The Sunday Treatment: Arkansas Edition

Yesterday, I posted the following:

These are the keys to the game as I see it:

• Win the turnover battle. 
• Control both lines of scrimmage. 
• Rush for over 200 yards
• Throw for over 150 yards
• Control the Hogs' ground game

And by the way, one of my nicknames happens to be Captain Obvious.

Last week, against Mizzou, we did all five of those things. Usually against a solid SEC opponent, that isn't going to happen. But, if we can do 4 of those things, then I think we win this game maybe by as much as 10-14 points.

Good ole Captain Obvious! Well, I said if we did four of those things, we'd win by 10-14 points. We won by 13. We hit 200 yards on the ground, Mason finished with 179 yards in the air, we definitely won the turnover battle, and we controlled the Hogs' ground game as they finished with just 126 yards on the ground. Controlling both lines of scrimmage? For a time, yes, but that kind of became a push in the 2nd half.

In the first half, we did all five of those things and we saw the Dawgs up 38-6 at the break. Obviously, we got more conservative in the 2nd half with our play calling and, honestly, I think we let off the gas a bit. The big difference for Arkansas was that they got that passing game cranked up (and again, I think we got more conservative on the defensive side of the ball as well), but it just seemed like we had total control of this game for the entire duration.



If someone were to just glance at the stats with out knowing the final outcome, they would probably figure that Arkansas won - they out-gained us, had 11 more first downs, and enjoyed a 10 minute advantage in T.O.P. over us - but if they looked at the all-too-important turnover line in that stat comparison, they would know how that score happened. 21 points off of those turnovers including a defensive score. Obviously, that was the ball game.

So many positives in this game:

• Nick Chubb, man! Good Gosh Almighty! 30 carries, 202 yards. Became the first UGA freshman TB to hit 200 since Rodney Hampton in 1987.
• Hutson Mason. Another very solid and efficient performance from the 5th year senior. And that boy can throw downfield! Two TDs in the air and he got another one on the ground. This guy is gutsy and he's tough. Can't say enough good things about his performance. 
• Chris Conley. What a game for one of the best DGDs out there! 5 catches for 128 yards and a TD. And it's no secret that he is Mason's go-to-guy. 
• The entire Defense and DC Jeremy Pruitt. Big kudos to Leonard Floyd and Damiann Swann, specifically. And of course Dominick Sanders for that 54 yard scoop and score. The first half - GATA all the way! A very good performance that would have looked better if we hadn't let up in the 2nd.

Pretty much all of the pundits and talking heads once again didn't give the Dawgs a chance, and once again, we made them all look foolish. This is a very good football team right now. The way the defense has solidified along with our record-breaking offense and very solid special teams, I think UGA is a very, very hard team to beat right now. And what if we get Gurley back? Man...it's exciting times.

It's a great day to be a Dawg! GATA! GO DAWGS!!!

UGA vs. ARKY: Some Pregame Thoughts

Honestly, I'm a little tired of all the naysayers. If we had barely scraped by or lost last week, I could kind of get it, but to me, this just reeks of disrespect. Maybe some of these folks know something we don't, but I doubt it.

So now we get Arkansas. I watched a good bit of their game Saturday, and I pretty much watched all of the 2nd half. They're a good team. Lots of talent. Lots of big offensive lineman. Some very strong running backs and a very capable QB. You got to respect their D pretty good, too. Some very good players and they seem to be coaching 'em up really good out there.

But in terms of what we do well, I think we match up pretty good.

These are the keys to the game as I see it:

• Win the turnover battle. 
• Control both lines of scrimmage. 
• Rush for over 200 yards
• Throw for over 150 yards
• Control the Hogs' ground game

And by the way, one of my nicknames happens to be Captain Obvious.

Last week, against Mizzou, we did all five of those things. Usually against a solid SEC opponent, that isn't going to happen. But, if we can do 4 of those things, then I think we win this game maybe by as much as 10-14 points. Chances are, we do three of the aforementioned things, and we'd look at hopefully winning a close game. If I could pick three, I'd choose: rushing the ball for over 200 yards, winning the turnover battle, and controlling the Hogs' ground game.

A couple of things make nervous:

1. The ability for ARKY to put up huge numbers in the air
2. Their impressive O-line 

Random SEC thoughts: I have a feeling 'Bama is about to take out some frustrations today...I think Florida beats MIZZOU today and sets up Jacksonville as the battle for the East...Call me crazy but I think UT is gonna play Ole Miss pretty close.

GO DAWGS!!!

Week 7 Mumme Poll: Results and my Ballot

It's that time of year again. The greatest and most democratic of college football polls is out - The Mumme Poll! Sponsored by The Senator and the guy that does Third Saturday of Blogtober and The Helmet Project, you can learn more about this very cool poll here.

I believe this is my 4th or 5th year participating, and I always really enjoy it. There were a few tweaks this year to reflect the changed college landscape as it relates to the 4-team playoff we now have. Now, pollsters just pick their top 8 teams, no # 1,
and whoever gets the most votes is tops.

The Week 7 Mumme Poll results:

Rank	Team	Votes
1	Mississippi	81
1	Mississippi State	81
2	Florida State	79
3	Baylor	77
4	Auburn	67
5	Oregon	52
6	Georgia	48
7	Notre Dame	45
8	Alabama	34
9	Michigan State	30
10	Oklahoma	29
11	TCU	26
12	Oklahoma State	2
13	Kentucky	1
13	Missouri	1
13	ECU	1
13	Clemson	1
13	Marshall	1

And my ballot for this week:

Miss. State
Ole Miss
FSU
Auburn
Baylor
Alabama
Georgia
Oklahoma

*Ballot explanation: it's hard for me to give much respect to the Pac-12, B1G, or Notre Dame right now. Sorry. I really didn't want to put in a team that gave up 58 points (Baylor) but couldn't pull the trigger on anyone else so they stay by default. Was really toying with the idea of putting Marshall in there, but being one of the few undefeated teams left in FBS does not automatically qualify as being a top-8 team.

The (Monday) Treatment and a Trip Around the Dawgosphere

Greetings and Salutations! Been a minute. Had some life and work stuff the last week or so and have been

pretty scarce. Apparently missed a pretty big story a few days ago? Oh well...

34-0, baby! 

Box Score ~ Recap






So, where are we at this Monday? All in all, one would have to say that things are looking pretty darn good for our Georgia Bulldogs right now. With all the noise and drama from a few days ago, it would be have been very easy for this team to have faltered in Columbia West a couple days ago. But as we all now know, that didn't happen. In fact, the opposite happened. This team rallied and galvanized themselves and by about 3:30 PM EST, this team looked like a pretty hard team to beat.

Seriously, I can't say enough good things about this win...a lot of guts and grit. Just Outstanding! And what game for #27 Nick Chubb. Wow! 38 carries? Over 140 yards. Big, big performance for the true freshman. Hutson Mason had a great game as well. Very efficient, very smart. Threw for a TD and ran for one as well. But how 'bout that D? Man, what a performance. As many have spoken about the past year or so, we really needed for our defense to get much more opportunistic and create more turnovers. Well, they forced five and they pitched the shut-out. You're not going to see that against a solid SEC opponent very often. A big, big day for DC Pruitt and his troops. And a big-time shout-out to Head Coach Mark Richt. Several folks have said that this may be one of the finer moments in his coaching career. I wouldn't be inclined to disagree with that sentiment.

Let us now get a pulse of the Dawg Nation and take...

A Trip Around the Dawgosphere: 

• The Senator's "Observations from the Armchair." Line of the article:

Like I said, there’s very little with which to find fault.  It was a workmanlike job, not flashy, but thorough. I wasn’t sure which team would show up; fortunately, we got the angry and focused one.

•  Bernie's Sunday Thoughts on Grown Chubb Football  - "Missouri had 12 drives, only one went for more than four plays. Only four plays in Georgia territory, three of which were interceptions." And some of his thoughts on the performance of the D. BTW, Mauk's QB rating? 43!
• According to Tyler over at GA Sports Blog, UGA's D finds itself in the top 20 in the country in numerous statistical categories including being 5th in turnover margin at +1.5 per game.
• CorbinDawg over at The Grit Tree has come around on Hutson Mason. I'm pretty much in the same boat.
• Via Dawgsports, congrats on CMR's 131st victory as the head man for UGA.
• Seth Emerson from down at the Macon paper happens to be my favorite UGA beat writer. Here's his write-up of the game. Also, after having us ranked around 16th the past few weeks in the AP, Emerson, as he said he would once UGA got a quality win on the road, has us in the top 10 now.

And a few random SEC thoughts: State is for real. Ditto for Ole Miss...Auburn is still a great football team...You almost have to admire how Florida can lose a football game sometimes...wow...and never count out the Mad Hatter! Speaking of hats, hats off to Vandy - that was a pretty good (by FCS standards) Charleston Southern team - they continue to fight. UK at 5-1? Rich Brooks would be proud...'Bama looked very UGA-esque at times Saturday night, but hey - they won. Until further notice, 'Bama is still 'Bama...starting to think aTm isn't really much of anything.

Helluva game. Now let's see what we can do with Arkansas.

GO DAWGS!!!