Random Discussion

A cheerfully intoxicated Cody (still well enough to type legibly, kudos) posits that 2006 Georgia = 2002 Ohio State.

I really hated that Ohio State team.

Not because I hate Ohio State--uhhh, Brutus is on CFR's amazingly terrific logo--but because as great as that team was, they were also more than a little lucky.  Purdue anyone?  How about Illinois and some of the bogus OT calls?  Or how about that little PI in the Fiesta Bowl?  I know, I know, scoreboard, but c'mon.

Part of being great is finding a way to dominate a quality foe now and then and that never quite materialized for the so-called Luckeyes (er, unless 25-7 over Wazzou counts in the season's third game? At the end of the year the Buckeyes were doing this: 10-6 over Purdue, 13-7 over Penn State, 23-16 OT over Illinois, 14-9 over Michigan---razor thin margins if I've ever seen 'em).

Yeah...

Anyway, is this year's Georgia that kind of team?

The defensive numbers so far after three games against admittedly craptacular offenses (Western Kentucky, South Carolina, UAB):

Two shutouts

203.7 yards/game allowed (56.7 rushing, 1.81 YPC, 147 passing, 105.4 efficiency)

Six turnovers gained (+1 total)

Those are good numbers but I'd expect better against the softest part of the schedule.  A shutout is a shutout however, and the Dawgs own two of them.

Problem is, there's no Maurice Clarette on offense or a fourth year junior quarterback with honor society smarts in Craig Krenzel to balance that equation.  Stafford is physically a superior quarterback than Krenzel, but his game hasn't caught up to that guy yet, not by a mile.

As always, we shall see, but I'll throw it out there for the water cooler crowd.

I'm apt to say nyet! but with a few more shutouts and some kind of life and consistency from the offense and I can change my mind.

Comments

[Cody]

My reply.

You claim that there is no Maurice Clarett. I would agree that none of our backs has reached his ability to break either tackles or the law, but as a threesome, they are more than capable. I would take the trio of Lumpkin, Ware, and Brown over Clarett, if simply because of his tendency to get injured. Advantage: Push

As far as Krenzel v. Stafford, well, I've got to give you that. Talent is better here, experience better there. When I initially told people that 2006 UGA=2002 OSU, Joe Tereshinski was our QB. He fits the Krenzel mold as an undertalented smart guy who gets to run an offense by handing off and not screwing up. As Stafford says, "One of the better things we can do on offense is punt." What a defense.

And please, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't talk about that Purdue game. I can remember sitting in my house as a high school senior who was headed off to school at the home of the #3 ranked football team in America. I was watching OSU-Purdue on the GameChannel on either ESPN or Yahoo! It was 4th down. OSU was losing. Georgia was going to play for the national championship, despite a loss to Florida (a loss which, by the way, caused me to hate at least 2 of my best friends, FSU and Bama fans, for laughing about Terrance Edwards). It was a great day. Then, to my shock, dismay, and great confusion, Ohio State had taken the lead. How could this happen? It was 4th and 1!! How did they throw a touchdown pass??? They have Clarett! Wouldn't they just pound it up the middle? Michael Jenkins??? They've done this every week to me, as I've watched them pull out miracle after miracle to keep me out of Tempe. Please CFR. Don't make me relive this any more.

[Cody]

Also, it IS the soft part of the schedule, but this is a soft schedule altogether. Coming in to the year, the only "losable" games were: South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, Tech. That's being generous to a couple of teams, but those were the only ones where we could get beat. I'm not saying that this is the best team in the country, necessarily. I'm just saying that it could win a title with a little luck (not as much as that OSU team). Vandy, Colorado, Ole Miss, Miss St, Kentucky still remain. Come on!!

[LD]

Just wondering about your expectations, CFR... If you "expect better" against this part of the schedule, what exactly is better than zero points scored against the first team defense? I suppose the D could have a few TDs or something to make that negative numbers. Is that what you were expecting?

[CFR]

A few less yards allowed rushing.

Better pass efficiency defense ranking.

At this point last year Georgia was +7 against a similarly weak slate, this time it's +1 with an even more conservative offense. That's not taking very good care of the football and bodes poorly for games against foes who actually have some bite to them.

It's nibbling at the edges but as I said a shutout is a shutout and I recognize as much that Georgia has two of them.

[CFAJ]

So would you call that OSU national championship "ill-gotten"? Seems to meet your criteria.

[ruteger]

Just out of curiosity, I looked up OSU's 2002 stats for their first three cupcakes (3 of their first 5 games, where the other 2 they played Texas Tech and #7 WSU which aren't really comparable to UGA) and here are the results:

3 Games, against Troy State, Cincinnati and Indiana:
18.3 ppg given up, 370.6 net yards/game allowed (89.3 rushing, 2.86 YPC, 264.6 passing). I could only find turnover data on two of the games and it was dead even.

Compare to UGA:
3 Games, against Western Kentucky, South Carolina and UAB:
4 ppg given up 203.7 yards/game allowed (56.7 rushing, 1.81 YPC, 147 passing, 105.4 efficiency)

[CFR]

CFAJ,

Sure.

ruteger,

Nice research. You make a good case that I'm being harsh about Georgia's defense.