Dogs slip by the 'Dores

Georgia spoiled Vandy's homecoming dreams this weekend with a last second Field Goal.
UGA 20 - Vandy 17

After a humiliating loss last week, the Dogs needed a win to prevent a downward spiral for the rest of the season. After toying with misery for most of the game, Georgia capitalized on Vandy's miscues and got the win.

OFFENSE: C+
The bright spot was youngster, Knowshon Moreno (again), who put forth not only a workhorse effort- 28 carries for 157 yards for a 5.6 average, but he also electrified the crowd with some ankle-breaking cutbacks and moves. And during the last drive he never stopped fighting and somehow, miraculously found a way to will & contort his body out of bounds to stop the clock. With Thomas Brown out and Lumpkin injured during the game, the ground attack fell solely on the red-shirt freshman's shoulders and he took it and carried it all the way to paydirt.
The Dogs managed 3 good drives, all of which featured better blocking and running that the other drives that ended in futility.
Matthew Stafford's performance was par for him, however, he did manage to break 200 yards through the air, which unfortunately has not happened as frequently as fans would expect. He still has some awful throws- missing the target completely and throwing late, but he did manage to find Sean Bailey for a TD and avoid throwing a pick (which was a miracle because Vandy could have had at least 3).
The receivers punched in a typical performance of several drops per game. I don't know if Stafford throws a very "catchable ball", but regardless the WR corps have to shoulder some of the blame for all the drops.
Blocking was inconsistent as usual.

DEFENSE: C+
The defense was whooped the first half. Vandy ran and passed at will and caught us with our pants down on a reverse and end-around that led to a TD. Mackenzi Adams (girl's name) was proficient throwing the ball and had some success on the ground also. The Dogs did manage to stymie Vandy's top receiver Bennett (3 receptions for 31 yards). The defense made some adjustments in the second half and had shut the Commodores down until their last drive with the game on the line. Vandy was driving without much resistance from the the Dogs' D until Gamble and Ellerbe teamed up to force and recover a fumble in Georgia territory. UGA capitalized on 2 of Vandy's 3 fumbles and responded with 10 points.
Props for actually posting 3 sacks, collecting 2 takeaways and shutting out Vandy in the second half.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C+
Nothing special here except Coutu coming through in the clutch to win the game with the clock running out and Brian Mimbs punting (44.1 average). The return game was so-so, The coverage team was poor as usual- we gave up one good punt return and one good kickoff return, but the problem is that our kickoffs continue to be so short that the returner starts at the 5-10 yard line every time, so even if he only goes for 20 yards, he is already in decent position. We really need to rethink this strategy, because if we are going to go for higher, but shorter kicks, we really need to get people down field quicker to make the tackle. If we can't do that, then we need to find another option like gambling on low, long kicks into the endzone.

OVERALL: C+
Vandy is better than most of the Vandy teams of old, but they are still Vandy and this is a game that UGA should win; to slip by with a last second FG is really not what is expected of Georgia. Lapses in coaching and player execution put us in a hole, thankfully everyone stepped up and took advantages of Vandy's mistakes to win the game.

Gameball: Knowshon Moreno

Up next: a much needed bye week and then the dreaded gators.