The CheckerBoard

Looking at the UGA-SC game, what hurt the Bulldogs the most today was also what kept UT in the game last week - the lack of a good run defense. But where SC excelled and UT did not was preventing those long plays along the edges. That was where UGA got a lot of points against the UT defense, and SC was able to shut them down on the sides. It was also interesting to note that Clowney said in the postgame interview that they were able to anticipate the snap count because the UGA QB would tap the center on the hip when he was ready for the ball. In the middle of all of this "SC is better than we thought" and "we can't compete with USCe" talk, there is one thing being overlooked - they only scored 35 against UGA. If you take away the one pick 6, UT scored the same amount of points as USC, and could have scored more were it not for those turnovers.

In my mind, the two offenses (UT and USCe) are roughly equivalent if you're using their respective performances against UGA as your barometer. But I think that the Volunteer OL is better than the Gamecocks' OL, and that might well make the difference come kickoff in Columbia...

Yesterday didn't change my opinion that UT's offense can put 30 on anybody, because nobody can, not even Bama, can leave both Hunter and Patterson in one on one coverage outside and Bray can make throws that most QBs can't. Throw in Rivera being very difficult to cover for most college LBs and Rogers improvement, UT's offense will score on everyone it faces and if they focus they can run on anyone. That being said, nothing yesterday changed, IMO, UT's defensive problems.

I disagree that UGA is "very good". They are continuing their pattern of beating average and bad teams and losing to ranked teams. They haven't had a significant win since 2007. They may go 10-2 but they are a soft 10-2 and we had every chance to beat them in Athens and failed. Thar's why I keep saying stop judging teams solely on their record. Mississippi State is 5-0 and hasn't played anyone.

The reason we beat NC State is the same reason we lost to UGA and UF. Big plays that broke for quick scores. If not for the three fast scores against NC State, who knows how that would have turned out. We have to stop these which puts us in a hole and forces us to throw. Stop big plays, run the ball, control the time of possession. This is how floordah beat LSU.