Not-so-special teams finally cost Georgia dearly
Georgia fans are no strangers to poor execution on special teams, but Saturday’s 17-16 loss against Vanderbilt was still a disappointing affair.
From the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs’ flaws were exposed as Darrius Sims returned the kick 95 yards to set up the Commodores’ first touchdown. On a day where touchdowns were at a premium, that proved to be a bigger play than it should have been.
“We didn’t play very well. We didn’t coach very well. We didn’t come out with very good passion and energy,” Kirby Smart told reporters after the game Saturday. “I’m really disappointed in the start of the game, we kind of lost momentum for the whole half from there.
“We’ve got to improve on special teams, we’re not very good on special teams right now. I was pleased that Rodrigo (Blankenship) made those field goals, but it’s all the other things that are costing us.”
Georgia’s early special teams blunder put the Bulldogs behind, but it’s something a team of their caliber should be able to overcome. What hurt Georgia the most were the small mistakes throughout the day that built up to have an impact.
Outside of big returns or turnovers, it can be difficult to measure the impact of special teams. On a day like Saturday, however, when teams are locked in a low-scoring affair, field position plays a much bigger role, and Georgia failed miserably in that aspect.
“The field position game in the first half was killer,” Smart said after the loss. “To see those balls fly over our guys’ heads, and we lost 50, 60 yards on that one punt that went over Terry’s (Godwin) head.”
Vanderbilt punted the ball eight times and averaged 47.2 yards per kick, including a 30-yard shank. Isaiah McKenzie, the Bulldogs’ primary punt returner, made two ill-advised attempts to run with the ball and nearly fumbled each time.
Georgia appeared to have trouble reading Vanderbilt punter Sam Loy’s rugby-style punting method, which prevented the Bulldogs from fielding any clean kicks.
Bananas. pic.twitter.com/5bmp76Z7yO
— Jake Reuse (@ReuseRecruiting) October 15, 2016
It’s something Smart says the coaching staff anticipated, but there didn’t appear to be any answer on Georgia’s part.
“Their punting game is probably shakier than ours,” Smart said of Georgia’s punt unit, which averaged 38 yards on six punts. “They flipped the field on us, I know three times. Our plan all week was to have two guys back there because the ball goes everywhere. If you chart where (Vanderbilt’s) punter’s ball goes, there’s no rhyme or reason to where it goes.”
Ironically, the loss occurred on what was easily Georgia’s best day kicking field goals this season. The Bulldogs’ field goal problems have been front and center amidst special teams conversations, but Blankenship was 3-for-3, including a 45-yarder.
Without Blankenship’s steady performance, Georgia’s loss would have looked even worse. Although that was the lone bright spot on an otherwise bleak day for the Bulldogs’ special teams, there were other factors that contributed to the loss.
A conservative offensive game plan helped Georgia rack up over 400 yards of offense but score only one touchdown. On a critical 4th-and-1, with a minute remaining in the game, the Bulldogs made a questionable call that resulted in a toss to McKenzie getting stopped short of the first-down line. The popular decision might have been to hand the ball to Nick Chubb, but Smart said they got the defensive look they wanted on that play.
“Coming out of the timeout, they ran the same stunt, which I wasn’t sure they would because they just showed it, and they put everybody up in the middle to plug,” Smart said of Vanderbilt’s defensive front on that fourth down. “We really thought we had the exact defense we wanted. … We felt really good about it, we had numbers, we had everything to get a first down.”
That play might have been the most obvious example of poor execution, but there was one play for Georgia’s defense that Smart believed really turned the tide of the game.
Just after Vanderbilt crossed midfield in the beginning of the fourth quarter, Georgia stopped Ralph Webb for a 2-yard loss and forced an incomplete pass to bring up a 3rd-and-12 for the Commodores. To that point, the Bulldogs’ defense had only allowed 112 yards of offense and looked capable of winning a low-scoring affair.
On that third down, Webb slipped into the flat, caught Kyle Shurmur’s screen pass and scampered 37 yards to the Bulldogs’ 10-yard line. Vanderbilt then scored its second touchdown, what proved to be the game-winner.
This play also made the difference.3rd & 12, @TurnUpWebb gets it done! #AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/2dasGdovFO
— Vandy Insider (@vandyinsider) October 15, 2016
“That was really, really a momentum swinger,” Smart said of Vanderbilt’s third-down conversion. “Because, to be honest guys, they should not have gotten 100 yards of total offense against our defense. We’ve got a better defense than they do offense, and we didn’t do it. That play was a big swinger.”
There is enough fault to go around for Saturday’s disheartening loss. But from the opening kickoff, Georgia proved that its special teams’ woes had not been fixed and that they were a problem even against inferior opponents.
The Bulldogs now have a much-needed bye week to address these problems before facing Florida in the annual rivalry showdown in Jacksonville. Smart and his staff have said they need to be better and help this young team improve, and this is their opportunity to do just that.
“It’s very disappointing, it’s not acceptable,” Smart said. “I’m upset about it and I think the best thing you do is you go to work. The only thing that we can do as a team is look ourselves in the mirror, each individual guy – starting with me – (and ask), ‘What can I do to better help this team?’ We have to improve. We have to get better.”
William McFadden covers the University of Georgia for Saturday Down South. For news on everything happening between the hedges, follow him on Twitter @willmcfadden.
We are in just the beginning stages of the Eason error.
I hope they can get it together fast.
Good luck Dawgs.
Y’all niggas trash
. . . Says the troll with the 167th-rated (senior) QB in the nation, after just having your team thoroughly destroyed at home. What is your infatuation with Eason? All season long you’ve been on him mercilessly. He’s barely out of high school and learning how to play in the SEC as a true freshman. He just threw for 350 yards and no INTs in his seventh college game at age 18. He’s thrown two game-winning passes so far under intense pressure (yes, from his standpoint I count the UT play as “game-winning” quality). Eason is not the reason UGA is sitting on three losses. What the hell do you want to see from him that would motivate you to go troll some other team’s QB?
If you had told me before the game that UGA would outgain Vandy by 300 yards, and that Eason would throw for 350, I would have expected a 35-7 type result. Special teams and O-line are just pathetic more often than not. I truly believe Kirby and Cheney need to change the philosophy to throw-to-run for the remainder of the year. Nothing to play for other than bowl pecking order – might as well give Eason the chance to let it rip and un-stack the box against our over-matched O-line. The only chance I see to beat either Florida or Auburn’s D is to spread them out. We try running between the tackles on these two teams, especially on first down, the result will be painfully predictable.
Once Kirby gets the big hogs on the line he’s looking for, things should change for the better. I never understood Richt’s infatuation with smaller O-linemen and defensive backs. He always seemed to go with athleticism over size. I don’t care how athletic you are, you can’t give up 30 pounds on the line and 4-6 inches in the secondary in this league. Thankfully, the right-sized recruits are on the way and wearing redshirts.