Paint it Black

Dogs defy the odds and crush Auburn 45-20

For a series with a lot of history- 110 years of it- where the expected is usually benched in favor of the improbable, this game lived up to the billing.
The home team had only won 3 of the last 15: advantage Auburn
Recent history showed at least 7 times when the lesser ranked or unranked team won: advantage Auburn
One team had the top defense in the SEC and was gaining momentum on offense: advantage Auburn
The team with the senior QB usually won: advantage Auburn
But since the first touchdown in Jacksonville, Florida, a few weeks ago, things haven't been going to script... advantage Georgia.

OFFENSE: A-
Big plays carried the Dogs on offense and the catalyst for that was Matthew Stafford. The Dogs' field general was nearly flawless with the exception of a great pick by an Auburn CB. When the line gave him time, he did things like this...

roll out to avoid pressure and get the ball deep to his playmakers like MoMass who hauled in Georgia's first TD- a 58 yard strike.

Stafford threw for 237 yards and 2 TDs and made some great passes which were like daggers being thrown into the heart of the Tigers.
After a fairly quiet first half, freshman phenom Knowshon Moreno came to life and made the Plainsmen look... well, quite plain. Moreno danced, spun, weaved, juked and ran over and through defenders on the was to another 100+ yard performance and 2 TDs. Heck, he even threw a nice TD pass that was called back on a motion penalty.

And once Stafford and Moreno got Auburn's defense softened up, Thomas Brown got in the action also. Ripping off a 53 run that was inches away from a TD. He would finish with 81 yards.

There were 4 horrible drives in the middle of the game that resulted in a net loss of -4 yards and an INT. During that time the OL wasn't opening holes for the running game and Bobo was struggling to dial up plays to get the Dog's offense back on track. But once that happened, they rolled Auburn and their top-rated defense.

DEFENSE: A-
Kelin Johnson got it started from the get-go. On the first play of the game, he slipped under the TE and picked off Brandon Cox for the first of 2 INTs by the Dogs' senior safety. The Dogs' defense came out hungry and hard, knocking back Auburn's RBs and putting pressure on Cox. But as UGA's offense began to sputter in the middle of the second quarter, their defense also came a bit unraveled. Big stops on 3rd downs were overturned by foolish penalties and questionable calls by the refs. To be sure, Georgia was a little too excited about the plays they made, but replay showed that some of the hits were indeed legal. But just like the offense, the Dogs' defense didn't roll over and die, but got back up, got after Brandon Cox, who treated the Dogs to an encore performance of last year's game. When Georgia wasn't sacking Cox (3 times), he was busy throwing INTs (4). After a hot start, Cox was rattled and the Dog's were rolling. Georgia held Auburn to 200 yards less total offense than UGA and gave up only 83 yards rushing.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B
We finally had a touchback on a kickoff. Coutu was perfect on PATs and FGs. Mimbs was solid on punts. The kickoff return team was decent and the kickoff coverage team was also decent. We had a great shot at recovering a fumble on a pooch kick, but instead of falling on the ball, we tried to scoop it up and knocked it out of bounds- giving Auburn good field position. We also kicked too many out of bound on the kick offs, but overall it was a decent day.

COACHING: A
Richt's ploy with the black jerseys was genius. He and the seniors got the fans lathered up with the Black Out and then sent everyone- players included- into a frenzy with the black jerseys. Once again, Richt has shown a new-found ability to motivate this team. As noted the offense has some questionable calls, but overall it was a very solid performance by CMR & Co.

OVERALL: A
Who was that Gestalt, that said that "the sum of the parts is less than the whole"? Whatever the case, the overall result was better than a mathematical breakdown of the whole game. What is important is that this team whipped Auburn, I mean, beat them down at points. We hung 45 points on a defense that was averaging about 15 and truth be known, if not for a couple of penalties, it could have been worse. The defense made big plays. The fans were great and the atmosphere was electric (even via the TV) and I would challenge any school in the nation to outdo what happened last Saturday between the hedges.
It had been 25 years since Georgia beat both Florida & Auburn in the same year, but this year was about exercising some demons and coming together for a brighter future. I reluctantly draw on the beginning of the book of Joshua, when God told Joshua and His people to prepare for great things. Somewhere during this season, we crossed the Jordan river and if we can stay the course, the walls of the enemy will crumble.

IT'S GREAT TO BE A GEORGIA BULLDOG!

Up next: A Kentucky offense that will challenge the Dogs defense.



(photos: AP)