this year, Snead has proven me correct in predicting there was no way he would live up to his potential preseason Heisman hype. His footwork is terrible, he makes horrible decisions, and his lack of accuracy is obvious. Yet another example of a player unjustifiably hyped by the media machine based on a ridiculously small sample size.

*MOST UNDERVALUED PLAYER
Preseason Picks: Winner: Joe Cox; Runner Up: Trevard Lindley
Updated Pick: A.J. Green-Before you scoff at this pick, let me explain. Green is certainly not undervalued by the Bulldawg Nation, but I believe it is more than fair to say he is undervalued by the SEC and national sports media at large. Despite putting up vastly superior numbers to Julio Jones, Green still finds himself often in the shadow of Jones primarily b/c Jones plays on a more successful team. If we were 6-0 or 5-1 rather than 3-3 Green might be getting the national love he deserves, but unfortunately that just is not the case. For my money A.J. is the best receiver in the nation, but he certainly does not get anywhere near that respect nationally.

*MOST DOMINATING DEFENDER
Preseason Picks: Winner: Brandon Spikes; Runner Up: Geno Atkins
Updated Pick: Rennie Curran- I am going with Rennie here simply based on production. He is yet again leading the SEC in tackles with 64 and has been a bright spot in an otherwise bleak season for the Georgia defense.

*MOST DANGEROUS OFFENSIVE PLAYMAKER
Preseason Picks: Winner: A.J. Green; Runner Up: Jeff Demps
Updated Pick: A.J. Green: Simply the best player on the field at all times and is a legitimate big play threat every time he lines up. Defenses have to form their entire game plan around his presence and his production has been constant regardless of the fact that there has been no other consistent threat to take the pressure off of him in the Georgia offense.

*PLAYER MOST LIKELY TO BE A HOUSEHOLD NAME BY END OF YEAR
Preseason Picks: Winner: Richard Samuel; Runner Up: Charles Scott
Updated Pick: Mark Ingram-The Samuel pick is just yet another example of fannish wishful thinking as Samuel is clearly not ready to be an impact player yet. Mark Ingram, however, is a machine at running back for Alabama. He is 4th in the league in rushing with 109 yds/game and is first in touchdowns with 7. It also helps that he plays on what many, including myself, perceive to be the best team in the nation. If Bama wins the SEC title and earns a spot in the MNC game Ingram will be a huge reason why and will be a name on the tip of every college football fan's tongue.

*BREAKOUT FRESHMAN
Preseason Picks: Winner: Bryce Brown; Runner Up: Orson Charles
Updated Pick: Orlando McCalebb-Part of the two-headed Auburn rushing monster that is averaging 252 yds/game, McCalebb himself is averaging 73 rushing yds/game and has 4 TDs on the season. Charles has flashed the ability to be a significant threat in the Georgia offense, but McCalebb has been a more consistent factor in his offense to this point.

*MOST ANNOYING FIGURE
Preseason Picks: Winner: Urban Meyer; Runner Up: Nick Saban
Updated Pick: Urban Meyer-Meyer and that smug look perpetually stuck on his face still take the cake in this category, but by virtue of his delusional comments following his victory over Georgia I am going to have to move Lane Kiffin into the runner up spot.

*MOST MARGINALLY TALENTED SYSTEM QB ENJOYING DIVINE FAVOR WHO HAS ACHIEVED SUPER STARDOM BASED PRIMARILY ON THE EXTRAORDINARY TALENT LEVEL SURROUNDING HIM
Preseason Pick: Tim Tebow
Updated Pick: Tim Tebow- The winner of this category will forever and always be the Holy One, Timothy Tebow.

We'll take another look at the awards at the end of the year to pick the final winners.

TG

Upperclassmen Call Players Meeting

According to Ugasports.com ($), the UGA rivals.com affiliate, several upperclassmen called a "players only" meeting following practice yesterday where they urged their teammates not to give up on the season. It's great to see some leadership step up to the plate, but I'm not overly confident a "players only" meeting will have any tangible or significant impact on the rest of the season. If I remember correctly, there was a defensive "players only" meeting or two called last year and that sure did not seem to have too much of an impact on our dismal defensive performances to end the regular season. Like I said, it's great to see leaders step up and try to get this thing on track, but I wouldn't hold my breath that a meeting like this is going to solve all of our problems

TG

What's Wrong With Georgia?

My apologies for the non-existent posting over the past two days. I am just now coming out of my depression of despair over the disaster of Saturday and I could not begin writing a post without having to fight off the urge to hurl myself out of a second-story window of my house. Anyway, it seems this week everyone from the Georgia Sports Blog to Ugasports.com ($) has offered their take on the current state of the Georgia program and what is holding us back. I find a great deal of merit in many of the points being made out there concerning the Georgia program, but here is my take on the subject...

First, as I said in my game recap post on Sunday, the Georgia program is as stable and solid as they come, but we cannot expect to remain among the elite programs in the country if we continue to stand pat with our comfortable status quo while everyone around us is working furiously, and quite successfully, to improve their programs. We have been a dominant force in the SEC this decade, but the SEC of 2009 is not the SEC of 2002-2007. In examining the current state of the SEC one finds a reborn Alabama program rolling in the wins and blue chip recruits, a dominant Florida program that might add this year to its already impressive 2 national titles in 3 years, an LSU program with 2 national titles in the decade, and a score of other programs including Tennessee, Auburn, and Ole Miss that have shown the willingness and eagerness to make the necessary changes to adapt to the new era of SEC football. But yet amidst all these changes the Georgia program seems stuck in the past in its approach to almost every aspect of the game. Changes need to be made. I can't sit here and honestly claim to know exactly what needs to be done as I am not in the meeting rooms and behind all the closed doors Sunday through Friday, but I do know I continue to witness a slow but conspicuous erosion of the quality of the product on the field and if we continue to be content with our status quo approach we are in serious danger of spiraling into the netherworld of the SEC.

So what is the problem? There are a million specific problems I could point out that are plaguing us this year, but I am confident most of you reading this are quite familiar with our defensive and rushing woes and thus I won't roll out a detailed breakdown of those issues. Ultimately I do not believe we are suffering from any physical deficiencies, rather our issues are of the intangible sort; intelligence, discipline, focus, intensity, dedication, etc. Our roster is as physically talented as any roster in the SEC. The breakdown in our program is not in talent, it is with the intangible factors that can transform a talented team into a championship team. Think about the teams dominating the league right now. Do you see Florida and Alabama kill themselves with penalties like we do? Do you see them lose games because of special teams disasters? Do you see them have complete defensive meltdowns? Do you see them show up flat for every other game? Do you see them turn the ball over at an inexplicable rate? NO, YOU DON'T. And that is why they are where they are and that is why we are where we are. There is not an overly discernible difference in talent level b/w us and the Florida's and Alabama's of the world. The difference is those programs consistently play smart, focused, and disciplined on a week-to-week basis. And that begins and ends with the coaching staffs. The coaches of those programs demand excellence and if they do not get it then the necessary changes are made irrespective of seniority, sentiment, or experience. I am not so sure we can say that about our coaching staff.

But the positive thing about it is the talent is there. Our coaches just have to adjust to the new realities of the SEC and demand more from their players and from themselves. There was a great deal of talk this off-season about the players holding each other accountable, well what I would like to see is the coaches holding both their players and each other accountable on a much higher level than has recently been the case. The bottom line is if we get our talented players to play with the intelligence, intensity, and focus that you see every week from the likes of Nick Saban and Urban Meyer coached teams then I really believe we will see a dramatic improvement in our level of play. Until then we will likely see much of the same.

TG

Sunday Morning Quarterback: Tennessee Edition

This is unacceptable. Simply unacceptable. A 3-3 record halfway through the season is typically a record reserved for the South Carolina's and Kentucky's of the world, yet now we find ourselves firmly situated in that same camp of mediocrity. For the past 5-6 years I truly expected us to win every game we played, but now I go into each game almost expecting us to lose; expecting that we will find some way to lose to less talented teams. I have made every excuse in the book for this team and tried to find the silver lining in every negative development and poor performance, but yesterday's embarrassment served as a wake up call of sorts for me. The bottom line is I realized WE ARE JUST NOT A GOOD FOOTBALL TEAM. We are a talented team to be sure, but being good and talented are two entirely different things. You can be very talented but still not be a very good team. Translating outstanding physical ability to great on-the-field success takes, among other things, intelligence, discipline, desire, and focus none of which we can be associated with this Georgia football team. Changes have to be made. I am not going to sit here and tell Coach Richt what changes he needs to make on his team, but I do feel confident in saying something needs to change. I think that is obvious. Instead of progressing as a program we are more and more every week sinking back into the trap of mediocrity. By no means do I think all hope is lost for this program as I have all the faith in the world that we can get this thing back on the right track. The Georgia program is a stable and prestigious brand that will never get knocked out for the count, but if we continue to follow the same path we have for the past three years without making the necessary changes we will simply be prolonging our slide.

Here is my take on the Tennessee game...

• Considering that we were playing, outside of Vandy, probably the worst offense in the SEC that might have been the most pathetic defensive performance I have seen from a Georgia football team in the Mark Richt era. The most embarrassing aspect of the defensive performance was the fact that Tennessee was not doing anything crazy offensively. In fact, they were so vanilla it was funny. But vanilla or not they absolutely destroyed us with their play action bootleg game. Are you kidding me??? The PA bootleg play is one of the most basic in all of football. 10 year old little league teams run that stuff. Linebackers and safeties couldn't cover fullbacks, tightends ran open all day, and our 7 & 8 defenders in coverage could not cover 2 & 3 man routes. Absolutely pathetic. I realize Hardesty is a very good running back, but we were biting on the run fake to a degree that I have never seen before. We were giving Hardesty Adrian Peterson respect. And then once we did realize it was a PA fake we were entirely lost trying to get back in coverage. We simply got out schemed on defense. Kiffin and Co. obviously picked up on our deficiencies in recognizing PA and took full advantage of it (check here for my analysis of our defensive struggles against Arkansas' PA game). I sat up in the stands yesterday thinking that Martinez would be able to make the necessary adjustments at halftime against such a basic offensive scheme, but boy was I wrong. I have defended Willie at every turn and made every excuse in the world for him, but after yesterday's defensive performance I have finally decided that we could not be worse off with another defensive coordinator. I'm not going to call for the guy's job, I never wish it on anyone to lose their job, but no longer will I argue with those who maintain that we would be better off going in another direction with the defense.
• Prince Miller is simply a terrible corner. He is not even average. He is terrible. How someone with 4.3 speed gets beaten as badly and as often as he does I have absolutely no idea.
• Reshad Jones continues to be a liability in coverage. He has really stepped up his game this year, especially in the run support department, but he still has a long way to go. I remember one time specifically in the first quarter where the fullback had beaten him by about 5 yards on a wheel route that would have been an easy TD if Crompton had not overthrown him.
• I am still trying to figure out why on the ensuing Tennessee possession after Rambo's pick-six where we cut the lead to 24-19 Rennie Curran was not on the field for the entire series. IMO, up to that point, that was the most important defensive series of the game. We had just grabbed the momentum and were one stop away from giving our offense the ball back with a chance to take the lead. Why our best defensive player was on the sidelines for that entire critical series I will never understand. And in his place who was on the field? Why it was Redshirt Freshman Christian Robinson who has seen essentially no playing time in his short career. He was the guy on the field for that crucial series.
• Mike Bobo is an expert at scripting the first drive of a game, but after that, when it comes down to making adjustments and calling a game on the fly, he seems to really be struggling. Think back to the OK State game to open the season. That first drive where we went up 7-0 early it looked like we would be able to score at will. After that initial drive, though, we struggled to move the ball at all. Yesterday it was much of the same. While we eventually shot ourselves in the foot at the end of the drive, our first offensive drive was crisp, creative, and effective. After that, we did basically nothing offensively. I will say in Bobo's defense it is very difficult to effectively call a game when you absolutely cannot run the ball at all, especially when your offense is as predicated on balance and being able to run the football as ours is. Outside of our defensive deficiencies and inconsistencies, our inability to run the ball is our most critical flaw. And there is no one issue to focus on with the run game. Our backs are not finding the holes and exploding through them, our line is not consistently blowing holes open, and I also don't think Bobo has really been committed to the run game in his play calling. I realize Bobo justifiably has little faith in our run game at this point, but we will never be able to get that part of our game on track if he does not make a concerted effort to commit to the run game.
• Outside of A.J. Green Drew Butler might be the best player at his position on our team. Talk about changing field position.
• Blair Walsh could really be a weapon.
• Our kick return team is really impressive, I just wish the coverage unit could catch up.
• Where was the intensity, particularly on defense? You could tell Tennessee wanted this game, while we were just going through the motions. Is that not a direct reflection of your coach?
• I'm not going to rip on Cox. Could he make better decisions and be more accurate, without a doubt. But the guy is working without any run game whatsoever. He is hitting on plenty of his throws for us to be successful he is just not getting much help outside of A.J. Green. Yeah, he was not very good in the second half but we were in full on comeback mode and our offense is simply not built for that type of thing. Cox is far from perfect or even great, but he is good enough to get the job done if more people on the team would just do their jobs.

Things are pretty bad, I don't think you can ignore that. Still, as frustrated as I am I am not going to abandon this team. I am not happy with how things have gone to this point, but they guys are still playing hard and doing everything they can to be successful. All we can do is continue to support this team and hope that one of these games we will finally put it all together.

The Friday Breakdown: Ugly Orange Edition

Just on a personal note...is there a more hideous shade of orange, or color for that matter, than what those of us making the trip to Knoxville will see as we walk through town this week. I for one think not. Anyway....

We obviously need to rebound this week. Tennessee, while maybe starting the worst QB in their recent history, is a very capable team that can easily bring us even with them at a .500 level if we do not come out of the gate focused and motivated to get back on track. As I wrote earlier this week there is plenty of time left for us to have the type of season we all want, but it starts tomorrow in Knoxville. A win against the Orange and we will only be one road win against a far inferior Vandy team from a showdown in Jacksonville for sole possession of 1st place in the SEC East. A loss to Tennessee....well Chick Fil' A Bowl here we come.

HOW WE WIN THIS GAME

• 1st and foremost we have got to get some semblance of a run game going. I'm not even talking about a dominating run game. I'm just talking about a decent rushing attack that will at least force UT to respect that we can hurt them some what on the ground so we can open up our downfield play action passing game. Part of what makes Eric Berry great is his aggressiveness against the run, but that aggressiveness can also at times prove to be his greatest weakness. If we get the run game going some what he will fly up overaggressively against the run and thus be vulnerable to getting burned in pass coverage. All you ever see on highlights is Berry making a big hit or breaking on a ball while sitting in zone coverage for a pick, but I have seen him get beat plenty of times in man coverage off of play action fakes b/c he bites so hard to stop the run. If we get the run game going pretty well we might be able to neutralize some of Berry's effectiveness.

• Get after the passer. While his faults are many, perhaps his most damning fault is his decision making under pressure. If facing significant pressure Crompton is liable to make many ill-advised throws. If we get pressure on Crompton and force him into bad decisions this might be the week we start to force some serious turnovers.

• STOP THE RUN. Crompton is terrible, but Montario Hardesty just might be the best running back in the SEC. He has good speed, good hands, and runs with authority. He has basically been their offense. His production is even more impressive when you consider that it has all come without any help from the passing game. Defenses load the box to shut him down, but he still manages to produce behind a strong and veteran offensive line. Our numbers against the run have taken a moderate hit the past two games, but overall I am still very happy with how we have defended the run. Up front Weston, Owens, Atkins, and Houston are going to have to control the line of scrimmage and the LB's are going to have to handle their business scraping to the ball over the top and actually making the tackle when they have the opportunity.

• No turnovers deep in our own territory. Turning the ball over deep in your own territory is the best way to help an epically struggling opposing offense. I do not see Tennessee consistently driving the length of the field for scores against our defense, but if we help them out by reducing the length they have to go for scores who knows how this game could turn out.

• Contain UT's return game. Freshman Nu'Keese Richardson has really come on lately for the Vols in the return game. He is a small bolt of lightening that has the ability to change the game with one or two returns. We all know the track record of our coverage units. Outside of turnovers the best way to help Tennessee's offense is by giving up big returns that set them up with a short field. Our coverage units have to be on top of their game b/c one of the biggest keys to this game will be forcing the Vol offense to drive the length of the field for touchdowns. If we can do that we will be in good shape, but if we start giving them short fields to work with a futile offense might all of a sudden start putting more points up on the scoreboard.

All in all, we should win this football game. We have more overall talent, the better QB, and the best player on the field (yes, including Eric Berry). If we can run the ball even decently and force the UT offense to drive the length of the field for scores as opposed to handing them the ball in our territory via turnovers or long returns we should walk away with another SEC victory. GO DAWGS!!!

TG

Are We Running Out of Time?

Bill King from the AJC's Junkyard Blawg seems to think so. While it certainly is disheartening to still see the level of inconsistency we witness game in and game nearly half way through the season, I am not quite sure that we are "running out of time." While we can by no means take them for granted, the fact is we have two very winnable games ahead of us at Tennessee and Vanderbilt and then a bye week before we head to Jacksonville. If we take care of business on the road against UT and Vandy we will play in Jacksonville for a chance to take over sole possession of 1st place in the East. Think about that for a minute. Despite all of our struggles and inconsistencies early in the season, we still have a very legitimate shot to be sitting alone in 1st place in the East standings in less than one month's time. Now we could very easily lose this weekend to the Orange or next week to Vandy if we go out there and play flat and without any focus, but we are better than both of those teams. We will absolutely be a fairly heavy underdog against Florida, but if we play up to our capabilities and continue to iron out some of our issues over the next 3 weeks we have a decent shot at beating them. It might be a long shot, but it is still a shot. If we do manage to pull the upset over Florida all that is standing in our way of a date in the Georgia Dome in December will be two home games against Auburn and Kentcky. The Auburn game will be a dog fight and will by no means by a gimmee as they are really clicking on all cylinders right now, but that is still a game we have a great chance of winning.

So that's how I see it. Our loss to LSU definitely reduced our margin for error, but I find it a bit of a stretch to say we are running out of time on the season. We have three weeks, including an invaluable bye week, to work out our kinks in preparation for what could amount to a showdown for 1st place in the SEC East. Granted we have work to do, but we have already seen improvement in many areas and I do not think it is unreasonable to expect the improvement to continue as the season progresses. There is time to turn this thing around, we just have to make the most of that time.

TG