And we still don’t know

On Saturday, before everything hit the bed, myself and few of my other tailgating comrades in arms were mushing over so many aspects of what we thought may or may not happen on the field at a sloshy Sanford Stadium.

One comment that was said still sticks out…”we don’t know how good we are.”

Honestly, I’m still not sure how good…or bad this team is.

This team isn’t as good as it looked against South Carolina. As we’ve seen, bad teams make other teams look great, and Spurrier’s bunch are a very bad football team that may not win four games. One concern that I had Saturday was, ‘what if Lambert looked good because USC’s defense is that bad?’ That turned out to be right, in a way.

At the same time, this team isn’t as bad as it looked on Saturday. A very motivated Alabama team had something to do with that. Bama came out of the corner swinging desperate punches like its life depending on it, and it showed. Why Georgia didn’t show that desperation? That’s another post for another time. Alabama found some holes in Georgia’s defense and exposed them (vulnerability to covering the tight end finally caught up), and Lambert’s first look at a top of the line defense exposed how to easily rattle him.

Still, there is something to be said about how much field position and Georgia having to go away from its running game turned things on Saturday.

It’s a broken record, and I tire of saying it, but despite the loss, all things are still in reach for this team. Is Georgia as good as it looked against USC? No. But it’s not as bad as it looked on Saturday as well.

Lugnut Dawg

This was for you, Ray Goff

Few head coaches at The University of Georgia have been as maligned as Ray Goff, who had the unfortunate circumstance of taking over as head coach of a handstrung program that at the same time became a glutton for punishment at the hands of the Ol’ Ball Coach, especially when he hung half a hundred on the Dawgs in 1995 in Athens.

I wasn’t in Sanford that day – but know plenty who were. If you had to endure that day, Saturday night was especially sweet.

1966 was a lifelong torture. 1997 was sweet revenge. Last night? That was an undressing. Georgia has a good team, and showed it. USCe is down, and Georgia exposed it in a big way.

Detractors – you know they are out there. They’ll pull out the fact that, “but…USC is a bad team. That win isn’t that big.”

Not hardly.

How many times has Georgia played an inferior team and slopped its way to an ugly win. I’ll eat crow – I expected it on Saturday. But what we saw on Saturday is what championship teams do – take care of business and make a statement – do what you are there to do to start with.

Will this team play on that level the rest of the year? Probably not. You cannot expect that over the course of a season. In a perfect world, you could bottle up the emotion of Saturday and sprinkle it around each week. We remember all too begrudgingly the 2004 LSU win followed up by a flat loss to Tennessee…even the 1997 Florida win followed by laying an egg against Auburn.

But if this team plays at a fraction of what we saw Saturday – executing on both sides of the ball and a lack of special teams gaffes…for the most part…bigger things could be in store later down the line.

Go Dawgs!

Lugnut Dawg

Not giving up on Mason…yet

When Rick Pitino was head coach of the Boston Celtics, he once famously exclaimed the the likes of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish are ‘not walking through that door.”

That, to me, is the realization that is more real than ever for Georgia football when it comes to Hutson Mason.

Mason is the best option under center for this team right now. He won’t be Aaron Murray, no one else will be, and Mason is in the unenviable position of replacing one of the top signal-callers in Georgia history.

Fortunately for Mason, he has a healthy Todd Gurley in the backfield. This team has gone from being carried by Aaron Murray a year ago with patchwork running backs at times to Gurley carrying this team’s offense with a limitation at quarterback.

The good news for Mason is that I’m not sure we’ve seen all that he can do. Not even going back to last season against Georgia Tech and Nebraska, Hutson Mason did not have the full arsenal of receivers to throw to.

As frustrating as it may be to not see Mason stretch the field, he can only take those shots if the chances are there. This team has had one true deep threat the past four games in Chris Conley. So when defenses key on him, it’s easy to stack 10 in the box.

But if you get even a somewhat healthy Justin Scott-Wesley and Malcolm Mitchell on the field, it gives defense something to at least think about – and more receivers that can stand a better chance of getting open.

It’s an adjustment not having a QB who can chuck it deep. And not an easy one to get used to. But having more to work with will at least give Hutson Mason a fighting chance.

As odd as it sounds, the Vanderbilt game will be highly important for this team. It’ll show if it has any chance to have any sort of passing attack or if its hopes will hinge on Todd Gurley staying healthy.

Go Dawgs!

Lugnut Dawg

McGarity is new AD

According to numerous media reports, Greg McGarity is the new athletics director at UGA. More to come later