Tag: david pollack

David Pollack shares message to Georgia fans about Gunner Stockton

Former ESPN analyst David Pollack gives his take on how Georgia will perform differently with Gunner Stockton at QB.

Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck was injured in the first half of the SEC championship game, giving Gunner Stockton the keys to the Georgia offense. Stockton performed admirably, reawakening the UGA offense and leading the Bulldogs to a 22-19 overtime win.

Given Beck’s injury severity, Stockton could start a playoff game or multiple games. Former ESPN analyst David Pollack believes that might be beneficial for Georgia due to the energy Stockton brought to Georgia.

“I am not saying Carson Beck is not good … but Carson Beck is absolutely a flatliner,” Pollack said in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “He is not emotional. … When my quarterback gets juiced up, I love it. I rally behind it. When Gunner runs to the right on his first drive and runs a guy over instead of running out of bounds and the sideline is jumping up and down like crazy, it infuses your team.”

Beck is never the kind of person who emotionally fluctuates, unlike Kirby Smart, but Stockton was immediately fired up when he entered the game against Texas. That kind of energy can be infectious to the team and the fans.

Beck has done admirable work to lead the Bulldogs to the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff and an 11-2 record, but it cannot be denied the effect Stockton’s animated demeanor had on this game.

The first-round bye gives Beck more time to heal, but if Beck is not healthy enough for the Sugar Bowl, Pollack suggests Georgia will be just fine with Stockton under center.

 

Why David Pollack would ‘rather be Georgia than Oregon’

Former Georgia Bulldogs defensive end David Pollack likes UGA’s College Football Playoff path

Former Georgia Bulldogs defensive end and college football expert David Pollack thinks that Georgia has an easier College Football Playoff path to the national championship game than the Oregon Ducks.

Georgia is the No. 2 seed in the playoff and Oregon is the No. 1 seed, so hypothetically, Georgia should have a harder path to the national championship. However, Pollack does not think it worked out that way.

“I feel like the upper echelon talent is very heavy towards the top side of this (College Football Playoff) bracket and I definitely would rather be Georgia than Oregon,” said Pollack.  “I think Oregon is clearly the No. 1 seed. All year long the only team to go undefeated throughout the season and well when you think about it, if it were a traditional bracket, if it was traditional seeding Oregon would be in the better spot.”

Oregon’s side of the bracket features Texas, Ohio State and Tennessee. The Ducks have to play the winner of the Ohio State-Tennessee game in the quarterfinals.

“But because of the way they do the byes and putting Boise State and Arizona State there, now you’ve taken teams that are ranked according to the committee six and seven in Ohio State (and Tennessee) but are actually now eight, nine in the bracket,” continued Pollack.

Texas and Ohio State are among the national championship favorites, so Oregon has quite a challenging path to a national title despite finishing the season undefeated.

Georgia could have to get past Notre Dame and Penn State to make the national championship.

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Georgia football schedule

Georgia plays the winner of the Notre Dame versus Indiana game in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Jan. 1 at 8:45 p.m. ET.

David Pollack believes Georgia is playoff lock

David Pollack believes both SEC Championship teams are playoff locks. However, UGA has to be worried with Alabama as the No. 11 seed

The No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs and No. 2 Texas Longhorns have a rematch in the SEC championship this Saturday. Winning the conference championship is paramount for many teams to reach the College Football Playoff.

Former ESPN analyst and Georgia linebacker David Pollack doesn’t think so. On his YouTube channel “David Pollack College Football”, he stated that he believes both teams to be playoff locks.

“I think both teams are in the College Football Playoff regardless,” Pollack said.

Pollack believes that “Texas has the right identity on offense at the right time in the right moments.” That identity appears to be a reliance on a stout running game. Quintrevion Wisner has 344 rushing yards in his last two games. He also believes “the secondary just doesn’t give up big plays.”

In Georgia’s previous game with Texas (who was No. 1), the Bulldogs dominated the Longhorns’ 30-15. The Bulldogs generated tons of pressure, forcing four turnovers including two fumbles.

According to ESPN’s matchup predictor, Texas has a 61.5% chance to win the game and winning the SEC in their first year in the conference. If Georgia wins, it would be UGA’s second SEC title in the last three years.

Georgia should be a little worried with Alabama as the No. 11 seed. The Crimson Tide has a head-to-head win over Georgia, so UGA wants to avoid losing so the selection committee won’t put Georgia and Alabama in the same ranking group.

Former Georgia LB David Pollack shares interesting take on Texas Longhorns

Former NFL Linebacker, and, ESPN Analyst shares interesting take on Texas Longhorns.

David Pollack took to social media to share an interesting take about the Texas Longhorns as they inch towards the race to the College Football Playoff. He shared on X (formerly known as Twitter) “Texas ain’t flashy.”

In the twenty-five second clip shared to the platform he states that Texas is not an “explosive offense.” Stating that they don’t have the speed for Head Coach Steve Sarkisian to “play with.” He noted that Texas didn’t have consistency, stating that Quinn Ewers was good, but hasn’t turned heads necessarily. He did share that he feels that Texas is the type of team to “put a few games together.” He said Texas, could “win (the College Football Playoff) it.”

David Pollack is a former NFL linebacker and college football analyst. A standout at the University of Georgia, he was a three-time All-American and recorded 36 career sacks, ranking third in NCAA history. Pollack won awards as the nation’s top defensive player and was a first-round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. His NFL career was cut short by a neck injury in his second season. From 2011 to 2023, he served as a college football analyst for ESPN.

David Pollack predicts winner of Tennessee-Georgia game

Former ESPN analyst David Pollack, who played for UGA, predicts the winner of the Georgia-Tennessee game

Former Georgia Bulldog and ESPN analyst David Pollack has a number of opinions on the matchup between the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers and the No. 12 Georgia Bulldogs. With massive playoff implications for Georgia, he believes the Bulldogs will show up and win. Pollack talked about the Georgia-Tennessee game on his YouTube channel.

“Georgia can’t lose at home to Tennessee,” Pollack said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Pollack also went on to call this a de facto elimination game for either Georgia or Tennessee. People, such as Paul Finebaum, have called this an elimination game for Georgia, but so far no one has covered Tennessee’s playoff chances after this loss.

“They’re (Georgia) going to have three players that are going to be mocked in the top 15 of the (NFL) draft,” said Pollack, who thinks Georgia has more than enough talent to win.

With a loss, Tennessee will be 5-2 in the SEC but could end up behind other two-loss teams due to tiebreakers. That would eliminate it from the SEC championship race. If Tennessee loses a close game to Georgia, there’s still a chance it could make the playoff, but it’d be an uphill battle with the competition from the Big Ten.

For Georgia, a win could essentially guarantee it a playoff spot, but it could also open the door for it to reach the SEC championship, since it would have a 6-2 conference record. A loss would be a significant blow to Georgia’s playoff hopes.

CFB analyst David Pollack praises Texas A&M HC Mike Elko’s Year 1 success

College football analyst David Pollack is a big fan of what Texas A&M’s head coach Mike Elko is buidling in College Station.

Texas A&M’s 6-1 record, including a 4-0 start in SEC play, is extremely impressive, knowing that head coach Mike Elko is navigating his first season at the helm after his two-year stint leading the Duke Bluedevils.

Even more notable, before Elko arrived, the Aggies failed to win an SEC road game since the 2021 season under former head coach Jimbo Fisher, as the 2024 roster has fully bought into the culture and high standards Elko and his staff continue to preach, leading to a 2-0 conference road record so far.

While Elko and his team are completely focusing on hosting the 8th-ranked LSU Tigers on Saturday night, it’s appropriate to be proud of what the Aggies have accomplished so far, leading to college football analyst David Pollack heaping plenty of praise on the head coach through seven games.

“When you look at what Mike Elko did at Duke with less, I had very little concern that he was gonna do a lot more A&M with all those resources” Pollack stated. “It’s a team I’d buy stock in moving forward because of him, no nonsense, coaches ball, coaches energy, coaches effort, defensive savant, and experience in the SEC after all those years at A&M.

Concerning Texas A&M’s primetime matchup with LSU, Pollack believes the game will come down to the play in the trenches, specifically the Aggies’ defensive line against the Tigers’ O-line.

“So I’m not surprised, and by the way, the D-line with determine this game. Scourton and company against a very good LSU offensive line will go a long way in determining the outcome.”

Texas A&M will host LSU at home on Saturday, Oct. 26th, at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on ABC.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

David Pollack, social media reacts to controversial penalty reversal

David Pollack reacts to the controversial penalty reversal in the Georgia versus Texas game

During the Georgia Bulldogs’ 30-15 win over the Texas Longhorns, a major controversy ensued when Texas fans threw beer and water bottles onto the field after a pass interference call seemingly negated a pivotal interception.

The referees agreed to picked up the flag during the trash delay, which was an even more questionable decision.

Former Georgia Bulldog and ESPN analyst David Pollack was not happy, and he went to X, formerly known as Twitter, to sound off on the officials and on the broadcast booth for being silent about the situation.

“Wow I have never seen that in my life,” Pollack said. “The fans threw bottles on the field and the refs literally changed their call. That is such horse crap man. That’s one of the worst ways of handling a situation I have seen. Can’t believe they ain’t talking about that in the booth.” 

Perhaps they were at a loss of words from the picked up flag just like Georgia fans were. Fowler literally said “Oh my goodness,” as soon as the ruling was enforced. Kirk Herbstreit stuttered while trying to explain what was going on, before saying, “I knew this would light Kirby’s fuse. How could it not? The call’s already been made!”

It was a messy situation of making a bad call worse. Many fans, including Pollack, were irate over it.

 

 

 

 

David Pollack concerned for Georgia’s defense after the Kentucky game

Former Georgia Bulldogs defensive end David Pollack has some concerns the Georgia defense after the UGA-Kentucky game

Former Georgia Bulldogs defensive end and college football expert David Pollack offered some analysis on the UGA defense after Georgia’s 13-12 road win over the Kentucky Wildcats.

“I don’t think Georgia’s defense had Kentucky’s offense enter the red zone,” said Pollack. “It felt like Georgia’s defense were on their heels because of Kentucky.”

Georgia’s defense has not allowed a touchdown since the 2023 SEC championship game, but they certainly wish they had played a little bit better against Kentucky.

“Now listen Jordan Hall, Warren Brinson, Mykel Williams like you had guys that were out, but it’s next guy in. That’s fine, but when I watched their defense they they gave up more yards rushing than we’ve seen,” continued Pollack.

Georgia allowed Kentucky to rush for 170 yards on 45 carries. It was the most rushing yardage Georgia had allowed since the 2023 Georgia Tech game. The Wildcats averaged 3.8 yards per carry, which is not a great number, but it was enough for Kentucky to churn out 23 first downs and hold the ball for more than 35 minutes.

Georgia came into the game knowing Kentucky wanted to run and could not stop the Wildcats. Kentucky showed improvement after suffering a 31-6 loss to South Carolina in Week 2, but the Bulldogs knew exactly what Kentucky wanted to do. The Dawgs just could not throttle the Kentucky rushing game coming off a week in which the Wildcats completed just six passes.

Rushing defense was an issue for Georgia last season and that issue does not appear to not be completely resolved for the Bulldogs.

“Kentucky was very physical. (Quarterback Brock) Vandagriff was efficient,” said Pollack. “I wonder when Georgia plays a better passing attack if they give up run plays like that and they can create a little bit of balance. I wonder about the the secondary and the coverage in the back end. I don’t think we’ve seen enough of that yet enough. Playmakers to really put them in a bind.”

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The bad news for Georgia is the Bulldogs face an elite offense in their Sept. 28 game against the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Georgia defense will need to play well against Alabama to give the Bulldogs a good chance to win. Georgia’s offense does not have a touchdown against a Power Four opponent in the first half this season.

Former UGA DE David Pollack predicts winner of Georgia-Clemson game

College football analyst David Pollack names who he thinks will win Georgia’s season opener against Clemson

Former Georgia Bulldogs defensive end and former ESPN “College GameDay” analyst David Pollack thinks that Georgia will defeat the Clemson Tigers in Week 1.

“By far the best matchup of the weekend,” said Pollack on his new YouTube channel. “Two top 15 teams. Huge game. Neutral site in Atlanta.” Georgia enters the Clemson game as the No. 1 in the country. Clemson is ranked No. 14.

Pollack thinks if Clemson can get some rushing production out of quarterback Cade Klubnik, then the Tigers could pull off the upset.

“If they’re going to beat Georgia, they got to run the football from the quarterback spot,” explained Pollack. “Like you have to have that element. They’re not good enough everywhere else to line up and not be able to do that.”

Overall, Pollack likes what Georgia has more than Clemson. The Tigers represent a formidable challenge, but don’t have enough to pull off the upset.

“The reason I think Georgia’s going to win is, I think, Georgia has the ability to run the football but also have balance. I think they don’t have to run the football consistently,” said Pollack. “Carson Beck can spit the ball in the perimeter.”

Georgia plays Clemson on Aug. 31 in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The game kicks off at noon and is televised on ABC.

David Pollack will be totally stunned if Georgia finishes year No. 1

Why college football expert David Pollack would be “totally stunned” if the Georgia football finishes the season as the No. 1 team in the nation

Former Georgia Bulldogs defensive end David Pollack will be shocked if the Bulldogs finish the year No. 1. Georgia is the preseason No. 1 in both the AP Poll and the US LBM Coaches Poll.

“I get why Georgia is No. 1 to start the season,” said Pollack via social media. “But will be totally stunned if Dawgs end regular season with that ranking. Brutal schedule man!! Good luck coach Kirby Smart.”

There’s no doubt Georgia plays one of the most challenging schedules in the country. Georgia has a trio of road games that is harder than another other team’s most difficult trio. Georgia has to play at Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas this fall.

The Bulldogs open the season against Clemson and host Tennessee. According to most metrics, Georgia has five games against top-15 opponents, so it is hard to envision Georgia going undefeated. The Bulldogs could lose two or even three games this season and still make the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Georgia opens the season against the Clemson Tigers on Aug. 31 in Atlanta, Georgia.