Front Porch Football5 Observations on Week 2
by Chris Paschal
Week 2 whipped my butt. I mean it absolutely destroyed me. I was confident that Georgia would win, once I stopped sipping the Garnet Kool-Aid, but I thought South Carolina would compete. That didn’t happen. I thought Florida was the sleeper team in the East to contend with Georgia. Florida lost to Kentucky at home. I thought Vanderbilt would stink… they won by 31 points. Needless to say, it was a tough week for Chris Paschal, but after a little praying, a church service, a lazy Sunday afternoon, and a full night of sleep, I am back in the saddle. Here are five observations I made from this weekend.
1. Georgia Knew They Were Going to Win
It wasn’t even that the Dawgs wanted it more, because I’m sure every South Carolina player would have told you that they wanted to win that game. It’s that Georgia literally walked in and smacked South Carolina in the face. To the Gamecocks’ credit, they did fight back in the first half. But Georgia made sure that’s all it was… a first half game. South Carolina’s offense played scared and South Carolina’s defense played like they were underprepared. There were little to no shots down field. Dinking and diming down the field doesn’t work when the other team is faster than you are. South Carolina got way too cute on the opening possession. This offensive line was graded by NFL Scouts as the best run blocking offensive line in the country after week one, and the Gamecocks didn’t even try to establish the run. That blew my mind.
Brian Herrien (35) dives for the endzone. Image from Times Union.
Further, South Carolina had their chances to tie the game up in the first half, but shot themselves in the foot with bad playcalling. I don’t think Jake Bentley is an elite quarterback, but I also don’t think he is awful. Some of the bad throws and stalled drives were because of playcalling. The best examples I have are 1) at the 6:07 mark in the second quarter, on 3rd and 6 only 8 yards from the endzone, South Carolina decided to try and throw an inside fade to the smallest wide receiver on the field (Shi Smith) with a defender that was lined up six yards off the line of scrimmage. 2) at the 54 second mark in the second quarter running a wheel route with a running back (Rico Dowdle) who has dropped two passes already into the boundary side of the field with a two high safety look — basically making the window extremely small. How in the world does that make sense?
South Carolina’s defense looked bad. I love Muschamp, but he was outcoached by Kirby. They knew they could burn South Carolina with Mecole Hardman in the slot. Muschamp never made the adjustment. I know Muschamp said that it was communication issues in the back end of the defense, but that’s not an excuse. They should have put Jamyest Williams on him at all times. Muschamp refused to do that. Rant over.
Muschamp struggled against former teammate Kirby Smart. Image from Post and Courier.
2. Georgia’s Offensive Line is Insane
This might be the best offensive line since the 2012 Alabama Crimson Tide. They absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage. Inside zone worked, despite pundits claiming that Georgia’s interior offensive line was pedestrian, and the Dawgs were able to get outside numerous times, something that shocked me. Look out SEC, this Georgia team is for real.
3. It Is More About Florida than Kentucky…or was it??
I don’t want to take away from Kentucky’s win. It was a historic win for the Wildcats, and I am happy for their fan base. But what the hell was Florida thinking? The Gators threw the ball 38 times. They completed 17 of those. On the other hand, Lamical Perine got 4 carries. Jordan Scarlett got 7 carries. Malik Davis got 4 carries. 15 carries between three stud running backs. They each should be getting 15 carries apiece! Unbelievable. Franks looked bad out there, which isn’t completely shocking, but what was shocking was the fact that Mullen looked like he had no answer. On the other side of the ball, Florida’s defense looked horrific. I mean absolutely horrible. Kentucky rushed the ball at will, Wilson was put in great positions to throw the ball, and the Wildcats controlled the line of scrimmage. Truly perplexing.
Kentucky ran all over Florida. Image from USA Today.
4. Georgia’s Defense Is Scary Good
Back to Georgia. The Dawgs defense is fast and mean. That may not be a surprise to people, but the level at which they played has surprised me a little bit. There are a lot of players that are getting their first action either as starters or as Division I athletes. There was no fall off from last year to this year. Monty Rice was all over the field, by the way. Whether he was in on the tackle or not, I could tell from my little spot above the field that he was disrupting a lot of plays.
5. Jimbo Fisher Put the West on Notice
Yes, that includes Alabama. Will the Aggies compete for the SEC West this year? I don’t think so, but I wrote in my season preview that all they needed was a shot in the arm. Texas is down and high school athletes in the state are thirsty to play for a winning football program. Right now, Jimbo is building a dang good recruiting class. He showed against the #2 team in the country (Clemson) that he can get his team ready to play against anyone. Give him a year or two to get some talented recruiting classes, and we could see a Kirby Smart-like resurrection of the A&M football program. Look out Auburn, LSU, and yes, even Alabama. Jimbo Fisher just put you on notice.
Texas A&M competed against Clemson until the bitter end. Image from Sports Illustrated.
