Ouch (Scott)

I said this to my roommate as we walked to the game Saturday morning: “Georgia is a scary team, because Auburn always plays to the perceived talent of our opponent. When we played LSU we knew they were good so we came out and played amazing defense. When we played Ole Miss, Auburn knew they were not good, so we came out and didn’t play well, but good enough to win. When we played Arkansas, Auburn thought they were not good, only Arkansas was very good, and we got beat very badly. Georgia has played below their talent all year long, so their perceived talent is very low, but they still have a lot of actual talent on their team.”

I am not claiming to have called the Georgia upset - I still thought Auburn would win. It turns out this theory of perceived talent was right instead.

It’s the reason I’m a bad student, the Auburn coaching staff were bad coaches, and the UGA coaching staff came away with a much needed upset. Homework. Like myself, the Auburn coaches had not done their homework, and Mark Richt’s team studied like that kid who always sets the curve too high in your hardest class. When Tray Blackmon was lined up to blitz the outside and Dede was covering a back or tight end running outside, Georgia’s offensive coordinator and Mathew Stafford knew that Stafford could run right up the middle.

South Carolina torched Auburn by having their quarterback run the ball when we committed too much to the blitz. The funny part is that while South Carolina’s Syvelle Newton is ridiculously fast, there is no way that Stafford runs 40 yards under 5 seconds, and I’m giving him a running start. The Georgia coaches knew that even though their quarterback wouldn’t win the 100 meter dash at the Special Olympics he would still be able to get a first down on us on some of the most critical downs. They knew what our screen passes looked like, they knew how to exploit our pass protection, they knew our team.

I have not seen much of Georgia this year. I don’t think our coaches have either. Jonathon Wilhite, David Irons, and Jerraud Powers were each outright beaten by the receivers they were covering. Georgia was able to isolate our corners and make play at will. Maybe the secondary missed Eric Brock more than anyone thought they would have (he is probably our best player in the secondary), but our pass coverage was terrible. Our blitzes were either picked up or badly exposed to run up the middle. There is a time for fancy blitzes, but when they do not work, that is the time to give up on sending extra pass rushers.

Homework or no homework, Brandon Cox was making it tough on Auburn too.