Another weekend, a bunch of surprises and some favored football teams trying to hang on. Munson started that list with Ohio St., Michigan &
Florida.
Kentucky knocked Georgia out of there. He was very impressed with the ‘road runner’, McFadden of
Arkansas. Best looking teams – Texas, USC, Cal,
LSU and Arkansas. UGA is one of the unlucky teams who have lost way too many players.
Munson had one question before going to callers. He wondered if Coutu was the most significant injury of all. CMR agreed Brandon has done great since taking over the job. His first kick was a clutch FG vs. Tech in 2004. Since then he’s been an excellent place kicking and kickoff man. We will go with Gordon Ely-Kelso on extra points and field goals.
Michael in Newnan wonders if we plan to run the ball against
Auburn, like Arkansas was able to. Stafford is still a little green even though we all think he’ll be great. Everyone’s still behind you even with things not going so well. CMR does not think Auburn is weak against the run. Arkansas runs it as well as anyone in the country (4th in the nation). Auburn is only giving up 110 yards rushing per game. We ran the ball better last game, early on. We ran well against their cover 2, but they went to “robber” coverage in the second half, putting an extra man in the box. When they do that, you have to mix it up a little bit.
Jeremy in Sandy Springs suggests CMR forget 2002-2005 and go back to late 2001, with a reference to Verron Haynes and that stretch. Jeremy is very impressed with Stafford and knows lots of breaks aren’t going our way this year. CMR says he’d love that. We’re definitely looking at that and at different ways we can run the football against Auburn. CMR joked he’d loved to have Verron. Haynes had a knee injury recently, as well as Arnold Harrison .. both playing for the Steelers. Ron Courson said Haynes wants to do his rehab here.
Barron in Athens wanted to tell CMR how proud he is of the staff. He also remembered people getting on Greene. He also wondered about Goodman and Sean Bailey. CMR knows everyone is disappointed but knows it isn’t for lack of effort.
Goodman was actually injured in the second quarter blocking when colliding with Milner. He bounced up, played a heck of game, blocked like a madman and made some great catches .. looking like an SEC receiver should. CMR was bragging on Goodman then Courson called a half hour later with the news. Goodman thought he had hurt his calf but then it turned out otherwise. Sean Bailey is probably full speed now and should be ready to go in the spring. He’ll want to have a great senior year.
Dave in Sylvester asked about Mario Raley. CMR said Raley will be fine. His injury was called a spinal cord bruise. Dave also had four keys to winning Satuday – time of possession, since the defense is tired; tell Stafford to vary snap count; Auburn wants to run so we can stop them if we play tough and find a Gerald Anderson clone to plug the middle; run Lump and Southerland, and for style points, remember Auburn likes to try a trick in the kicking game and a throwback play in the red zone.
Jeremy in Memphis asked (again) about recruiting DL and DBs? Southerland was really effective catching passes against Florida and Jeremy thinks we should throw to him more. CMR reminded that we redshirted 4-5 DL, 3 LBs, 2 safeties – quite a defensive class. The coaches thought we should have played a few more and maybe we should. CMR thought we might have enough depth to hold up. In the end we’ll be thankful.
We do need to throw it more to Southerland, but that one we threw on the one yard line and got intercepted was going to him. He’s a little more banged up than he’d like to admit. When Des Williams got hurt it made it harder on Brannon.
Austin in Flowery Branch commended CMR for the job done this year given all the adversity we’ve had. He says he’s never seen a year so bad with turnovers and knows a coach is probably pulling his hair out. Is it just the players not concentrating or not caring? CMR knows we’re all frustrated. The guys care. Not one guy enjoys fumbling, throwing a pick, having a punt hit you in the leg or whatever. We coach it, but just haven’t done a good job with it. That has caused more problems than anything else. Every time we turn over the ball, that’s less plays, less time of possession and changes field position. We only punted once last game, which is great if you’re scoring every time.
Mack in Albany wondered about recruiting and pass defense. CMR remarked that its almost hard to believe only last year we won the SEC title. Overall we recruit well – basically the same guys everyone else recruits. Sometimes you hit a cycle where you’re a little short at one position. Look at Arkansas – we beat ‘em in a close game last year but you knew that was a good team. And
Tennessee from last year to this. Now that we’re struggling we’ve got to decide how we’re gonna handle it. That’s to get back to work and fight to gain respect back.
Ashley in Waycross saw Facing the Giants this weekend and really liked it. (Munson took his movie group to it on Sunday.) He notes Bailey is struggling to kick it through the uprights. CMR said if we had another kicking situation we would have gone with Gordon Ely-Kelso. Bailey will still handle kickoffs unless Ben Wilson is healthy and ready to go. Brian Mimbs will take over as holder.
Tim in Bonaire asked about Stafford – notes he’s an Elway fan and seems to try to play like him a bit. Tim also asked CMR to wish his son (Noah) a happy birthday.
About Stafford, CMR said we always go over the game film. There were some tremendous plays being made by that guy. But what sticks out are the turnovers. There were lots of decisions made where nothing was there and he tucked it and ran. He’s making more and more good decisions – coming off his primary receiver. He thinks every play has to be a great play but sometimes you just have to “burn” the ball, throw it away and come back on the next play.
Chris in Augusta asked about the defensive scheme, and that there has been no improvement. They’re horrible, and we have good players. CMR: imagine you’re the D coord., and your offense leads the SEC in turnovers. That’s not a good position. When we score against Vandy and think if hold them one more time, we win, same with Ky. they’re not playing horribly but not great either. We have enough things across the board where everyone has a piece of this predicament we’re in. Then we’ll check everything out in the offseason.
Blake in Atlanta – why did Lump only get four carries in the second half after 75 yards or so in the second half. CMR said again Lump benefited from some of the two deep zones they ran early on. In the second half, we gave Danny Ware some work, and they changed their philosophy to crowd the line and crowd the receivers. Then you have a couple of turnovers.
Barry in Martinez – if and when we win the next two, what bowl possibilities are out there? And would we accept a bowl at 6-6? CMR hasn’t looked down the road, but guessed it wouldn’t be Outback or Peach. The thing is, if we’re bowl eligible and get offered, we’re going.
Richard in Watkinsville asked about Bo Stansill – he’s redshirting and CMR doesn’t think he’s ready. But CMR thinks he’ll have a great opportunity to do some kicking or punting.
Duke in Tucker offered encouragement and suggested to avoid what his friend Carole Ann calls the “negative fringe.” About Stafford, have we been working on mechanics? CMR said what happens with Stafford and other younger players is that you drill on fundamentals. They’re good early in the game, but sometimes those go by the wayside as the game goes along and heats up. You have to drill it over and over until it becomes second nature. Of course, once you get into a scamble situation fundamentals get lost. Stafford has the ability to makes throws on the move lots of guys wish they could make.
Bart in Augusta notes CMR often says he wished he were more committed to the run in hindsight and why we don’t. He also asked why Inman was still playing after being an embarrassment. (Bart hung up to listen as CMR asked for examples of Inman being an embarrassment.) CMR said he wants more commitment. We ran well to the point in the last game where they overloaded to it. CMR doesn’t think we’re quite good enough to hammer the ball into certain situations and be able to move the ball. If you do it three times and punt three times, everyone wonders why you didn’t pass more.
Paul in Centre, AL wonders if Stafford is progressing like a freshman should, even with the picks. CMR thinks he is progressing. The best thing is to keep working him rather than pulling him.
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