News

It wasn’t the prettiest of efforts, but it was a solid win, cementing at least a tie for the SEC-East crown. In a season that has been so unpredictable, it was nice to see things go as expected for once. Order was somewhat restored in the UGA-UK rivalry. Now comes the big in-state battle. This is the game of the year for GT and their faithful. It could be for the coach’s job (seems like the same thing was said about Fulmer right before they trounced us). This game is almost always closer than you expect. It will be a battle.

About the UK game

Not much to say about that game. We were careless with the ball (-3 in turnover margin on the day), threw for under 100 yards and still managed to win handily. Earlier in the season I don’t know that we could’ve pulled that off. This team is playing on such an emotional high right now, I never really got that nervous Saturday. Sure I was worried, but I never really thought we were done. This team has come a long way and they’ve brought me along with them. I have a considerable amount of faith in these guys and it starts at the top.

In fact, I have more faith in this team now than I did before Saturday. I say that because I was VERY worried about UK’s offense against our defense as we haven’t played lights out on that side for a while. After Saturday I think my attitude towards the D has changed considerably. We held a strong, balanced UK offense to 13 points (3 in the 2nd half) despite giving up 4 turnovers. It was like watching the 2002 or 2003 defenses, coming up big on 3rd down stops against a big time QB who had lots of serious weapons at his disposal. The funny thing about our defensive resurgence is that, like our recent offensive outburst, it can largely be attributed to the emergence of a freshman. On offense it’s Knowshon. On defense, it is a little man named Rennie. Rennie Curran is quickly becoming a joy to watch. He’s everywhere. His stellar play (13 tackles on Saturday) has been a slowly developing story this season but it’s one that’s hard to miss right now. The defense suddenly has some serious bite against the run and it couldn’t come at any better time going into this matchup against the ACC’s rushing leader.

GT Offense

The GT offense has struggled this season in the wake of the departure of Calvin Johnson and his ridiculously good games against non-UGA opponents. They have a solid ground game again but the passing game has struggled to develop any type of consistency. For the season, their total offense output is hitting out around 392 yards (61st nationally), with 209 coming on the ground (18th nationally) and 183 coming through the air (100th nationally). Scoring wise, they’ve struggled to put points on the board with regularity, averaging nearly 27 points per game (64th nationally), a number buoyed significantly by totals scored against Samford (69 points), Duke (41 points) and Army (34 points). Just removing the Samford (that’s not the one in the Pac 10) game drops their average scoring (against D1 schools) to under 23 ppg, a number that would put them at 93rd in scoring offense.

Gone is Reggie Ball, one of the more polarizing figures in recent GA college history. Oddly enough, despite starting at GT for 4 years, he’s widely reviled by GT fans and beloved (with tongue-in-cheek) by UGA fans for his 4 consecutive losses to UGA. His replacement, Taylor Bennett, started his GT reign off in brilliant fashion in last year’s bowl game, proving that anyone (except for maybe Reggie Ball) could run a successful offense with Calvin Johnson on the field. Bennett has struggled this season, throwing only 5 TDs to 8 INTs, completing 50.5% of his passes and looking shaky regularly. Change of pace, hotshot freshman Josh Nesbitt has added a running aspect to the position but he’s struggled throwing the ball consistently, attempting only 4 passes on the year and only completing 4. He’s also had major issues with fumbles, especially snaps. The GT grad in our office said he couldn’t hit the broadside of O’Keefe gym (whatever that is). Look for him to pull off the Tebow “run up to the line like a running play, squat and then step back and chunk it” play. They’ve used that play at least twice this year out of his 10 passes and it’s hit once, for a TD. It would’ve hit the other time except he overthrew the guy.

At RB, GT has a great player in senior Tashard Choice. Choice is one of those GT players I can’t wait to see leave because he’s a really good kid and it’s just easier for him to move onto the NFL so I don’t have to worry about any conflicts of interest. He’s amassed big numbers again this year despite missing time in various games due to injury. For the year he’s got nearly 1,200 yards and is averaging 5.3 ypc and has 9 TDs. He had nearly 1,500 yards last year and is a gutsy, tough runner. He’s got the speed to get outside and is surprisingly physical for a 6-1, 205-pound back. He’s gone over 30 carries in a game 4 times this season including last week’s battle with UNC. He’s topped 135 yards in 6 of the 10 games he’s played in. The lead backup is freshman heir apparent Jonathan Dwyer, who is averaging 5.5 ypc and has speed to burn.

The GT WR corps from last year is in Detroit getting paid millions. In Johnson’s wake is a group of guys who are slowly developing and haven’t yet blossomed (partly due to Bennett). So. Greg Smith leads the team in catches and yards receiving but hadn’t scored a receiving TD until he found the endzone twice last week. Freshman Demaryius Thomas was billed as the next Calvin Johnson because of his size and speed, and he’s had a solid year (2nd in catches and yards, 1st in TDs with 3), but he’s no Calvin Johnson (who is?). Junior James Johnson is steady but hasn’t had the year many thought he would. He had 2 big drops in Athens last year. TE Colin Peek is a big target that has 22 catches on the year.

The GT OL features no freshmen (novel idea). The line is paced by Jr. LT Andrew Gardner and Sr OC Kevin Tuminello, both of whom are potential All-ACC OLs this season and both of whom have started 37 consecutive games in their career. Gardner is a 6-6, 298-pounder with the length you look for in OTs. LG Matt Rhodes is actually the most experienced guy on the line, with 45 career starts. The right side of the OL is pretty green, with both guys moving into the starting lineup in the last 4 or 5 games. They average right around 300 pounds a man and have done a decent job keeping Bennett upright (20 sacks allowed on the year) and any time you have a RB go for well over 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons you’re obviously doing something right.