JessN: Georgia preview: In a contest of immense talent, intangibles might make the differenc

JessN

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Georgia preview: In a contest of immense talent, intangibles might make the difference
by Jess Nicholas
TideFans Editor-In-Chief
November 28th, 2012 12:59 AM

By Jess Nicholas, TideFans.com Editor-In-Chief Nov. 27, 2012   If you’re not an Alabama fan, the Georgia Bulldogs might just qualify as the most physically impressive college football team you’ve ever seen.   The Bulldogs have been stocking NFL-grade talent for years. It’s not a difficult task, given the richness of the Georgia high school [...]

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lafella

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Great write up again Jess, not what I expected though. I figured you'd give Georgia the edge at QB. You're sunglasses have never been the shade of kool aide which is why I enjoy your write ups so much! Thanks!
 

DrollTide

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Atomic Football's Bayesian analysis has Alabama with a 78% chance to win. Sounds just about right for the year as a whole, but that doesn't take into account that both teams are fairly hot right now.
 

Tidetwin

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Atomic Football's Bayesian analysis has Alabama with a 78% chance to win. Sounds just about right for the year as a whole, but that doesn't take into account that both teams are fairly hot right now.
Thanks Jess for the thoughtful analysis as always.

Recent UGA teams don't seem to react well to adversity. Against USC, once the squad got down, it stayed down. It happened several times last year. T'would be nice to pin 14 points on them in the first quarter and then see if the Bulldogs keep to character.
 
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TideEngineer08

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My worry for this game began to subside when I starting seeing Georgia quotes here and there. I don't think they are going to be in the right place mentally, and that's a huge edge to us.
 

bamachile

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Thanks, Jess, but for once you seem more comfortable than I. From the neck down, I believe UGA has a better team. We'll have to beat them with good discipline and intensity.
 

venegoni

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After LSU the players were still talking about the win during the Texas A&M week. I do not think our players heads were in that game until the 2nd quarter........ Far too late.
I have not heard a peep out of Alabama this week, kind of like the NC game last year. UGA and their fans are running their head all week. I think we beat them down.
 

rgw

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After LSU the players were still talking about the win during the Texas A&M week. I do not think our players heads were in that game until the 2nd quarter........ Far too late.
I have not heard a peep out of Alabama this week, kind of like the NC game last year. UGA and their fans are running their head all week. I think we beat them down.
Yeah, all the talk about LSU bleeding into the TAMU week concerned me. I had legitimate worries because we had history of sputtering around in the game following LSU the last few years. In 2007, it was the beginning of an all-out collapse. In 2008 through 2011, I felt Alabama didn't play very well against MSU...State's offensive ineptitude kept it from being a real fight and we'd pull away in the second half. TAMU had a track record of starting fast in every week leading up to the game. The perfect storm happened - TAMU fast start as expected compounded by Alabama malaise - and Alabama dug too much of a hole to climb out even with TAMU's second half struggles they've demonstrated against quality opponents.

I didn't think we'd lose because I thought we'd protect the football better than what happened that Saturday. TAMU's defense hadn't produced a lot of takeaways and we didn't give very many up either. That went sour too and it was all she wrote...but I saw all the circumstances for legitimate upset potential all week.

This week, I see a team that is pretty relaxed given the stakes. They're focused on the goal and the opponent lining up against them. This week has been odd because prior to the Auburn game and into Monday, I felt all the analysis pointed towards UGA pulling out a tough one. Their defense seemed to finally have it together, their runningbacks had gotten back on track after some struggles mid-season, and Alabama had not really looked "great" all of November (if that is possible with two shutouts).

As the media attention has increased, it just seems like Georgia is wound up like a top, a little overly concerned with declaring that Alabama is "merely mortal," and generally a little over-concerned with the stakes or context (how ever you want to put it). Sometimes this works for teams: they embrace the moment, the attention, and "all of the lights" then flourish on the field. Drake's twitter comments withstanding, Alabama is not really rattling the cage either. I'm a firm believer that our 2010 unit is better than this one yet they are 60 minutes from a title berth (that is how the cookie crumbles some years), but I wouldn't want to tell any Saban-coached Alabama team that they aren't as talented as you. This team did get beat by 4 TDs earlier this year, it's not like this is the '01 Miami or '95 Nebraska roster here.

The reason this is important to me is because of the identity Murray/Jarvis Jones-led Georgia has had the last two years: they seem to consistently get "wound up like a top" and make too many mental errors whether it is bad penalties or untimely turnovers. Seeing a team talk like they're repeating the same mental conditioning errors as before excites me as a Bama fan. If this game was played on the video games where it is all about execution and no mental clutter, Georgia wins this game most of the time. It isn't played like that...it is played with real flesh and blood 19-22 year-old young men. Right now, Georgia feels like they're peaking too early.
 

PDL

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Jess, do you know what John Fulton's health is for this game? Turf toe's are never good to get, but its good that he had a couple of games to rest up a bit. I'm pretty sure he did play some against Auburn, so that has to be a good sign. Does he look ready to go? That would definitely be a lift for our pass D if he was and would make me feel better about shutting down the Dawgs passing attack.
 

jcabama

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I agree with the analysis and while we may have slim margins in 6 areas I believe the coaching staff will broaden the gaps. Add three to ours and take three from theirs and I believe that will be closer to what we'll experience Sat!
RTR
 

Ole Man Dan

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I just hope we can put a little pressure on Murray.
Do that and we should win. Give him too much time and he may hurt us.
It would be a great game for us to step up and get a couple of interceptions.
Do that and our road to victory won't be nearly as bumpy.

Big games have a way of bringing out the best in big players.
Maybe our guys will play lights out and execute every play.
 

Bazza

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Pretty good Jess....

Your prediction/final score:
Alabama 27/32

Georgia 23/28

5 points off equally on each team! Amazingly accurate!

Great work and congratulations on the SEC Championship!

You EARNED this one the hard way! :)
 

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