Did a quick check to compare starters. Dogs - 3 seniors on offense, 3 on defense. Gators - 1 senior on offense, 0 on defense. Dogs - 1 freshman on offense, 0 on defense. Gators - 2 freshmen on offense, 1 on defense. Gotta give credit to Kirby $mart for getting those kids to $tay in $chool.
In preseason we heard how stout the D line was. Thinking that reflected more on how poor the o line is than the d line talent.
I thought after multiple viewing of the spot that we had the first down.. I want to point out something about the play itself. IMO, the receiver could have take another step or two.. Instead the receiver went directly down trying turn his body over the line. He should have tried to get closer to the line and then use his power to keep going.
Mainly, the D-line optimism was about the depth. And usually depth means you can ride the hot hand during crunch time. It is alright but no one is excellent. However, the youngsters have real potential. Regarding the O-line, it is baffling that we have TWO assistants dedicated to the O-line and are in their second year in that capacity and we STILL have a weak link there. Nothing wrong with identifying a deficiency, just do something to shore it up. Yes, we can't prove a negative (if we did not have two, the results would have been WORSE) but it still feels like a D2 O-line coach could get something more out of it in two years. Next year will be HUGE for the O-line.
One thing that stuck out to me during the game yesterday was their team speed on defense. Their lateral speed was phenomenal. When linebackers can beat running backs to the edge repeatedly, that's pretty fast! So we need that speed on defense. We also need that kind of speed on offense. I assume Tre and Jean will be those guys on offense once they officially 'get up to speed'. We're on track, for sure. We need more bigger and faster guys. It might be a coaching thing, but I think the more athletic big guys are the right choice. Big slow wall-type guys...not so much, maybe on the O-line. Years ago, we saw Alabama get beat by Utah in a bowl game. Utah was smaller and faster and Bama was powerful but slow. There are probably more recent examples, but that one comes to mind. Hopium, and, for me, optimism skews my objectivity, but that's okay. I'd rather be positive and support the efforts here. We all know we haven't arrived yet. But improvement is noted. The shortcomings are obvious. Annoyingly, the rebuild takes a minute. Now the trick is beating the crap out of Arkansas and not getting down because of the loss. The road from here on out is filled with potholes and should be navigated with the utmost preparation and caution. Arky at home. LSU and Mizzou away! Then the grand finale, FSU at home. Two more wins and maybe even a surprise win would be outstanding. I'm hoping for a LSU and Arky win. And I'll gladly take whatever else I can get. The way I see it, perhaps, (except for Fla St.) this is a mental game from here on out. Execution, determination and focus can/will make a huge difference. It's great to-be a Florida Gator. Go Gators.
Are we going to build a UGA compatible line using the portal? Probably not. But ... upgrades to the OL will be available in the portal. Our performance YTD shows that we desperately need to take advantage of those opportunities.
As usual, Billy got conservative as we got a four point lead and his play calling letting our opponents know every call. We had them reeling and we had a momentum going and in rhythm. a run and a short pass behind the line of scrimmage told the Georgia defense to bring hell on Graham Mertz on third down. we never recovered.
yea man and we CAN’T take castoffs from other top schools either. No more Kimber’s, Damien George’s, Mitchell, Nunnary, etc. Take kids that have been highly productive at their previous stops if you’re hitting the portal.
Nobody stares at a replay that long. And if it really is so difficult to sort out on replay that you need to stare at it for 5 minutes, the call on the field stands 100% of the time. That was a deliberate screw job by the replay ref (and whoever from Birmingham that was in his ear). Then moving the ball back almost a yard??? Now think about this one — how could they need replay to make the call if the ball ends up a yard short? There is zero way to spin this other than a deliberate screwing by the replay booth.
Post game comment by Coach Napier: So, ultimately, the officials, they didn’t have a huge impact on today. Didn’t have much to do with them.
I wouldn’t take Arkansas lightly. If you watched them lose to Mississippi St you would have seen a lot of similarities to our team in how we played yesterday. Frustrating.
Yes, in this hypothetical situation the only dirtbag power in the ACC is Duke and UNC in basketball. There's enough of a power vacuum in the rest of the athletic space we could wield our own power.
I was shocked that the Big XII let KU beat OU. Then I remembered that OU is leaving for the SEC next year.
Off the top of my head I would say for most of our history we only average 1 real NFL player on the DL at a time. The good years we have 2. These days UGA and Alabama have 3-4 playing at all times and more on the bench.
