| FTBL Surprise, I was just a little worried

[Guest]

I know I'm late to this party, but I've been out of town so humor me.

I knew I liked Coach Saban, but dang we were on the same wave length the other night. Coach and I were the probably the only ones in the two-state radius that seriously feared a UGA comeback.

Seriously I started watching the clock from the beginning of the 2nd half. Could it have run any slower?

I watched the game in Alabama with family, so that was fun. Spending most of the 4th quarter in my parents' back yard not so much. I am just not right for 4 hours every weekend...just not right. :wink:

Roll Tide on a huge win though.

 

[rammajamma]

I was impressed with the way that Georgia was able to keep composure and come back out fighting. I think our guys kind of thought they would come out like Arkansas did in the second half and lay down.

 

[Southern Bama]

It takes a strong team to do what Georgia did in the second half (and a pretty strong team to do what was done in the firs half )... They were impressive. To come out swinging as they did down 31 pts. was something they can be proud of.

 

[AFF]

...Coach and I were the probably the only ones in the two-state radius that seriously feared a UGA comeback...

That makes 3 of us. We looked like a well oiled machine in the first half when we were making great play calls - running when they expected the pass, and vice versa.

But, when we changed our game plan in the 3rd quarter and went strictly to the run to work on the clock, I got worried. Georgia lined up and stopped the run. I kept hoping their defense would wear down and that those two and three yard runs would turn into four and five yard runs. It really never happened. Our running game worked only when we made them respect our passing game. After they closed to 14 then we started mixing in the pass again, and we took control.

Bottom line - we were too predictable running the ball every down while trying to sit on our lead. That's fine if you can gain 4 yards per run even if they know you're going to run. But, we can't afford to do that against a defense like Georgia, or Auburn, or LSU who are able to stop the run if they know that's what you are going to do.

Roll Tide

 

[Guest]

<------wasnt worried even after the punt return

 

[Guest]

It takes a strong team to do what Georgia did in the second half (and a pretty strong team to do what was done in the firs half )... They were impressive. To come out swinging as they did down 31 pts. was something they can be proud of.

Proud? I would never be proud after being slobber-knocked in my own living room. I don't care how quickly I jumped up to get slapped again.

 

[Kanjweld]

There may have been a moment, when we only had (2) scores on them, that my euphoria was lessened but when we responded with points again - I knew that Saban had a well-oiled machine running properly that night. I felt confident that we had just dismissed Georgia's black-out. I did think that Stafford (after what looked like an unconccious moment on the ground) showed strength and perserverence. He certainly has a bullet arm and I expect he will play on Sundays. I am anxious to see how we respond this weekend since our last response from the Clemson high to Tulane was less than spectacular. But for now - WOW! just WOW!

 

[Southern Bama]

It takes a strong team to do what Georgia did in the second half (and a pretty strong team to do what was done in the firs half )... They were impressive. To come out swinging as they did down 31 pts. was something they can be proud of.

Proud? I would never be proud after being slobber-knocked in my own living room. I don't care how quickly I jumped up to get slapped again.

Think what you wish but we were the ones that got punched in the mouth during the second half. We may have won the game but we got kicked in the teeth during the second half.

 

[Guest]

Think what you wish but we were the ones that got punched in the mouth during the second half. We may have won the game but we got kicked in the teeth during the second half.

Mostly, it was just the 3rd quarter. 4th quarter not so much, at least not to the extent the 3rd was.

What I saw in the 2nd half/3rd quarter was Bama going ultra conservative, and Mathew Stafford showing why he will probably be the 1st QB taken in this years draft.

 

[TerryP]

Think what you wish but we were the ones that got punched in the mouth during the second half. We may have won the game but we got kicked in the teeth during the second half.

Mostly, it was just the 3rd quarter. 4th quarter not so much, at least not to the extent the 3rd was.

What I saw in the 2nd half/3rd quarter was Bama going ultra conservative, and Mathew Stafford showing why he will probably be the 1st QB taken in this years draft.

Personally, it was a 15 minute period where we were able to watch what Stafford is able to do with his arm.

No worries here...figured we'd see him throwing, and throwing a lot.

I did see a few instances where I questioned the game clock...literally, the ref had signaled "ready for play" and the clock wasn't started. But, then again, Samford Stadium has a bit of a reputation in that area.

 

[Red_Tsunami]

But, when we changed our game plan in the 3rd quarter and went strictly to the run to work on the clock, I got worried.

We passed it (or I should say tried to) 5 times while running only 4 times in the 3rd quarter. Five times too many if you ask me. Results were two scrambles, two incompletes and a sack. We should have ran the ball down their throat. I was so happy in the first half and as mad as I've ever been in the second half. We quit in the 3rd quarter. We also quit after we scored the last touchdown in the 4th. That has to stop and special teams have to be fixed if Bama wants to win the SEC.

 

[Southern Bama]

But, when we changed our game plan in the 3rd quarter and went strictly to the run to work on the clock, I got worried.

We passed it (or I should say tried to) 5 times while running only 4 times in the 3rd quarter. Five times too many if you ask me. Results were two scrambles, two incompletes and a sack. We should have ran the ball down their throat. I was so happy in the first half and as mad as I've ever been in the second half. We quit in the 3rd quarter. We also quit after we scored the last touchdown in the 4th. That has to stop and special teams have to be fixed if Bama wants to win the SEC.

Well Said :!: I agree 100%

 

[Guest]

Punt Coverage and Kickoff coverage definately needs some work this year.

As I mentioned Here

 

[UAgrad93]

I never was worried, even after the punt return made it 31-17. I got a little miffed for the lack of a flag on the 3 seperate block in the back penalties that weren't called. I think it took that little run by GA to get the O to refocus on the task at hand and they did just that.

 

[ericd]

I really wasn't worried about a comeback, but I hate that we missed out on style points. They do matter these days. We made a statement by driving down the field and scoring after the punt return, (that at least 3 guys were held on, by the way). Really what else would Georgia do? They are a proud program. They weren't gonna go down without a fight. They had nothing to lose by that time and could just fling the ball around. They scored more than I liked, but I never thought they would really make a move for the win.

 

[TerryP]

But, when we changed our game plan in the 3rd quarter and went strictly to the run to work on the clock, I got worried.

We passed it (or I should say tried to) 5 times while running only 4 times in the 3rd quarter. Five times too many if you ask me. Results were two scrambles, two incompletes and a sack. We should have ran the ball down their throat. I was so happy in the first half and as mad as I've ever been in the second half. We quit in the 3rd quarter. We also quit after we scored the last touchdown in the 4th. That has to stop and special teams have to be fixed if Bama wants to win the SEC.

You can pick numbers like that out and use them in any fashion. Since you brought this up about play calling, what would you have done differently?

1st possession.
Coffee 1 yard rush leaving 2nd and 9. (Passing down?)
2nd down pass incomplete.
3rd down, 9 to go, JP forced out of the pocket for a gain of 3 yards.

2nd possession
Coffee rushed for 4 yards. 2nd and 6. (Here we could have called a run play or a passing play)
2nd and 6 with JPW sacked.
3rd down, Coffee rushed for 1 yard. (passing down?)

3rd possession
JPW pass incomplete. 2nd and 10.
Coffee rush, loss of one yard, 3rd and 11. (passing down?)
3rd down, JP rushed for 7-8 yards.

3 things that jump out at me.

JP rushed 3 times which came from coverage and rush.

5 times we tried to throw the ball.

2 of the 3 possessions we tried to run the ball on 1st down.

1 of the 3 was a pass call on first down.

Breaking it down to situation by situation, I don't find fault in the pass to run ratio. In fact, I see a good mix.

 

[UAgrad93]

I agree Terry. The game plan wasn't changed just GA made adjustments that slowed down what we had done in the first half. That is part of why coaches get the money they do is to make adjustments. Our offensive staff made the adjustments on our last 2 scoring drives to put the game away. Again, I agree that there was nothing wrong with the calls in those 3 drives.

 

[Guest]

You can pick numbers like that out and use them in any fashion. Since you brought this up about play calling, what would you have done differently?

1st possession.
Coffee 1 yard rush leaving 2nd and 9. (Passing down?)
2nd down pass incomplete.
3rd down, 9 to go, JP forced out of the pocket for a gain of 3 yards.

2nd possession
Coffee rushed for 4 yards. 2nd and 6. (Here we could have called a run play or a passing play)
2nd and 6 with JPW sacked.
3rd down, Coffee rushed for 1 yard. (passing down?)

3rd possession
JPW pass incomplete. 2nd and 10.
Coffee rush, loss of one yard, 3rd and 11. (passing down?)
3rd down, JP rushed for 7-8 yards.

3 things that jump out at me.

JP rushed 3 times which came from coverage and rush.

5 times we tried to throw the ball.

2 of the 3 possessions we tried to run the ball on 1st down.

1 of the 3 was a pass call on first down.

Breaking it down to situation by situation, I don't find fault in the pass to run ratio. In fact, I see a good mix.

I was "ok" (for lack of a better word) with the play calls in the 3rd Q. Obviously I seemed to like the play calling better in the 1st half. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize we didn't execute squat in the 3rd Q. The only play that really bugged me and actually bugs me every game is that funky little roll-out that JPW usually does to his right.

It rarely works and if memory serves me correctly only worked once the other night (either to Julio or BJ Scott). Whenever I see JPW heading out that way in that kind of formation I cringe. I just don't think that type play suits him and his strengths at all. He's much better dropping back or in shot-gun position.

I wonder how much of the "letdown" had to do with the amount of young players that we have...just a thought. They've never experienced a full SEC season,and I'm sure they were running on high. I'm sure all of them (the seniors included) were listening to Saban a lot more at the end of the game than @ halftime.

 

[steelmagnolia]

i don't think we used a timeout the whole game.