First, the better team won Thursday night. Period. LSU is loaded. Bama & LSU is going to be an absolute war. Winner of that game wins the Championship. And right now, I think LSU has the edge.
LSU is superior to us up front, on both sides. In fairness, our depleted OL isn't really a fair fight. Clausell has talent and is going to be really good, eventually. But he's not there yet. And in a shocking development, Tobias Smith is now out for the season. Didn't see that coming. #sarcasm Dillon Day, like Clausell, is going to be special up front. But he likewise isn't quite ready yet. Our starting 5 were/are probably good enough to go toe-to-toe with LSU's DL, especially getting quality depth and snaps from Clausell & Day. But having to play Clausell & Day the whole game completely robs our depth and asks them to do more than they are capable of right now against the monsters LSU calls DLinemen. But overall, I was pleased with their effort.
This Relf sucks talk needs to stop. He's clearly the best QB we have. Putting in Russell was dumb. Relf had just thrown a strike to Marcus Green that would have kept the drive alive, only to have it dropped. Then Russell comes in, can't get the ball out of his hands, and throws an absolutely horrible pick to avoid taking a sack. He just isn't SEC ready, and I'm not entirely sure he'll ever be ready. The only way he should play outside of mop-up duty is if Relf has one leg. My only real beef with Relf is taking a couple of the coverage sacks. He didn't do that last year. He needs to rediscover his decisiveness when it comes to pulling the ball down and running.
Our WRs still aren't where we need them to be. Michael Carr not fighting for the ball on the Relf INT was pathetic. Of course, my question is why Carr is running that route instead of Secret Weapon or Chris Smith. C34 is right about Bumphis. He's got to make that sliding catch. Randle, the freshman LSU WR, is better than him right now. Bumphis is going to go down as a huge disappointment, unless he decides he wants to catch the ball. Percy Harvin, he ain't. And while we're on overrated players, I've got to blast Marcus Green. He's a huge mismatch, but can't catch the ball when it counts. His blocking isn't so hot, either.
Another gripe I had with the offense: No Jameon Lewis for the second week in a row. He showed he has the kind of speed needed to break a big play against the LSUs & Bamas on his kick returns. But we don't even get him an offensive touch? Right now, he's one of our few real threats at WR.
I can't say enough about how our D played. I loved Wilson's game plan. Stop the run, force Jarrett Lee to beat you with his arm. Unfortunately for us, he did. But the D was much improved and gave us everything they had until they ran out of gas. 40 minutes on the field is just asking too much against an LSU or Bama. Cox & Boyd had good games in the middle. I was extremely happy to see Kaleb Eulls make some quality plays. He's going to be really good, but needs experience. (Common refrain for us this season.) I'm surprised at how well PJ Jones has played so far. I just didn't see him being an impact player. Sure, he's got the size & skills, but it never seemed to translate for him in HS. I can't think of a time where he took over a game for Tupelo on defense and dominated the line of scrimmage. But I agree with Azzuri, he needs more PT.
Our LB played was overall improved. Letting Cam make the calls makes a big difference for our positioning, as I said last week. And I would still put him in the middle and start Wells & Skinner on the outside. I really like Bohanna. He's got serious speed. Repeat my comments on Clausell, Day, and Eulls for Bohanna. Maye just isn't going to be an impact guy for us. I'd rather give his PT to Bohanna & Wilson.
Our secondary had a pretty good game, especially Charles Mitchell. He was everywhere. The only really bad play was biting on the play action that let LSU get their TD. But with the way they'd been running, it's hard to blame our guys for biting. Shouldn't have happened, but understandable. The one thing I didn't like about our game plan on D was how soft we played on the corners. Yes, LSU's WRs are fast and might get behind us. But I think our CBs are as good as any in the league except for LSU's. Let them man up and take the gamble some. They're plenty physical to play some press.
Special teams was much better. But we still need a kicker than can put it in the endzone on kickoffs. I'm serious when I say we should pull a Mike Leach and have open tryouts to find a guy who can do it. It's just inexcusable to not have one. Perk isn't a natural returner, but I don't know who else we'd put back there. Bumphis isn't the answer, as we've seen the last 2 years. Nick Brassell switching really hurts us here. He'd definitely be the other guy back there with Lewis.
All the talk of Mullen quitting with playcalling on the last drive is bunk. LSU had called off the dogs and was playing prevent. Yes, we were down "only" 13. But it might as well have been 100 with the way they were dominating our OL. The last drive was clearly a gentleman's agreement to end it. If we'd been more aggressive and used our TOs, LSU would have gone back to rushing & blitzing.
I was very disappointed with the penalties. We didn't make mistakes like that last season. We don't have the talent to overcome 1st & 15 regularly. And that's a coaching issue, which is even more baffling.
Bottom line, we played about as well as we could've hoped, under the circumstances. We just don't have the horses up front right now to beat an LSU. But we definitely took a big step forward on D. It'll be interesting to see how we handle OL depth the rest of the season. The staff clearly doesn't trust Damien Robinson or believe he's ready to play, or he'd have seen SEC action in these last 2 games. We may be 1-2, but it isn't time to panic. The only game we've lost that we "should" have won was Auburn. It hurts, but we gotta move on. Rebound against LA Tech next week, then go between the hedges in Athens for another SEC road war. We need that one, but UGA has a lot of pride. It'll be a tight game, most likely. We can still go 8-4, 7-5. It's just trickier now.
In Mullen & Relf I Trust,
SPD
LSU is superior to us up front, on both sides. In fairness, our depleted OL isn't really a fair fight. Clausell has talent and is going to be really good, eventually. But he's not there yet. And in a shocking development, Tobias Smith is now out for the season. Didn't see that coming. #sarcasm Dillon Day, like Clausell, is going to be special up front. But he likewise isn't quite ready yet. Our starting 5 were/are probably good enough to go toe-to-toe with LSU's DL, especially getting quality depth and snaps from Clausell & Day. But having to play Clausell & Day the whole game completely robs our depth and asks them to do more than they are capable of right now against the monsters LSU calls DLinemen. But overall, I was pleased with their effort.
This Relf sucks talk needs to stop. He's clearly the best QB we have. Putting in Russell was dumb. Relf had just thrown a strike to Marcus Green that would have kept the drive alive, only to have it dropped. Then Russell comes in, can't get the ball out of his hands, and throws an absolutely horrible pick to avoid taking a sack. He just isn't SEC ready, and I'm not entirely sure he'll ever be ready. The only way he should play outside of mop-up duty is if Relf has one leg. My only real beef with Relf is taking a couple of the coverage sacks. He didn't do that last year. He needs to rediscover his decisiveness when it comes to pulling the ball down and running.
Our WRs still aren't where we need them to be. Michael Carr not fighting for the ball on the Relf INT was pathetic. Of course, my question is why Carr is running that route instead of Secret Weapon or Chris Smith. C34 is right about Bumphis. He's got to make that sliding catch. Randle, the freshman LSU WR, is better than him right now. Bumphis is going to go down as a huge disappointment, unless he decides he wants to catch the ball. Percy Harvin, he ain't. And while we're on overrated players, I've got to blast Marcus Green. He's a huge mismatch, but can't catch the ball when it counts. His blocking isn't so hot, either.
Another gripe I had with the offense: No Jameon Lewis for the second week in a row. He showed he has the kind of speed needed to break a big play against the LSUs & Bamas on his kick returns. But we don't even get him an offensive touch? Right now, he's one of our few real threats at WR.
I can't say enough about how our D played. I loved Wilson's game plan. Stop the run, force Jarrett Lee to beat you with his arm. Unfortunately for us, he did. But the D was much improved and gave us everything they had until they ran out of gas. 40 minutes on the field is just asking too much against an LSU or Bama. Cox & Boyd had good games in the middle. I was extremely happy to see Kaleb Eulls make some quality plays. He's going to be really good, but needs experience. (Common refrain for us this season.) I'm surprised at how well PJ Jones has played so far. I just didn't see him being an impact player. Sure, he's got the size & skills, but it never seemed to translate for him in HS. I can't think of a time where he took over a game for Tupelo on defense and dominated the line of scrimmage. But I agree with Azzuri, he needs more PT.
Our LB played was overall improved. Letting Cam make the calls makes a big difference for our positioning, as I said last week. And I would still put him in the middle and start Wells & Skinner on the outside. I really like Bohanna. He's got serious speed. Repeat my comments on Clausell, Day, and Eulls for Bohanna. Maye just isn't going to be an impact guy for us. I'd rather give his PT to Bohanna & Wilson.
Our secondary had a pretty good game, especially Charles Mitchell. He was everywhere. The only really bad play was biting on the play action that let LSU get their TD. But with the way they'd been running, it's hard to blame our guys for biting. Shouldn't have happened, but understandable. The one thing I didn't like about our game plan on D was how soft we played on the corners. Yes, LSU's WRs are fast and might get behind us. But I think our CBs are as good as any in the league except for LSU's. Let them man up and take the gamble some. They're plenty physical to play some press.
Special teams was much better. But we still need a kicker than can put it in the endzone on kickoffs. I'm serious when I say we should pull a Mike Leach and have open tryouts to find a guy who can do it. It's just inexcusable to not have one. Perk isn't a natural returner, but I don't know who else we'd put back there. Bumphis isn't the answer, as we've seen the last 2 years. Nick Brassell switching really hurts us here. He'd definitely be the other guy back there with Lewis.
All the talk of Mullen quitting with playcalling on the last drive is bunk. LSU had called off the dogs and was playing prevent. Yes, we were down "only" 13. But it might as well have been 100 with the way they were dominating our OL. The last drive was clearly a gentleman's agreement to end it. If we'd been more aggressive and used our TOs, LSU would have gone back to rushing & blitzing.
I was very disappointed with the penalties. We didn't make mistakes like that last season. We don't have the talent to overcome 1st & 15 regularly. And that's a coaching issue, which is even more baffling.
Bottom line, we played about as well as we could've hoped, under the circumstances. We just don't have the horses up front right now to beat an LSU. But we definitely took a big step forward on D. It'll be interesting to see how we handle OL depth the rest of the season. The staff clearly doesn't trust Damien Robinson or believe he's ready to play, or he'd have seen SEC action in these last 2 games. We may be 1-2, but it isn't time to panic. The only game we've lost that we "should" have won was Auburn. It hurts, but we gotta move on. Rebound against LA Tech next week, then go between the hedges in Athens for another SEC road war. We need that one, but UGA has a lot of pride. It'll be a tight game, most likely. We can still go 8-4, 7-5. It's just trickier now.
In Mullen & Relf I Trust,
SPD
