Right back at ya. You nailed the analysis on this one. Worked out just about exactly how you were thinking. Good luck next year, and hopefully we'll meet up in a playoff / championship some day.
Texas is the better team. No if's, and's, or but's about it. They dominated at the LOS all night long. Ran the ball effectively and stopped the run as well as any team UGA played all year including Bama.
Hope you guys run through the Big 12 next year and beat the heck out of those Sooners. I like your team much better. Physical football is where it's at.
It will certainly be interesting.
Two illuminating points about the Dawgs and physical play:
1. Kirby's motto for the team is "Make their asses quit"
2. Fromm after a win vs USCjr early in the year, was quoted with this, "Somebody had to pay for the preparation we do and today that somebody was South Carolina”
I could see both of those things coming out of the Texas camp too.
Here's a better way to look at it.
D'Andre Swift conference games only averaged 6.90 yards per carry
Elijah Holyfield conference games only averaged 5.91 yards per carry
These numbers mean more because they cut out the weaker games as you noted, but also only include carries where the game was on the line and not when the third, fourth, and fifth stringers were salting away the game.
That was a great victory in the Red River Shootout. Gotta throw out all the stats and rankings when it comes to a rivalry game. Anything can happen when teams hate each other that much.
For UGA and LSU, the Dawgs ran into a buzzsaw. They got rattled early, got thrown off their gameplan, and never recovered. Sucks too, because a W there pretty much would have secured a playoff spot even with the loss to Bama in the title game. UGA was overconfident and a little too full of themselves. Got punched in the mouth and lost all composure. The only positive from that game was a much needed attitude adjustment. Georgia's average margin of victory for the rest of the regular season Power-5 games after that was almost 20 points. They resolved to not be unprepared or lackadaisical again.
Thanks for the warm welcome. 😎
I know you're looking at the sack numbers, and making a judgement based on them being lower than one would expect. That's fair. The reality is you are going to be surprised at how uncomfortable in the pocket UGA will be able to make Sam during this game.
It's just odd to lock in on a "season long trend" of UGA not being able to score more than thirty without Special Teams and/or defensive field position gifts while still defeating the teams by 3+ scores on one hand while ignoring the elephant in the room with UT's struggles to defeat teams that they should really be better than.
Ok. So, maybe Texas isn't as talented as I think. Same point still stands. There's a season long trend of Texas not being able out scheme and out effort teams that shouldn't be on the level of Texas, Herman, and Orlando.
Was it an outlier though?
K-State, Tulsa, Maryland, and Baylor. All teams that a more talented Texas team should have manhandled. All decided by 7 or less.
I wouldn't say UGA is not "comfortable" throwing from any down and distance. Here's Jake's vs. Sam's numbers on third down passing this year. The numbers are sorted by passer rating making Jake 21st in the nation and Sam 41st.
Name
Team
Yr
G
Att
Comp
Pct.
Yards
TD
Int
Rating
1st
1st / Att
21
Jake Fromm
Georgia
SO
12
67
39
58.2
520
9
3
158.77
30
44.8%
41
Sam Ehlinger
Texas
SO
13
101
62
61.4
849
6
3
145.67
44
43.6%
While we're talking about offensive struggles, what happened to Texas at Kansas? With the Championship Game appearance on the line how did Herman allow this stinker of a game?
Matchup
1st Downs
19
14
3rd down efficiency
6-15
9-19
4th down efficiency
0-0
0-1
Total Yards
297
296
Passing
154
159
Comp-Att
16-28
18-35
Yards per pass
5.5
4.5
Interceptions thrown
2
1
Rushing
143
137
Rushing Attempts
41
33
Yards per rush
3.5
4.2
Penalties
4-35
9-98
Turnovers
2
1
Fumbles lost
0
0
Interceptions thrown
2
1
Possession
31:18
28:42
One note about using Auburn as an example of a team that held the UGA offense in check. While they ultimately held the Dawgs to a lower scoring output, the team stats tell a very lopsided story. Because of AU's outstanding DL, they were able to muster two big time goal line stands costing UGA 8 points due to settling for FGs. Also, as you can see, UGA was held back by self inflicted penalties too. Just food for thought when trotting them out as an example.
Matchup
1st Downs
19
24
3rd down efficiency
3-11
8-14
4th down efficiency
0-1
1-2
Total Yards
274
516
Passing
172
213
Comp-Att
25-37
15-23
Yards per pass
4.6
9.3
Interceptions thrown
0
1
Rushing
102
303
Rushing Attempts
20
46
Yards per rush
5.1
6.6
Penalties
6-52
12-85
Turnovers
0
1
Fumbles lost
0
0
Interceptions thrown
0
1
Possession
21:45
38:15