Dogs almost get caught taking a Cat-nap

Georgia holds on to beat Kentucky 24-13.

I actually was at the game this weekend. It was great to take in my second game of the season at Sanford Stadium, especially after a 2 year hiatus. It was Senior Day and it was nice to see the DogNation honor our seniors before the game.
And the game started off with a bang and then several misfires, but Georgia finally got it together and beat Kentucky to win a share of the SEC East title.

OFFENSE: C+
The story of the offense and most of the story of the game can be summed up with one word: turnovers. And we had 4 of them. After starting out with great field position, what looked to be a 7 point lead ended as Knowshon Moreno fumbled the ball deep in Kentucky territory. In fact, 3 of UGA's first 4 drives ended in turnovers. Stafford threw 2 picks in the first quarter which put the Dogs in a hole early on. The Dogs coughed it up one more time in the 3rd quarter while trying to put the game away.
Despite a fumble, Moreno was solid once again, especially once the OL started to play better in the second half. He finished the day with 22 caries for 124 yards and a TD despite face 8 men in the box almost the whole game.
Stafford was largely ineffective for most of the day- only completing 54% of his passes with 2 INTs and no TDs. He seemed off the mark most of the day, but was also hindered by a couple of poor plays by the WRs and some iffy play-calling. As noted, Kentucky loaded the box to try and stop the run and also played a lot of man and press coverage. We answer that with more than enough (fruitless) shots down the sidelines on long passes. I know that we had success with the deep ball and big plays in the past few weeks, but Kentucky apparently was aware of this too and game-planned against it. Overall, it was not one of our better days on offense.

DEFENSE: A-
When you look at the final numbers it looks like a great day for the Dogs' Defense and for the most part it was: under 300 yards surrendered, 6 drives of 5 plays or less and 20 or less yards that ended in punts, 29 yards rushing surrendered, only 1 TD to a pretty high-scoring offense, 5 sacks, 3 points allow in the last 3 quarters, etc. However, there were some plays that we really dodged a bullet. Maybe it was because we got pressure on Woodson or maybe he was just off, but he missed several open receivers that would have kept drives alive or even scored. As I watched some of it, I really was scared that at any moment they were going to explode on us and run away with the game since we weren't moving the ball. But as the game went on, the team played better and the Dogs did well despite the offense saddling them with 4 turnovers to overcome.
Rennie Curran looked like a heat-seeking missile against the run and the DL did a good job of putting pressure on Woodson and not allowing Little to get into open space to run.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A
When Asher Allen took the opening kickoff back for 82 yards (out of the endzone), I really thought we were going to be off to the races; of course, a fumble ended those hopes. But probably the biggest play of the game was a punt block that set up Georgia's second TD which gave them the lead (14-10) which they never surrendered. Coutu iced the game with a 46 yard FG. We didn't allow them to make any big returns, but didn't pin them back either.

COACHING: B
I still question the choice to repeatedly throw the ball up down the sidelines instead of challenging them with some play-action post patterns or slants. I think we looked a little lost on defense in the secondary at times, but overall the coaches put us in a position to win despite 4 turnovers.


OVERALL: B
Definitely a letdown after games against Florida and Auburn, but a "W" nonetheless.

Up next: Tech. Can the Dogs make it 7-in-a-row?