Georgia-Kentucky Recap
It’s been a while since I’ve posted immediately after a game, but it’s also been a while since Georgia played a game like this. How can a team play so well and so poorly at the same time? Here are my thoughts:
1. It looks like Georgia’s special teams are officially in the toilet. They had one punt blocked (the vaunted fullback Brannan Southerland completely missed his assignment on that play), had another one go only 19 yards, and allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown. Okay, fine it only went to the four yard line, but it might as well have been a TD. Meanwhile, Prince Miller made a blatant mistake when he muffed a punt into the end zone and proceeded to bring it out (instead of taking a touchback), while Richard Samuel looked mediocre on kickoff returns.
2. I was impressed by Matthew Stafford in this one. That game-winning pass to A.J. Green was absolutely SICK! He should have been sacked twice, managed to escape, then he threw on the run into a group consisting of Green and four Kentucky defenders. Touchdown. The man will be a #1 pick for a reason. I still don’t rescind my criticism of last week, though.
3. Mohamed Massaquoi had a career game, but his two late fumbles were absolutely killer. Talk about not being clutch. To me, this is such a stereotypical Georgia Bulldog performance- 191 receiving yards, two drive-killing fumbles. How can a player (or team) be so good and so bad at the same time?
4. The Georgia defense isn’t any good. I don’t know if it’s because of injuries, underachievement, or poor coaching but there is no reason that they should be giving up this many points to a team like Kentucky. Of course, short fields caused by special teams gaffes contributed, but the Wildcats still racked up more than 200 rushing yards. A chunk of those came on the option. For some reason, Georgia never had a defender on the pitch man.
5. All in all, a gutsy performance. Mad props go to all of the Dawgs for pulling this one out. For once, they stepped up their performance in the face of adversity. This game shouldn’t have been so stressful, but sometimes a team needs to overcome turnovers and blocked punts. The 2008 season is not lost.
Here are my non-Georgia college football thoughts:
1. How about the Wyoming Cowboys? Tennessee’s players responded to the firing of Phillip Fulmer by playing one of the worst games in the history of their program today. I can understand losing to a Utah, or even a Central Michigan. But to lose to a 3-6 MWC team? Not only is it embarrassing to the program, but it is embarrassing to the conference. It sure is funny, though.
2. As I write this, Iowa is playing Penn State hard and LSU is giving ‘Bama a game. I don’t see either underdog pulling it out, but I also don’t see either favorite winning the National Championship.
3. I like Oklahoma State to upset Texas Tech tonight. If anything, this should be a good game. What really irks me is that 18% of the country gets to see the “incredible” USC-California game. I would be absolutely furious if I got shafted out of a matchup between top 10 teams because of where I live. ABC are you listening? REGIONAL COVERAGE SUCKS!!! I think any college football fan will agree with me- regional coverage sucks.
