Some key plays that took what could've (should've) been a tight game into a comfortable win for uga.
The positives:
Why this wasn't close in the end:
3rd and 4th downs. Statistically this was a close game. They only had 50 more yards than us. Rushing was even. No turnovers for either team and TOP was almost even. They converted 7-13 3rd downs and
2-2 4th downs. A lot of the 3rd downs were long yardage. We were 4-13 and 1-3. I believe at one point we were 4-9 on 3rd down. We didn't convert any late in the game.
Missed opportunities and mistakes. Thorne's mistake on 4th down was huge. He also misses opportunities. I mentioned throwing short on 3rd down with an open receiver in the same line of site. He also had Hunter releasing left out of the backfield on a 3rd down and he is ignored. By the uga defense and Thorne. He's the safety valve and Thorne never looks away from going downfield. It was covered up and he never looked to his Hunter who was wide open. The substitution penalty on 3rd down on uga's first drive once again cost us 7 points like the Arkansas late hit.
Thorne. He wasn't bad. He's just never good enough to be a difference maker. It wasn't him making bad plays yesterday. It was him missing opportunities.
We played clean and if we can continue to do that I think we will have a chance to win some games later this month. This was a better performance and the first time I haven't felt terrible after a loss this season. I think we are getting better. We just have to start winning the critical plays in games to turn the corner.
- Substitution penalty on uga's first drive after a great defensive series had them stopped for a 3 and out. Kept the drive alive.
- Forced two more 3rd downs and couldn't get the stop. All resulted in a 7-0 deficit. Defense played well on this drive, but couldn't get off the field again. The penalty cost us 7.
- Down 7-3 and facing 3rd down and 3 close to midfield. We draw an offsides penalty making it 3rd and 8. Thorne decides to throw a 4 yard pass to KLS when Fairweather is wide open behind him for an easy 1st down and in Thorne's line of site. Hugh doesn't totally lose his shit on Thorne as he comes to the sideline. It would've been appropriate though.
- End of the half. Offsides deep hurt trying to end the half at 7-3. I thought the long throw on 2nd down was great strategy. It had a chance to work. Not real open and not a great throw, though. Etienne was good on their TD drive. They were just lucky on the TD pass. It was overthrown and went right to the deeper receiver. We are not lucky. I really liked how our defense played the entire game. Hard and fast and never made things easy for them.
- Nice work to get in position to try the FG at end of half. Just didn't block it well enough. I think he makes that one. We played a solid half overall and end up with the worst possible score at 14-3.
- We get the 3 and out to start the second half and make a game of it on Hunter's long run (please feed him, Hugh). We force them into a 4th and less than one and on the QB sneak the officials felt it was appropriate to mark the ball where Beck's helmet ended up, not where the ball was. Looks like we stopped him just short of the 46 and and a proper spot might have given us the ball back. It would've been close on the measurement. That was a bullshit spot and not even close to where it should've been spotted.
- uga drive continues and we force a 3rd and 6. Beck makes a great back shoulder throw and the receiver makes a nice catch and gets a foot down. It was well covered. They just made a play.
- Etienne gets them down deep. We continue to fight and force 3rd a goal from the 1. Etienne is stopped short. Officials discuss and decide to give them the TD anyway. Review doesn't go our way. Shocking. They may have scored on 4th, but we were denied any chance by another bad spot.
- We start deep in our own territory after the kickoff thanks to a Luke Deal block in the back. Sigh.
- Some nice play calling gets us moving out past the 40 and here comes the infamous 4th and 1. I've watched it 10 times and nothing changes about it. Thorne moves us out of a play and into one that has no chance of success. Takes it right into an unblocked DE and our blockers are all set up to the left. Short field for uga leads to a quick TD. 10-28.
- We drive on the next series and Thorne drops one into Malcom Simmons lap in the end zone and he drops it. Another missed opportunity and with 10 minutes left in the game we still have a small chance if he catches that. We still manage 1st and goal at the 10. We run twice for nothing. Thorne rolls right under heavy pressure on 3rd down and has KLS wide open on the right side of the end zone, but throws well short. Another missed opportunity leads to a FG. 13-28
- Missed tackle on uga's next series leads to a 4th and inches instead of a punt. They go (which was insane) and make it. Another oh so close, but failed opportunity to get a stop.
- 3rd and 10 follows right after this play and we give up a long pass to allow them to convert. A trend that has to stop if we are going to get some wins in the next 6. Faulk was held on the play. We won't get any calls this season.
- We hold after some penalties and they make a long FG for the final 13-31 score.
- Trying to get some late points to make it look a little better. No interference call on Thompson in the end zone or 13 on the next play. Thorne gets out of trouble on 4th and 10 and then makes a terrible throw to a wide open Thompson, who I guess stepped out of bounds before catching it. Game ends. That play sums up the day.
The positives:
- Keldric Faulk. That 3rd down sack when uga was threatening early 2nd Q was as good of an individual rush move I've seen from an AU player in years. He's nasty.
- No turnovers. Not even close. No balls on the ground. No dangerous throws.
- We never looked overmatched even in losing by 18. Defense played hard and we never got pushed around.
Why this wasn't close in the end:
3rd and 4th downs. Statistically this was a close game. They only had 50 more yards than us. Rushing was even. No turnovers for either team and TOP was almost even. They converted 7-13 3rd downs and
2-2 4th downs. A lot of the 3rd downs were long yardage. We were 4-13 and 1-3. I believe at one point we were 4-9 on 3rd down. We didn't convert any late in the game.
Missed opportunities and mistakes. Thorne's mistake on 4th down was huge. He also misses opportunities. I mentioned throwing short on 3rd down with an open receiver in the same line of site. He also had Hunter releasing left out of the backfield on a 3rd down and he is ignored. By the uga defense and Thorne. He's the safety valve and Thorne never looks away from going downfield. It was covered up and he never looked to his Hunter who was wide open. The substitution penalty on 3rd down on uga's first drive once again cost us 7 points like the Arkansas late hit.
Thorne. He wasn't bad. He's just never good enough to be a difference maker. It wasn't him making bad plays yesterday. It was him missing opportunities.
We played clean and if we can continue to do that I think we will have a chance to win some games later this month. This was a better performance and the first time I haven't felt terrible after a loss this season. I think we are getting better. We just have to start winning the critical plays in games to turn the corner.
