Defense again stole the show for Georgia on Saturday as the Dawgs picked up their SEC East-clinching win in a trip to Auburn. The offense sputtered, but came through when needed. What did we learn?
Georgia’s defense is historically great, but has its flaws.
Oh no, Georgia gave up its first rushing touchdown of the season. It took ten games for any team to accomplish that against the Bulldogs.
What really hurt Georgia over the course of the game? Slant routes. Auburn simply abused Bulldog cornerbacks with quick 10 yard gains early on in drives, and while Georgia’s defense eventually stepped it up and forced several midfield punts and fourth down attempts, the Tigers’ offense out-gained and out-possessed Georgia’s offense on the day largely due to their quick chunk plays.
LSU still needs one more win to clinch the SEC West, but regardless of whether Georgia will meet Heisman hopeful Joe Burrow or an Alabama squad who recently lost its star quarterback, the Dawgs’ secondary will have to tighten things up in Atlanta when facing either one of two Western Division powerhouses that are ranked within the top ten nationally in total offense.
Switching to a soft zone defense late in the game when your defense has dominated all day may not be a good idea.
Georgia had all the momentum going into the fourth quarter. With a 21-0 lead, Georgia’s defense switched from their smothering man defense to a soft zone, presumably so as to not give up any home run plays.
However, Auburn then scored two touchdowns within the span of three minutes and found themselves driving to level the score in the game’s waning minutes.
All’s well that ends well, but switching to zone and nearly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory likely shaved some time off Georgia fans’ lifespans.
In a defensive battle, Jake Camarda can be the difference.
The Bulldogs’ punter has had a good season, not a great one. Yesterday on The Plains, however, Jake Camarda looked NFL-caliber. A certain special teams specialist even called him the game’s most valuable player.
He averaged just north of 50 yards per punt against the Tigers, including a booming 67 yarder that pinned Auburn at its own two yard line. In a matchup which your offense requires you to punt 11 times (including NINE three-and-outs), consistency is key in allowing your defense to control the pace of the game.
Georgia’s offense revolves around the offensive line.
Okay, maybe we knew this much earlier on. That being said, they looked stout against an Auburn front seven who came into the game averaging two and a half sacks per contest. Georgia allowed just one sack, which became only the sixth sack they’ve allowed all season.
Jake Fromm didn’t look as crisp as he’s looked in the past, but his pass protection provided by the Great Wall of Georgia allowed him all day to throw. Perfect blocking and a perfect throw gave Georgia a first quarter lead it would never relinquish.
Fromm would later toss two additional beautiful touch passes to Brian Herrien and Eli Wolf. D’Andre Swift recorded yet another 100 yard rushing performance. The offensive line continues to stand tall, literally and figuratively.
D’Andre Swift is not a human, he’s a tornado.
We’ve seen Swift with some mean tackle-avoiding spin moves before, but his latest is absurd. How quickly he managed to turn that full 360 degrees blows my mind, and with a hand in his face and a tackler closing in, he casually trotted for a first down.
Overall, what did we learn? Them Dawgs is hell.