Crimson Red Sports

                                                                         Georgia vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama coaches and players on a great victory.  This was a game of mistakes for Bama which was partly caused by Georgia’s defense. 

OFFFENSE:   Bama’s offense was the Jekyll and Hyde of the day.  Even though they one, there were numerous mistakes.  I have Bama receivers for 4 drops and maybe as many as 5.  They ran the ball effectively then couldn’t get back to the LOS on other plays.  For offense, Bama had 403 total yard which included 246 passing and 157 rushing.  As for negative plays, I have Bama with 4 tackles of losses, 2 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 2 fumbles which they recovered themselves.  Bama is credited with 4 three and outs, 2 for each half.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, Bama had 10 pass plays and 7 running plays.  Nine of the passing plays came in the second half while 5 of the running plays came in the first half.  Bama got into the red zone 5 times and scored 4 touchdowns and threw one interception.  They did score once from outside the red zone. 

QB:   Tua had the worse game of his career.  He was 10-25 for 164 yards and 51 of those came on one competition.  It didn’t help that all the drops were on passes he threw.  I do think on the first interception the defender made a good play, but the ball may have been a little late.  The second interception was also a little late and behind the receiver.  I think if he ball is more outside the receiver had a chance for the catch.  It seemed that Tua’s throw were behind receiver more than once.  I also think that Tua has fallen in love with big plays and was not checking down when he had the chance a few times.  Jalen came in and had an outstanding game.  He was 7-9 for 82 yards. Jalen showed how much he has improved as he kept looking downfield for receivers even when he was scrambling.  It also looked like he checked down to different receivers.  He came up huge on 3rd down as he was 5 for 5 on third down conversions. 

RB:   The running backs combined for 150 yards on 21 carries with equates to about 7 yards a carry.  The big running play was the 59-yard run by Jacobs.  He seems to be the go-to back on short yardage.  I think the defense is concentrating on the run when N Harris is in the game.  It seems many times when you have Jacobs and N Harris in the backfield together, they are running the counter the first play.  N Harris was 2 of the 4 tackles for losses and it wasn’t all his fault.

Rec:  Four different receivers had at least 3 catches and Waddle had 4.  The biggest of the drops was by I Smith on a third down play with no one around him.  It would have been a huge gain and put Bama in Georgia territory.

OL:  I really don’t know what to say here.  You are playing a team that is last in sacks in the SEC and they are constantly pressuring the Bama QB.  I didn’t count, but it seems that they did it with 4 most of the time.  Now, I don’t think all the pressure was on the OL, I think Tua held the ball too long or the coverage was so good it allowed the defense to get to him.  Like I said earlier, I think he could have checked down a few times.  On the running game, again, it was Jekyll and Hyde.  It was good sometimes and not very good at all on others.  I really would have my staff looking at offensive tendencies before the playoff begin.  I would also have them checking of keys that may be giving the plays away.  I do think, and this is my opinion, that the defense concentrates on runs when N Harris is in the game.

Def:  The defense played ok but tightened up near the end when it was necessary.  The defense gave up 454 total yard which included 301 passing and 153 rushing.  For negative plays, Bama had 4 tackles for losses and 2 sacks.  I have Georgia with 2 three and outs which was one in each half.  For plays that covered 10+ yards I have 11 pass plays and 4 running plays.  Six of pass plays came in the first half and 5 in the second, for running there were 2 in each half.  Georgia got into the red zone 3 times and scored 3 touchdowns, while one of their touchdowns came from right outside the red zone.  I do think Georgia had a great game plan with the short to medium route passing game and taking a shot every once in a while.  They also created some good match-ups that favored the receivers.  For the most part, Fromm just made some very good throws and their receivers made the catches.

DL:  I really expected them to play better, against what was supposed to be a young line with some players that were originally backups.  They did hold the main ball carriers to around 4.5 yards per carry.  I didn’t think Buggs looked like he was healthy as he seemed to be dragging his leg a bit.  Also, when they ran their stunts, he didn’t seem to get the push necessary.  They did lose the edge a couple of times and it led to good runs.  I really expected them to get more pressure on the QB, however part of that was the quick throws they were making.

LB:  They played ok.  They were put in a position of trying to get to short passes and be in position for the running game.  I do know on a couple of short passes, they ran a bit of pick plays to get the ball out quick for the short gain and 1st downs.   

DB:  They played better than the stats show.  They were in position several times, but Fromm put the ball in the correct spot.  They were having to come up and make plays on the short passes as well as making plays in the edge running game.  I really thought S Carter had another good game.

Special Teams:  The special teams had a couple of mistakes.  The bad part was Waddle put Bama in great field position for their first drive, but Tua threw and interception to stop the drive.   Another bad play was the running into the kicker right before the half.  Bama had some time outs left and Georgia was punting from their endzone.  If they set up the return, even with a fair catch they would have had time to get into position to score.  Finally, they gave up a big return after taking the lead which gave Georgia and opportunity to score.

Penalties:  Bama only had three penalties and one hurt them.  It was the running into the kicker which gave Georgia a first down and allowed them to basically run out the clock before the half.

Finally, Bama didn’t play well, especially on offense.  The drops and interceptions cost Bama points or opportunity to get points.  Hopefully, they will get healed up and correct some of these mistakes.  I really hope they work extremely hard on the OL.

Feel free to comment:

 17 and Counting

Great job again Coach and Roll Tide.  I agree with your statement that Tua seems to have fallen in love with the big plays.  Hopefully that will be noticed and corrected by the coaches before our game on the 29th... Thanks for your efforts all season. You do a really great job for us...

"I really hope they work extremely hard on the OL."

I really hope the OL heals completely, and returns to pre-LSU form.

Thanks, coach.  Excellent as always.   :worship: :worship:

 :clap: :worship:

what a storybook game  :clap:

Dear God ,
 thank you for making me a BAMA fan  :worship:

Well coach this is as good as it gets. I have to say my knees are sore from staying on them so much during the game. RTR!

Dead on again, Coach! Thanks.

We played, by far, our worst game of the year and still won. That speaks volumes about this team. We played like the tired team that we were. We now have a month to heal and rest, and I sure like our chances against Ok.

I think everybody thought that Tua was trying too hard to make the big play. There should be plenty of opportunity for that against Ok's porous defense, however, Tua needs to take what their D gives him. Should be plenty of opportunities for big plays.

By the way I forgot to thank Kirby for one, the fake punt and two putting Fields in on some plays when Fromm was having a great day.

I'm glad you mentioned that. I haven't seen a thing from Justin Fields this year that has impressed me. Ga better hope nothing happens to Jake Fromm.

Fields and Jalen Hurts may go start their own team somewhere else.   :lol2:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtbiNyAVAAEuXxH.jpg:large)

Thanks again coach.  Great analysis!  I am really, really glad my doc has me on good blood pressure and cholesterol medication else I'd have had multiple heart attacks and strokes last night.  Sure glad to see Jalen get his chance and take advantage of it.  I bet the Oklahoma coaches are wondering who will play QB for us in Miami.  How hard is it to prepare for 2 different QBs?  ROLL TIDE!!!

It is pretty difficult.  However, what is a help is how Jalen looks to throw instead of just run after his first read isn't there.

Absolutely! Last year you could see trepidation in Jalen's eyes at the line of scrimmage. You see nothing but confidence now. He is a totally different player and person than he was last year.

BUT... Jalen still failed to step up in the pocket when looking downfield.  Instead, as last year, he backed out and rolled right when the first option wasn't there.  It worked, but I was very surprised that UGA didn't adjust.

It worked both times, to perfection.

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1068977154120171520

Coach, ever seen this blocking technique??   :lol2:

I have a question about the play where Tua was sacked on our first possession. We were on the 6 yard line. I looked at the play a few times in slow mo, and it looks like the entire O-line was slanting to the left on their blocks.  We left their left DE unblocked on the play, so it looked like the play should have gone to the left.  Even D. Harris ran right by their left DE and just ignored him and ran a pattern to the right flat.  This was one of the players in on the sack.  The other was a blitzing DB (I think) up the middle, who we first attempted to block to the left, and then just released him.  My question is:  was all this blocking to the left just window dressing to draw their defense that way, or did we have some confusion on the play call?

Watching the play again, it looks to me like the OL was blocking a running play to the left. However, it was probably a run pass option and I think the thought I Smith would be open when he came from the left side to the right behind the line but the LB picked him up.  There seems to be some confusion because the WR didn't run a very good route as well as Harris's release.  Harris may have been confused because he may have thought the guy he could have blocked was going to cover him instead of rush.  The spacing between the receives wasn't very good.  I think it would have been more successful to flip the ball to Jeudy on the motion or motion him over for an extra blocker and give the ball to Harris for a run to the left.

Irv Smith getting covered botched the play.  Tua held the ball hoping for Irv to clear, but he never did come free.  It might have been a 1-receiver play; Irv from the left crossed behind the line and should have been open.  But the LB did a good job of seeing Irv and closed to keep Tua from throwing.  No other receivers were available, except Harris (a defender was between Tua and him).

If D Smith runs a fade or even a post he clears out some clutter, probably would have been open on a short post.  Harris's route is stopped but he slows down.  I Smith can't run a good route because of the two other receivers especially Harris.  He probably could have had enough leverage if the other two had done a better job.  It is like the knew I Smith was going to get the ball and so they ran lazy routes.

Well without TV I love the reports you all make here. RTR!

Google YouTube and watch the whole game.   :dunno:

I haven't liked the play calling the last two games. Especially in the run game...seems as if all we want to do is run between the tackles. To have the personnel that we have, and to rarely get outside seems like missed opportunities. What was the point of being down by 7 and running the Jalen/Tua package? Especially when it was basically the same plays as seen in previous games. Just didn't make any sense to me and ended up being a 3 and out.

I sure hope the playcalling gets better in the next game...

Yeah, I miss the days of the Darby up the middle offense where we scored a max of 24 points a game. These 50 and 35 point games against good SEC defenses are terrible to watch.

I don’t remember ever seeing something like that. I don’t know if it was coached or spontaneous, but it worked.

I would not be surprised if it isn't coached.  We would tell our player on the kicking game to put hands up in certain situations so there was no way a block in the back could be called.  Just shielding players in some instances give a returner a chance.  Saying that we use to use a kick off return where our 2nd line outside player had a kill shot on the 3rd cover guy.  We used a counting system on who had who and didn't count the safeties.  It worked 95% of the time and we averaged about 40 yards a kick off return.

The running game is determined on how the defense lines ups to certain formations.  This is decided by the film study looking at formations and defensive alignments.  The problem, to me, the last couple of games is the OL hasn't gotten to the second level very well.  Also, I have said this before, it seems that something the OL may be doing to give the run game away.  I do think Bama could run the edges a little better, even if it is the jet sweep action/pass.  Watching the first sack, I think Bama could have scored if they had run the jet sweep  that play or even motioned Jeudy over for an extra blocker and run Harris that way.

As much as I disliked the frequency of Kiffin's jet sweeps. I'd take some of that now just to keep the defense honest with the run game. I reckon I'd just like to see our backs being able to work in space more frequently.

I agree with the game breakers you have running them.  It helps keep the defense honest because they can't just crash on the inside run.

Well you have DH inside or out, Josh inside or out and Najee outside or end and he is certainly a down hill runner. This should any defense honest so our passing game should work. I like using the run to set up the pass. RTR!