2021 UGA Football: Week Seven

UGA Instant Analysis 

Week 7:  W vs.Kentucky; 7-0

Most of this season we saw a big blowout on the scoreboard that came along with big concerns. This week was the opposite: a somewhat close game on the scoreboard that wasn’t really close at all. Georgia dominated Kentucky physically and schematically, and they did so without playing anywhere close to their best ball. Certainly not a perfect game but another quality performance against a good team in the national spotlight. Bringing Georgia back down to Earth a little though — Kentucky struggled to beat South Carolina and UTC this season, so I think their #11 ranking was slightly lenient. 

In keeping with the order of worst unit first — by far the most terrible performance of the day was submitted by the officials in black and white. The refs were awful, at best they were awfully inconsistent. The most notable discrepancy was found in the dreaded “holding” penalty. I get it, I spent a lot of time blocking bigger, stronger defensive lineman in my football days, and sometimes you need to tug and hang on for dear life. Unfortunately for Georgia, the officials only called it on Bulldawgs and not on Wildcats. Kentucky’s offensive line was completely overmatched despite how dominant the media talked them up to be, and there was a noticeable and impactful holding on probably every other or every three plays. All those misdirection screens Kentucky had some success with deserved yellow laundry, and somehow it never happened. I would support a “let the boys play” mentality, but since Georgia got those called against them, Kentucky deserved it too. I try to avoid blame on the officials because I have to believe they are trying their best, and I hate thinking the players and coaches didn’t determine the outcome of any game, but I don’t know if Kentucky scores any points against Georgia if those holdings were called properly, which is why the zebras occupy the first spot on this week’s list.

As for the actual team, special teams takes the bottom of the leaderboard following a very average performance. A missed extra point, kickoff out of bounds, bobbled punt returns, and poor punt protection couldn’t make up for a couple outstanding Camarda punts and a pair of blocked kicks. The effort was there through all of it, and the wind was vicious and played a major role in the kicking game, but it was not your typical special teams domination that Georgia fans should expect at this point in the season. 

Not surprising, but defense wins this week so the next unit up is the offense. The offense deserves two separate grades, one for the first quarter and one for the remaining three. To be clear up front, Todd Monken is the best offensive play caller at Georgia in my lifetime. Not much of an accomplishment considering his competition, but I am a big fan and incredibly impressed with his performance so far. However, today’s first quarter was the worst called quarter of his tenure at UGA. In fairness, there were lots of plays in the first quarter he used to set up bigger plays later on in the game, which is great. The Brock Bowers wheel, the Kearis Jackson screen, and some off-tackle counters likely don’t find success without setting them up early. The plays I had issues with were the five and seven step drops with a 5’10” (maybe) quarterback who continues to struggle in the pocket without misdirection. Stetson is infinitely better off play action, specifically outside the pocket or in slide protection where the line gets out of his way so he can see and the ball comes out quick. Those plays didn’t exist and it led to a struggle of a first quarter. Luckily Coach Monken adjusted quickly and got Stetson out on the edge to find open pass catchers, which eventually loosened the box and led to a successful rushing performance. It took a while longer than I hoped for but eventually the perfect game plan was called and these Dawgs are plenty good enough to execute. Outside of the questionable start in the booth, the offense looked excellent against a solid defense, despite a myriad of injuries to the receiving corps. The tight ends continue to impress and when Darnell is healthy he is a force in both the run game as a blocker and the passing game across the middle of the field. The offensive stars today were Team Warren — right guard Warren Ericson and right tackle Warren McClendon were monsters in both run blocking and pass protection. The quickness and pad level those two play with led to lots of time for Stetson to pass and lots of space for the tailbacks to run. The entire offensive line, including the tight ends continue to impress with their blocking ability, but the right side of the line occupied by the Warren’s was noticeably strong this week. I felt the Dawgs could put more on the scoreboard just about every week this year, but they continue to put up yards and points regardless of injury or competition. I don’t know if George Pickens will play this season, and I don’t know if/when Dom Blaylock and Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and any other pass catchers will come back, but Coach Monken is making it work and scoring comfortably with what he’s got which is all Georgia fans can ask for.

I am running out of things to say about this defense, but this week is a chance to highlight a secondary that continues to play above expectation even after a mass exodus and another week of significant injuries. The defensive front gets a lot of deserved attention, and while it’s very possible Georgia has the best defensive tackle (Jordan Davis), inside linebacker (Nakobe Dean) and outside linebacker (Nolan Smith), the secondary continues to step up to match the big dawgs in the front. There’s probably a good amount of freshmen corners who can play well in zone and maybe a couple who can cover well in man; Kelee Ringo can do both AND he’s not afraid to come set the edge or make a tackle. Lewis Cine and Derion Kendrick have experience and it shows, Latavious Brini plays his heart out every single play, and the surprise of the defense is Dan Jackson. With Tykee Smith out for the year, Chris Smith injured now, and some other injuries earlier in the year, walk-on Dan Jackson came in and played tough, discipline football. He’s not covering a #1 man-to-man but he limits big plays, supports against the run, and does the job needed to help the team win. He puts it out there on special teams too, a selfless staple on this Georgia team. Hopefully Georgia can find a scholarship for him by the end of the season because he deserves it as much as anyone in the country. With at least half of the front surely headed to the league next season, a consistent secondary will come up huge to transition into next season. 

Georgia faces two difficult offenses in the next three games, both on the road, so this coming bye week is crucial to get healthy and prep for an always difficult Florida game. Depending on their health, I expect Georgia to add some necessary QB depth with Brock Vandagriff and extra reps with both potential starters. 

The last point this week isn’t necessarily related to Georgia football directly, although Kirby Smart is a tremendous example of what right looks like: leadership matters in coaching, especially at the head coach position, and in college specifically a man of character is a must have to fulfill the duties of football coach. When you see some of what Jon Gruden wrote in his emails and what Urban Meyer did in Cincinnati, those are guys I don’t have faith leading young men to achieve goals. Sure they both won championships in their past, but in today’s world of instant transparency poor character will get you nowhere. I feel and hope the time of “hire the best coordinator as your next head coach” is over, and genuine, detailed character evaluation takes place in those hires. College football players deserve to be led by men of unquestionable integrity, not just guys who can draw up good schemes. This game, along with many sports, makes leaders out of young people and will always be the best part of football.

Go Dawgs!