First off, the injury report. Munson mentioned we were not a healthy football
team Saturday, especially by halftime. We lost Veal and Moses early Saturday.
We hope all these players will be ready Saturday.
Bennett kicking well was good. CMR doesn’t like having to kick so many FGs,
but it was good to get Bennett out there.
What about losing that fat lead? When you throw an INT for TD then you drop
the snap on a punt and they scoop and score, it can get you pretty tight.
We need something from the special teams next week. Just before we went out
on the field, we mentioned it was time for the special teams to score a TD someway.
One special team provided a TD and another one set up another TD.
CMR has seen the Tennessee-Auburn tape.
Auburn did a great job of scheming the
running game, then they went out and blocked it for those great backs.
Tennessee
found itself behind and prides itself on running, but they proved they weren’t
a one-dimensional team. Tennessee has fine backs; it’s a tribute to Auburn that
they stuffed the run so well but Tennessee did a great job throwing and catching
it.
Don from Alpharetta opened tonight by asking about Greene and trick plays. CMR
said it was uncharacteristic for Greene to have 2 INTs. The INT for the TD was
unusual in that Greene always keys off the free safety but didn’t see him this
time. As for trick plays to change momentum, we do practice some, especially
designed to beat some of Bama’s zone coverages. In the second half, Bama aborted
their zones for man-to-man.
Clint from Charlotte thinks we should run the toss sweep with Browning or Lumpkin.
(good question, Chardog) CMR says we’re using the stretch play which
is blocked the same way. When you toss it and the defense is using outside leverage,
it is hard to cut. But if you hand it off, the back could cut it back in against
that but sometimes the back doesn’t see it. CMR likes how the play is working
by handing it off instead of tossing it.
Can we get the WRs loosened up this week after our problems at
LSU? We may have
to run some motion this week to soften up some press coverage. The best way
to loosen up press coverage is to make big plays against it.
Bert from Norcross was worried that the crowd loosened up Saturday once we got
the huge lead. Why didn’t we get Shockley more reps or run the ball? CMR isn’t
sure we’re ready to run the ball down someone’s throat but hopes we can. CMR
was probably too stubborn to go to the run sooner but tried to hit one more
big pass play against Bama’s changed defense.
Ely-Kelso had cleanly fielded one bad snap and gotten a kick away during the
game before the one he muffed. The last one he kicked 11 yards was one we asked
him to angle kick. He just didn’t execute the kick very well; it is something
we’ve practiced many times.
One guy (who said he wasn’t a UGA fan but has become a CMR fan) asked
about the KO hits on the Bama QBs where he claims they led with their helmets.
CMR says they did not lead with their helmets. They had their heads up and eyes
opened. When they’re blitzing full speed they’re going to hit full speed. There
was no spearing situation or helmet to helmet contact. “Kill shot” has been
football vernacular for a long time and CMR doesn’t like it. He will mention
that to the guys to not use that terminology. When you play full speed it is
awesome, but not that terminology.
Jeremy Thomas has been named a captain for the Tennessee game. He had his best
game as a Dawg last week. We will give the FBs the ball some but CMR especially
likes using the FBs in the passing game. Their job 90% of the time is to block.
You can see a walk-on earn a scholarship as a FB because it is not always a
glamorous job and they are willing to do it.
When a caller asked about using Greene and Shockley on a play together, CMR
reminded the caller what happened when we tried it against MTSU. CMR thinks
we would’ve been better off using the regular TB on the swing pass.
Why didn’t DJ get more playing time after the excellent audible he called for
the TD pass? CMR said he hates to change QBs after a bad play and prefers to
do it after something positive.
Ryan from Kennesaw wonders about the Tennessee running game which has struggled
the last two games. CMR says you just don’t know on any given day. Using Auburn
as an example, he compared how they fared against Tennessee as opposed to getting
stuffed by Southern Cal and Tech. If Tennessee gets their running game untracked
Saturday, we’re in trouble since Clausen is now throwing the ball well.
We have to find a way to disrupt Clausen’s timing. If we let him stand there
in the pocket, he can pick us apart. We’ve got to get him out of his comfort
zone.
As for the guy who asked about going to the wishbone, CMR joked that we could,
but would need a new coach since he knows very little about it. Then CMR reminded
us that the wishbone is not a good come-from-behind offense.
What about those illegal formation and substitution penalties? There is a new
rule (about two years old) about subs .. teams had been putting 12-14
guys in the huddle to try to disguise personnel groups. The defense tries to
match up personnel groups. Because teams were putting too many in the huddle
to deceive the defense, a rule was made. If you break the huddle with more than
11 guys, you’ve violated the rule even if you’re not trying to deceive the defense.
We’ve got to coach Greene to let guys get off the field before breaking the
huddle. And on the FG, Lumpkin was still on the field – probably because he’s
a true freshman – when we were getting the FG team on. Guys were running gassers
tonight for those substitution penalties.
Bruce Thornton – a caller noticed he is really developing into a shutdown CB.
CMR said he did get a little twinge in his ankle, enough to where we held him
out the rest of the game. Of all the seniors, CMR says Thornton is leading the
best of them in a positive manner.
What about Marquis Elmore? He is now healthy enough, but it is another thing
to get game ready and get ahead of other guys at his position. Elmore is getting
more work in practice and getting close to earning playing time.
Lindsay from Athens wants to know about changes due to injuries. CMR mentioned
Thomas Davis – had to move back to safety and is now getting the hang of it
and making plays all over the place. He also plays LB in our dime package. Munson
says Davis reminds him of Jermaine Phillips.
Will we be able to hold up on the DL against Tennessee’s running game? Veal
got his ankle rolled up on but should be ready Saturday. Gerald Anderson played
very well, along with Golston, and Swain – who got out of the doghouse and contributed.
Hopefully we’ll have enough to hold up Saturday night.
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