Recruiting Forum Football Talk II

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#180,582
#180,582
Orangeredblooded said:
That he did, I think if it had been under different circumstances and under a different HEAD COACH at the time, it might have went a different way to the detriment to him, the football program and especially, to the fans. Things just have a way to work out.
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Maybe. Can definitely say having to make changes and win his way back on the team turned out aces. If he had gotten his way and Hoke let him start at QB against Vandy that lost season? Last season doesn’t happen.
 
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#180,587
#180,587
This is going to be a bit nerdy but I’ve been looking at some advanced metrics to compare the line of scrimmage between Georgia and Tennessee. It should go without mentioning that both teams thus far into the season have an extremely limited body of work so these numbers will definitely change week to week until we've had enough games to represent the full spectrum of the strength of the conference. jmo.

Football outsiders has our offensive line ranked as #1 in the conference and first in the nation when we’re behind schedule. In other words if it’s 2nd down and 7 or more or 3rd down and 4 or more or 4th down, nobody is better than us on the offensive line, at least not right now. When it’s 1st down or we’re ahead of schedule so far we’re not doing as good, ranking at 7th best in the conference. Georgia is the opposite, ranking as 1st in the conference when 1st down or ahead of schedule but only 5th best when behind schedule. I’m sure Pruitt will try to put them behind schedule as often as possible. jmo.

Also given who we’ve each played so far they’re doing a slightly better job of protecting their quarterback, something Pruitt has said we need to do a better job at. Both teams obviously will field a stronger offensive line than any of either of our opponents so far this year.

Football outsiders gives the offensive line credit for a portion of the rush yards and the rest goes to the ball carrier and this is where, and it may be surprising to some, we destroy Georgia. Georgia’s ball carriers only account for 0.30 additional yards per attempt beyond that which the offensive line earns while our runners earn 1.25 additional yards per attempt over and above that earned by our offensive line.

On the defensive side of the ball, Georgia is allowing opposing running backs an additional 0.47 yards and so far runners against us have managed 0.79 additional yards beyond what the defensive line is credited for allowing. Georgia has the #1 ranked defensive line in the conference so far; ours is ranked #3 in the conference, with Alabama’s D-Line sandwiched in between the two of us as 2nd best in the SEC.

Overall our pass rush is ranked as 4th best while Georgia’s is presently ranked as 8th best in the conference. Neither one of us seem to have been pressuring quarterbacks much on standard downs (ahead of schedule) with us ranking #10 in the conference and Georgia ranking #12. On Passing downs (behind schedule) we rank 4th best and Georgia ranks 7th best.

For comparison, Auburn’s offensive line ranks 10th overall and their defensive line ranks 9th overall. Arkansas’s offensive line ranks 13th and their defensive line also ranks 13th. South Carolina’s offensive line ranks 7th and their defensive line ranks 11th. Missouri’s offensive line ranks 14th and their defensive line ranks 10th. Auburn’s opponents have been Kentucky and Georgia while Arkansas’s opponents have been Georgia and Mississippi State. South Carolina has played us and Florida while Missouri has played us and Alabama. I'd argue that our opponents win the strength of schedule competition thus far. jmo.

One of the things Pruitt has talked about as something they've been working on over the last 2 or 3 weeks is to improve the conditioning of the guys who were out a lot during fall camp due to quarantines. He specifically noted this as an issue with the offensive line and gave that as the reason for shuffling linemen during our first couple games. We should mostly be beyond that now, especially with another week of work behind us. jmo.

The matchup between us and Georgia along the line of scrimmage this Saturday may very well come down to Ty Chandler, Eric Gray, and Jabari Small. All three are actually performing at a high level with regards to yards per attempt. Obviously the offensive line helps them and if it’s in top form (according to Pruitt) it can do a lot more but our secret weapon may be that we have underrated running backs. jmo.
 
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#180,589
#180,589
@BaldBiker be like...

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#180,592
#180,592
I think our defense is being greatly undervalued due to Shamburger and others either being out, switched around, or otherwise limited. If people will recall the secondary was to be the strength of our team going into this season. These guys didn’t suddenly get bad — they were just asked to perform either too early or in positions they were not a natural fit for and little else experience playing. And given the circumstances they still did pretty well.

USC did an excellent job of working that mismatch and youth with Shi and while Mizzou tried we stayed vanilla in part for strategic purposes but also because it limited what we were asking our guys who were inexperienced and/or out of position to do and allowed them to play ball rather than over think. We blitzed less but we kept guys in easy positions to make plays and limit the chunk plays SC was able to pick up. While I expect a little rust early with Sham I think the difference is going to be profound.

Similarly, the juggling we did earlier on OL isn’t as necessary and I think that will help a great OL get even better. We look like a good team. We don’t have UGA’s depth but we do have the talent to beat them outright. It won’t be easy but this is a more winnable game than the folks realize. It is very losable too but it is winnable and while some fluke breaks going our way would certainly help I don’t think they are absolutely necessary.

An upset in this game would not be surprising.
 
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