A couple of thoughts on the Dogs' win and other SEC games

After a frustrating and disappointing season, it was nice to end with a victory. Of course, the game also had its frustrating moments also...

After racing down the field using a no-huddle offense, the Dogs decided to switch back to a normal offense and promptly became ineffective and settled for a FG.

On Georgia's second possession, Stafford was intercepted after Michael Moore couldn't hold on to the ball. That gave the Spartans possession at UGA's 6 yard line.

The Dogs turned it over again on their third possession. Later in the first half, usually reliable Brian Mimbs botched the punt and Michigan State got the ball in Georgia territory again.

The offense managed just 117 yards of offense and 3 points in the first half. The Spartans started 3 possessions inside Georgia territory and mercifully only managed 6 points.

The cherry on top of the first half of frustrations had to be Georgia's last possession. After a great return to the 44 yard line with almost 2 minutes left in the half, Georgia exercised no sense of urgency and killed a minute-15 off the clock getting a first down on 3 plays. Then, they called the first of their 3 remaining timeouts. After that, Stafford heaved 3 hopeless rainbows up in desperation while be chased by Spartan defenders. It left many Georgia fans, like myself, questioning Coach Richt and the rest of the coaching staff. Richt explained in a interview before the half that he wanted to offense to hold the ball a little bit because the defense had be on the field much of the first half and he didn't want them to have to go back out there. Okay, if that was the goal then why try the 3 Hail Mary passes? Why not just run a sweep or throw a screen pass. Those would have kept the clock running, which 3 consecutive incomplete passes failed to do, and with MSU's defense playing prevent, you might have gotten some decent yardage. Who knows?- maybe Moreno breaks one in the open field. The whole thing reeked of Keystone Kops.

Now for the good news...

The defense played well. Yes, Michigan State lacked any real threat at WR. Yes, Hoyer, is an average QB at best. But, Ringer was a legitimate threat at RB and he ended up with 47 yards on 20 carries (2.4 avg) and was essentially taken out of the game. In Georgia's other games in which they shut down the other team's running game, they played teams with dubious running attacks. However, by shutting down Michigan State, they shut down a team who's strength was running the ball.

The defense also tallied 6 sacks and 1 INT. It was the most sacks in a game all season for the Dogs. CJ Byrd, Ellerbe and Curran all played well and made some really nice tackles. The defensive line had one of the best games all season.

For all Stafford and Bobo's bungling in the first half, both put together decent games in the second half. Bobo started attacking the perimeter and Stafford executed the plan well, registering 3 TDs. Moore made up for his first half miscue and score on a 35 yard pass that was beautifully designed and set up. He topped all receivers with 6 receptions for 97 yards. Moreno wasn't as effective on the ground, but he had 125 all-purpose yards and 1 TD reception that would make most receivers envious.

It was also nice to see some Kris Durham make a successful return and Aaron White to hopefully get a jump on next season.

While we never got that perfect game when all three phases were in synch this year, the Dogs managed to play solid defense most of the game until the offense caught up. More importantly, the defense didn't fold like they had earlier in the season.

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It was great to see Tech get demolished by LSU, but it was also bitter-sweet. If we beat LSU and had comparable talent, why couldn't we do better against Tech? I will admit that LSU's front-four were better than the Dogs' banged up group, so that was a big part of it, but still...
Thank you, Bayou Bengals.

I was stunned that Ole Miss beat Texas Tech. Honestly, I haven't seen highlights, but apparently Nutt had the Rebs ready to run. I will admit the SEC was down this year, but after Ole Miss beat one of the Big12's top 3 and Northwestern should have beaten Mizzou, I have some questions about how strong the Big12 actually is.

Like I said, the SEC was down this year and Utah took advantage of it. Wow! The Utes had a great game plan and came out ready to play and GATA. They put Bama in a whole which essentially took away the Tide's strength- the ability to play ball-control offense built on a strong running game. The Tide's defense looked confused for the first quarter, eliminating another strength. The Tide did manage a punt return for a TD, but after than Utah kept Bama's special teams in check. Thus, the game was in JPW's hands and Utah's defense decided to eliminate that by making him use his feet more than his hands. Utah's lines put pressure on Bama's offense- especially the passing game- and gave Johnson enough time on offense to sling the ball around to his receivers. Hats off to Utah. They earned that win.