The purpose of this thread is to lay out some thoughts I've had regarding the upcoming game with UGA and to provoke some discussion in the lead up to the game. I've noticed an uptick in UGA oriented screen names so it would be good to get their insight as well. I'm sure there will be several threads about the game popping up so please combine this with another thread if needed. That said, below are some initial thoughts some things Bama will need to do on Saturday to pull off a win...
1) This one is low hanging fruit...but the O line has got to absolutely step up. More than any unit on the team the O line has got to do at least just enough to give the team a chance. And by enough I mean I accept the fact that at times that D line is going to overwhelm our guys up front. But that can't happen all game...that group has to get it together on enough drives to give our skill guys a chance. But I'll be honest here, I'm not very confident in that group. While they weren't impressive prior to the bye week, I still had some confidence that group could find their stride. I lost all of that confidence watching the LSU game. And frankly I haven't seen anything since that game to make me feel much better about it. However....my crimson colored glasses looked deep and hard to find me some hope here.
To me this game sort of has a similar feel as the championship game that we lost to Clemson in Watson's last year. Bama had one of, if not the best defensive front/front seven it has ever had under Saban and Clemson's O line was not very good...but they did just enough (along with Watson's scrambling ability) against our front to give their team a chance. We will see on Saturday, but for the sake of my marriage I really hope I'm not forced into the bourbon before the 2nd quarter.
2) You got to take the good with the bad on this one but...I would like to see Bryce tuck the ball more during this game when pass blocking breaks down. I'm not sure if it is his preference, or if it has been coached into him but it looks to me like he will only take off with the ball as an absolute last resort. And it has worked very well at times, but it has also cost us yardage at times too. We will need those yards in this game I think to keep us on schedule with down/distance. If he can get 7 or 8 then take it...I'm not saying that we turn him into Tebow but those yards could supplement a traditional running game since I do expect us to struggle running on Saturday.
While I know I just said I didn't want to turn Bryce into Tebow on Saturday, I do wander if he could have some success pulling the ball at keeping it around the edge on some of our running plays. Their were a couple of times in the Iron Bowl that he could have pulled the ball and the edge was wide open cause the Auburn guy crashed into the line.
3) We need a consistent, high level performance from the defense on Saturday. The defense that played the first half of Ole Miss/LSU game/Auburn game....that defense for the entire game. I have no doubt we will see that version of the defense at some point on Saturday, but we need a consistent version of that defense.....specifically against the run. We need to really shut down their run game in order to make Bennett beat us. I'm not saying that he can't beat us, but I'd prefer to have him airing out as opposed to just handing it off. Along those same lines we also need to limit Bennett's yards on the ground as well. From what I can tell he is very good at eluding pressure and breaking off 10-15 yard runs....we need to get him on the ground with our initial wave of pressure. If he can beat us through the air then so be it...
4) I am unapologetically wearing my crimson colored glasses on this one, but I do think their could be at least a little merit to it so....Is it possible that the narrative around this UGA defense is similar to the match up against the Ole Miss offense from earlier in the year? Going into that Ole Miss game that offense was talked up to be an un-stoppable force...that no defense had a chance to stop Lane and Corral. Well most of that was based on the 2020 game against Ole Miss and the first 3 games that Ole Miss played prior to our game this year...Louisville, Austin Peay, and Tulane....so our defense was their first real test and we see how that went....There is a caveat here... I questioned the level of competition that Ole Miss had faced. With UGA I am questioning the style of offenses...not the level of competition. Shooting from memory....Clemson is probably the most similar style of offense to ours, meaning they aren't as much of a true run first scheme than some of the other teams that UGA has faced. After Clemson, UGA's biggest games were UK, UF, Arkansas and AU...all of those teams live and die by running the ball (Auburn not as much), which plays into UGA's strength with that front seven. I know there was a lot of turnover in their secondary so if there is a weakness in that defense it would have to be there. None of those other teams could challenge UGA's secondary...we can challenge that secondary but we can only do so if our O line can hold up.
Couple of questions for the board:
1) This one is low hanging fruit...but the O line has got to absolutely step up. More than any unit on the team the O line has got to do at least just enough to give the team a chance. And by enough I mean I accept the fact that at times that D line is going to overwhelm our guys up front. But that can't happen all game...that group has to get it together on enough drives to give our skill guys a chance. But I'll be honest here, I'm not very confident in that group. While they weren't impressive prior to the bye week, I still had some confidence that group could find their stride. I lost all of that confidence watching the LSU game. And frankly I haven't seen anything since that game to make me feel much better about it. However....my crimson colored glasses looked deep and hard to find me some hope here.
To me this game sort of has a similar feel as the championship game that we lost to Clemson in Watson's last year. Bama had one of, if not the best defensive front/front seven it has ever had under Saban and Clemson's O line was not very good...but they did just enough (along with Watson's scrambling ability) against our front to give their team a chance. We will see on Saturday, but for the sake of my marriage I really hope I'm not forced into the bourbon before the 2nd quarter.
2) You got to take the good with the bad on this one but...I would like to see Bryce tuck the ball more during this game when pass blocking breaks down. I'm not sure if it is his preference, or if it has been coached into him but it looks to me like he will only take off with the ball as an absolute last resort. And it has worked very well at times, but it has also cost us yardage at times too. We will need those yards in this game I think to keep us on schedule with down/distance. If he can get 7 or 8 then take it...I'm not saying that we turn him into Tebow but those yards could supplement a traditional running game since I do expect us to struggle running on Saturday.
While I know I just said I didn't want to turn Bryce into Tebow on Saturday, I do wander if he could have some success pulling the ball at keeping it around the edge on some of our running plays. Their were a couple of times in the Iron Bowl that he could have pulled the ball and the edge was wide open cause the Auburn guy crashed into the line.
3) We need a consistent, high level performance from the defense on Saturday. The defense that played the first half of Ole Miss/LSU game/Auburn game....that defense for the entire game. I have no doubt we will see that version of the defense at some point on Saturday, but we need a consistent version of that defense.....specifically against the run. We need to really shut down their run game in order to make Bennett beat us. I'm not saying that he can't beat us, but I'd prefer to have him airing out as opposed to just handing it off. Along those same lines we also need to limit Bennett's yards on the ground as well. From what I can tell he is very good at eluding pressure and breaking off 10-15 yard runs....we need to get him on the ground with our initial wave of pressure. If he can beat us through the air then so be it...
4) I am unapologetically wearing my crimson colored glasses on this one, but I do think their could be at least a little merit to it so....Is it possible that the narrative around this UGA defense is similar to the match up against the Ole Miss offense from earlier in the year? Going into that Ole Miss game that offense was talked up to be an un-stoppable force...that no defense had a chance to stop Lane and Corral. Well most of that was based on the 2020 game against Ole Miss and the first 3 games that Ole Miss played prior to our game this year...Louisville, Austin Peay, and Tulane....so our defense was their first real test and we see how that went....There is a caveat here... I questioned the level of competition that Ole Miss had faced. With UGA I am questioning the style of offenses...not the level of competition. Shooting from memory....Clemson is probably the most similar style of offense to ours, meaning they aren't as much of a true run first scheme than some of the other teams that UGA has faced. After Clemson, UGA's biggest games were UK, UF, Arkansas and AU...all of those teams live and die by running the ball (Auburn not as much), which plays into UGA's strength with that front seven. I know there was a lot of turnover in their secondary so if there is a weakness in that defense it would have to be there. None of those other teams could challenge UGA's secondary...we can challenge that secondary but we can only do so if our O line can hold up.
Couple of questions for the board:
- Which offensive line has Bama played that is the most comparable to the UGA offensive line?
- I know that UGA's D line will be better than anything we have played but which D line have we played that is the most comparable to the UGA D line? (My guess is Texas A&M)