Monday Down South: Georgia put all of its championship chips in on Jake Fromm
It wasn’t a blowout like the one Georgia administered to Florida last year, or the kind of swaggering beatdown in the trenches that UGA fans have been waiting to emerge. It was ugly at times, and still in doubt well into the fourth quarter. In the end, though, the Bulldogs’ decisive, 36-17 win in the Cocktail Party was exactly what they needed to resolve their midseason crisis on the heels of a five-alarm flop at LSU, and to reaffirm that this team can still be the contender it was supposed to be. And it made abundantly clear that if they’re going to see that promise through, it’s going to be with Jake Fromm running the show.
That the point actually needed to be clarified speaks to just how badly Fromm struggled in Baton Rouge, a trip that put his worst foot forward — opposite a blue-chip defense, in the face of a mounting deficit that rendered Georgia’s running game obsolete, he was indecisive, inaccurate, and suddenly in the crosshairs of a base eager to see more of 5-star freshman Justin Fields. After a two-week layover (the better to ramp up the speculation), Saturday was Fromm at his resilient best: 17-of-24, 240 yards, 3 touchdowns, zero picks, zero doubt about his status for the foreseeable future. Fields was relegated to zero snaps for the first time this season.
If anything, the stat line understates the extent to which Fromm transcended his plays-within-the-offense rep. Unlike the loss at LSU, Georgia ran the ball consistently and effectively in Jacksonville, with RBs D’Andre Swift and Elijah Holyfield churning out 175 yards between them on a healthy 5.5 per carry. But Fromm, playing against type, was arguably less dependent on the ground game to set up the pass than in any other game of his young career. His numbers against the blitz, according to Pro Football Focus: 10-of-12 for 121 yards and a touchdown. On throws of 10 yards or more downfield: 7-of-10 for 140 yards with 3 TDs. Prior to Saturday, Fromm had struggled this season on third downs, especially on 3rd-and-long; against Florida, he connected on 6-of-7 third-down attempts with five conversions, including touchdown passes on 3rd-and-2, 3rd-and-9, and 3rd-and-13.
Fromm with a 24 yard TD strike to Godwin! #UGA pic.twitter.com/eZYI7SJV1g
— New Account (@ftbeard_17) October 27, 2018
It would be exaggerating (although not by much) to describe Georgia’s reaction to the LSU loss as panic. It’s amazing, though, the difference two weeks can make in this sport. As a team, the Bulldogs are back on more or less the same solid ground they occupied a month ago, with at least an 80 percent chance of winning each of their next four games, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index, and a clear path back to the Playoff if they win out through the SEC Championship Game. Nothing about those scenarios has changed except the margin for error.
Nor has the fact that, on paper, this team continues to look virtually identical to the 2017 edition, which was also handed its hat in a stunning road loss and went on to play for the national title. Swift and Holyfield aren’t Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, but yards and points per game are slightly up. The defense, which replaced 10 outgoing starters over the offseason, is so eerily similar to last year’s D that its overall scoring average (16.4 points allowed per game) is exactly the same.
The one area where the Bulldogs still stand to take a real, tangible step forward from last year is at quarterback, in Fromm’s growth from inexperienced “game manager” who’s in trouble if he has to put the ball in the air more than 20 times on a given day to polished vet capable of making positive plays even when the down and distance or the scoreboard isn’t in his favor. After the LSU debacle, it was a legitimate question whether Fromm would ever grow into that guy, much less in time to salvage Georgia’s bigger goals for this season.
After Saturday, the more apt question is whether his second half turn against the Gators was a blip or a new leaf that will carry over into the postseason. Either way, let there be no doubt now that he’s going to have every opportunity to prove it on that stage.
Notebook
Around the conference.
.@UKCoachStoops living his best life.
(via @UKFootball) pic.twitter.com/w7By4Idz7F
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) October 28, 2018
Kentucky 15, Missouri 14
First off, let’s stipulate that Kentucky is good. Like, legitimately good, worthy of its 7-1 record and top 15 ranking, and of hosting what will probably be the biggest game in the modern history of Kentucky football next week against Georgia. And that is due almost exclusively to its defense:
That’s exactly what it looks like: Eight possessions after halftime, eight consecutive 3-and-outs, at the expense an offense that came in averaging 500 yards per game behind an NFL-bound senior quarterback. It’s also, incredibly, par for the course for opposing offenses this season. All but one of Mississippi State’s offensive possessions against Kentucky ended with a punt or turnover, including six 3-and-outs and a 4-and-out. South Carolina limped through five 3-and-outs against UK en route to putting up 10 points. Texas A&M came up empty on 10 of its 12 possessions in regulation. Vanderbilt posted an early touchdown in Week 8 in Lexington and didn’t score again.
Altogether, the Wildcats allowed a grand total of nine regulation touchdowns in six conference games, an incredible leap forward from last year (when they allowed 31 TDs in SEC games) and good enough to make them the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense entering November. In advanced-stat terms, the Kentucky D ranks third nationally according to both S&P+ and SRS, and eighth per FPI. No other SEC team has allowed fewer yards per play vs. FBS opponents. It’s a fully realized unit playing as well over the past six weeks as any defense in the country.
And yet: For the third consecutive game the Wildcats needed every single last drop of that dominance just to give the offense a fighting chance at the end, in a game they frankly had no business winning.
In context, UK’s last-gasp, 81-yard drive to win felt like a borderline miracle on multiple levels, beginning with the fact that the ‘Cats were still within striking distance — their only touchdown to that point had come on a 67-yard punt return by Lynn Bowden Jr., which cut a seemingly insurmountable 14-3 deficit to 14-9 with a little more than five minutes to go. (That recalled the Wildcats’ trip to Texas A&M, when they needed a defensive touchdown in the fourth quarter to force that game into overtime.)
From there, Missouri aided the cause by attempting four passes on its last two offensive series, three of which fell incomplete, leaving 1:24 on the clock for Kentucky’s final possession and a timeout in the Wildcats’ pocket.
Then there was UK quarterback Terry Wilson, who was briefly benched in the third quarter but turned into Joe Montana on the final drive, hitting six consecutive passes (not including a pair of sacks) for 87 yards, capped by the game-winning TD to C.J. Conrad with no time on the clock. (The dubious pass interference penalty against Missouri on the previous play, which allowed for one last untimed down, was another random tick in Kentucky’s favor; see the “Demerits” section below.) Earlier in the fourth, Wilson led an extended march that ended on a failed 4th-down attempt inside the Mizzou 5-yard line; combined with the game-winning drive, he had more passing yards in the final quarter alone (146) than he’d managed in any of Kentucky’s previous four games.
C.J. Conrad Scores the Game-Winning Touchdown for Kentucky!!! #BBN #Wildcats #WeAreUK pic.twitter.com/TKvUcNR1BK
— Wildcat Touchdowns (@WildcatTDs) October 28, 2018
A dramatic, come-from-behind division win is a dramatic, come-from-behind division win. Still, when the adrenaline subsides where does that leave the Wildcats against Georgia?
The offense is the upside-down version of the D: Among SEC teams Kentucky comes in 13th out of 14 in total offense, tenth in yards per play, and tied for dead last in scoring. Wilson is 12th among regular starters in pass efficiency. Every other aspect of the team has to be near-perfect to make that work as well as it has to date, and the margin for error against the Bulldogs will be smaller than it’s been all year.
Mississippi State 28, Texas A&M 13
Where has this version of Nick Fitzgerald been all season? Last week, I was part of the very loud, very insistent chorus calling for Mississippi State to pull the plug on the fifth-year senior as its starting quarterback, if only for long enough to give sophomore Keytaon Thompson a chance to try on the role for size after a series of dismal passing efforts by Fitzgerald over the preceding month.
Instead, the Bulldogs stuck with their embattled incumbent from start to finish against A&M and were rewarded with possibly the best passing performance of his up-and-down career: 14-of-22 for 241 yards, 2 touchdowns, no interceptions, and — as with Jake Fromm at Georgia — no doubt about who belongs at the top of the depth chart. Thompson, the de facto fan favorite, got on the field for one carry and didn’t attempt a pass.
Mississippi State strikes first! Great throw from Nick Fitzgerald & great catch by Stephen Guidry!! #Bulldogs pic.twitter.com/DweiSc8V08
— New Account (@ftbeard_17) October 27, 2018
Fitzgerald also added a game-clinching, 76-yard touchdown run in garbage time, salvaging a big rushing number (88 yards on 16 carries, including sacks) on a night when his arm carried the banner. The only downside for State fans is that the apparent turnaround came too little, too late to take full advantage of a defense that’s shaping up as the best in school history — MSU ranks in the top five nationally in scoring D, total D, and yards per play allowed, having held opponents to one touchdown or less in seven of eight games this year. (The exception was Kentucky, which scored four.)
The versatile, efficient Fitzgerald on display on Saturday night would have been nice to have at their disposal in low-scoring losses to Florida and LSU, whose only touchdown last week came as a direct result of one of Fitzgerald’s four interceptions in that game. As it is, the Bulldogs are left to hope he sticks for upcoming trips to Alabama and Ole Miss.
Superlatives
The best of Week 9 …
Josh Allen strip sack. Rinse and repeat. pic.twitter.com/m8JmkZKgzr
— Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) October 27, 2018
1. Kentucky LB Josh Allen. Allen, a junior, has been a mainstay in this section and continued his breakout campaign Saturday with one of his most productive outings yet, finishing with 11 tackles (9 solo), 2 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles in another all-around dominant performance by the defense. For the year, Allen is tied for the national lead against FBS opponents in sacks (10), tackles for loss (14.5) and forced fumbles (5), mirroring his team’s performance on the scoreboard.
2. Georgia QB Jake Fromm. Pro Football Focus graded Fromm as Georgia’s best individual player in the win over Florida and put him on PFF’s National Team of the Week. All told his rebound effort in Jacksonville was as polished and NFL-ready a performance as he’s delivered in any of his 22 career starts.
3. Georgia DB Tyrique McGhee. McGhee registered two takeaways against Florida to go with his 5 tackles, coming down with a drive-killing interception in the first half (his first pick of the season) and the forced fumble in the second that put Georgia’s offense in a position to all but ice the win from the Gators’ 1-yard line. It didn’t quite work out that way, but not for lack of initiative by No. 26, who did everything he could short of scoring himself.
4. Florida DL Jabari Zuniga. On the other side, Zuniga’s seemingly run-of-the-mill stat line against Georgia (6 tackles, 1 for loss, plus a QB hurry) obscured a performance that occasionally leapt off the screen. At no point was his explosiveness more obvious than on the Gators’ extended goal-line stand, where he was credited with 3 stone-walling tackles on 6 snaps.
@JabariZuniga ✈️around the field. He’s gonna eat well on Sundays pic.twitter.com/WpxCAvBqxH
— GatorNation 🅥 (@NYGATOR1) October 27, 2018
5. Kentucky WR Lynn Bowden Jr. It’s hard to imagine where Kentucky would have been at Missouri without its electric sophomore, who singlehandedly kept the Wildcats alive on his punt-return touchdown in the fourth quarter while also accounting for more receptions (13) and receiving yards (166) against the Tigers than the rest of the team combined. Six of those grabs came in the fourth quarter, including a 17-yarder on the eventual game-winning drive that set up the decisive sequence.
Honorable Mention: Florida LB Vosean Joseph, who was his usual ubiquitous self for the Gators with a team-high 13 tackle and a perfectly timed blitz/sack on Georgia’s opening possession. … Vanderbilt RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn, who ran for a season-high 172 yards and 3 TDs in the Commodores’ 45-31 win over Arkansas. … Vanderbilt TE Jared Pinkney, who hauled in 5 catches for 93 yards and 2 TDs against the Razorbacks. … Missouri punter Corey Fatony, who averaged 48.4 yards on nine attempts, dropping 5 inside the UK 20-yard line. … South Carolina RB Rico Dowdle, who racked up 140 yards rushing in the Gamecocks’ comeback win over Tennessee, on 10.0 per carry. … South Carolina DE D.J. Wonnum, who had both of the Gamecocks’ sacks in his first game back from an ankle injury, the latter of which sealed the win in the fourth quarter. … Mississippi State DB Jaquarius Landrews, who recorded a career-high 7 tackles with two sacks against Texas A&M. … And Mississippi State QB Nick Fitzgerald, who was not benched and likely isn’t going to be anytime soon.
Catch of the Year of the Week: Deebo Samuel
Based strictly on the box score, Samuel’s line in South Carolina’s win over Tennessee (3 catches for 8 yards) made it one of his quietest nights of the season. But then, he’s never needed a high-volume workload to make noise:
https://twitter.com/SECNetwork/status/1056351548312379397
That catch was a rerun of Deebo’s first TD catch of the season, a one-handed show-stopper in the same corner of the same end zone against Coastal Carolina, and capped the first of what turned out to be four consecutive scoring drives for the Gamecocks to close the game.
Fat Guy of the Week: Vanderbilt DL Louis Vecchio
Vecchio, a grad transfer from the Ivy League, had a suitably eclectic afternoon in Vanderbilt’s win over Arkansas: In addition to notching his third sack of the season, the 6-5, 270-pounder came off the bench to swat down two passes and somehow managed to pick off a third in defiance of at least two of the three laws of motion.
Louis Vecchio seems like the kind of guy who can snag a mosquito between two chopsticks pic.twitter.com/PAdJFUHVaQ
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) October 27, 2018
The play-by-play doesn’t bother to clarify these things, for some reason, so if you’re keeping track, Vecchio tipped the ball twice as he hit the deck, landed on his stomach, rolled onto his back in time for the ball to land on his facemask, and successfully trapped it before it could hit the ground, all in the span of maybe two seconds. His first career interception set up the Commodores at the Arkansas 29-yard line for their sixth and final (and shortest) touchdown drive of the game, giving Vandy its highest point total since a 45-34 win over Tennessee in 2016.
Demerits
… and the worst
That Call. I rarely have sympathy for ref-shaming in the wake of a close loss. Most “bad” calls are debatable, at worst, and a certain type of fan on the losing side is always prepared to whine about the injustice of it all no matter what. The refs come with the territory; most of the time, the people venting spleen in their direction might as well be complaining about a stop light.
But I will make an exception in the case of an egregiously bad call that directly affects the outcome in the closing seconds, and the defensive pass interference penalty on Missouri’s DeMarkus Acy as time expired against Kentucky certainly falls into that category:
The call that made it possible. pic.twitter.com/iyHrfo8RDp
— Brandon Kiley (@BKSportsTalk) October 27, 2018
It’s hard to fathom how Acy, who gave up somewhere in the neighborhood of three inches and 40 pounds on this play to Kentucky’s Ahmad Wagner, was fingered for a game-deciding penalty when it was Wagner who both initiated contact with a two-handed shove to Acy’s face …
… and exacerbated it by using his right hand to push off Acy’s helmet on his way up for the jump ball pass from Terry Wilson:
It was all Acy could do to keep his feet and stay between Wagner and the ball, which arguably could not have been caught in-bounds, anyway: Wagner actually hauled it in with one hand but came down well past the line.
Again, it took an unlikely sequence of events to get to that point — the offensive stalemate, the clutch punt return by Lynn Bowden, the questionable play-calling by Missouri’s offense with a chance to drain the clock, the abrupt revival of Kentucky’s passing game on the final drive — none of which had anything to do with the refs.
Mizzou had another chance to win the game on the subsequent play after the penalty and couldn’t close it out. But to decide a game, and potentially the East Division, on such a lopsided call is a critical lapse in judgment that would have achieved instant infamy if it had involved more high-profile teams in a less obscure time slot. Let ‘em play.
PI calls this year have been so inconsistent. I know the refs get graded by the conference, but those grades need to be made public.
I wanna see Justin Fields…
I’m sure you could “slide into his DM”. Isn’t that what you people rap about?
according to yo girl you right!!!
Bunker Buster will never have a girl.
She doesn’t like darkies. Sorry.
Nah shes likes all the dark meat go ask her!!!
Bunker Buster, you need to take your racism to the Ole Piss board. Racism just murdered 11 people in Pittsburgh and has no place here or anywhere else.
I should have used the word bigotry instead of racism but they are the same thing.
Always knew Bunker Buster was racist, what a loser.
Bunker, your days are numbered on sds. You have stepped over the line. lol..
.it was fun while it lasted you miserable, rednecked white trailer trash, girlie.
I’m glad I’ve managed to summon SDS’s 4 most-hated tug jobs to one place, so I’ll only need to say this once…
I’ll see you in hell.
BBN your just a racist cunt…
oooo! What sharp teeth you have!
Great call, KY’s receiver was hammered.
Georgia will lose two more times this year to Kentucky and Georgia Tech and get an invitation to the Music City Bowl.
Oh look! The 1 Kentucky fan….. 45-7 UGA…
They are 7-1 I believe and still cannot fill up their stadium. Basketball season is right around the corner so I guess that’s what they are focused on.
The game is a sell out. You thought it was tough sledding against LSU wait until Saturday.
I think most of us don’t get on here too often (I admittedly do) because we’re usually ignored. For example, in one of the pre-season SDS podcasts they basically skipped Kentucky and said that they couldn’t name three players on the team. KSR is probably a bigger and better organization that SDS and is literally only UK. That’s all most really need.
And you all aren’t scoring 45, I can’t guarantee that UK will score 7, but UGA isn’t scoring 45.
And our stadium will be full, as it was against USC and MSU. For what it’s worth, I’d like to see Sanford Stadium after 40 years of not finishing better than 4-4 in SEC play and 31 straight losses to Florida. I don’t think you all are doing better than 60,000.
Its funny you think Georgia can score 45…especially against the best defense in the SEC. UGA should be legitimately concerned about this game, but I believe talent is too much for the Cats.
Georgia 17, Kentucky 13
You’re smokin’ that sherm if you think UGa is scoring 45.
That was likely the worst call of the season by an SEC ref, your guy was all over the defender and the ball was not catchable in bounds. No such help coming Saturday. Snell is the only offensive weapon you have and you can bet UGA will be aiming at him all night. UGA 35-14. And saying Tech will be UGA is further proof you are in la la land.
It just proves God is a Kentucky fan.
Genuinely curious, what from watching GT’s season so far and UGA’s season so far leads you to conclude that GT will beat UGA?
Now, I don’t think GT is going to beat them but Georgia hasn’t been great against the run this year. They’re giving up 140+ yards a game and ranked #43 nationally. Again, I don’t think GT will beat them but that’s the argument someone might make.
That’s a fair argument, especially since GT runs the triple option. Even when they’re down, GT can still surprise better defenses that are not prepared.
Don’t be an idiot. The worst they’re doing is 10-2.
You can’t just pick a receiver from making a play on the ball, DUH. Good call. I swear, even reporters don’t know the rules of college football. Had the defender made a play in the direction of the football, maybe no flag, but the receiver (both players actually) has a right to the football, and physically blocking him from it is no different than tackling him before he touches the ball. Any of you guys think that was a bad call, that is on you, not the refs, not their fault you are ignorant.
You want to some ticky tacky PI calls, or lack thereof, go watch the second quarter of the state/aTm game. Some inconsistent bs.
So the refs got it wrong in your game but right everywhere else? That’s about a logical as Mullens trying to use the same flea flicker play to start the UGA-FLA game that UGA used against MSU last year. It worked for us, not so much for FLA and Mullens.
Your brain is an enigma.
Was the ball ‘catchable’ in bounds?
All these comments on here by the same guy using different screen names.
Well, at least he argues with himself.
Paris…go back to PARIS LANDING Tennessee…we all know that’s where you live…and change your LIGO back to that PUKE ORANGE that looks like really bad habenero Mexican sauce. You waste wayyyy too much time worried about Kentucky sports and not nearly enough time catching carp from the Tennessee River to feed your starving family…. Have a great day fishing
I get the anger around the call, but I don’t think it was indefensible. Watch at: 03-4 on the embedded video, the DB uses his right arm to drive the receiver out of bounds, after that the defender then plays the ball. If you watch the other angle later in the video, he actually has to correct himself back towards the ball and away from the sideline. I’m not going to pretend that I don’t see this in a blue tint, but I never saw this as a preposterous call. Wagner (6’8″) played basketball at Iowa last year, if he doesn’t get driven out then he may have been able to catch it in bounds.
Unbelievable that Kentucky fans can begin to defend that call. The UK receiver initiated contact with a two handed shove to our DB’s helmet, then pushed off his head to try and make the catch. In between that, there was some hand fighting between the two but the Mizzou DB was staring the ball down to try and make a play. You just can’t make that call at the end of the game. Horrible.
Regardless we let Kentucky hang around and had the worst coaching in the history of man by throwing the ball repeatedly late – especially on 3rd and 2?? Ugh.
Exactly right about that 3rd and 2 call. I get not being confident in running up the middle or about pursuit from Josh Allen if you go to the left but that call was bonkers given the game situation.not to mention the play was designed to the boundary so no matter what the clock stops.
This is an aberration , a Kentucky football fan talking smack. Enjoy your 15 minutes dude.
It might be just that but they have the same record as UGA and a better defense. Their only loss wasn’t a beat down either. I’m not saying they’ll win Saturday but they’ve earned the right to talk smack this season. Also, a UGA fan talking smack? That one SEC championship has gone to y’all’s head. Come back when you’ve won three in a row, have won six out of the past nine, or have won at least one NC (or 5 out of 9) in the past decade. Enjoy mediocrity.
where the hell have you bee cod ole feller
@Cody where you at man, did you change your team allegiance ?
Kentucky plays Duke in basketball. don’t they?
I have put up with 30 plus years of BAD football, now that I have the opportunity I’m going to talk smack just like an UGA fan.
Go for it. It’s great to be in a position to talk smack.
How have YOU earned the right to do something through someone else’s hard work? I’m seriously asking. Just because you wear a UGA Tshirt doesn’t mean you are UGA. Is this logic too difficult for you to understand?
You also surfaced sometime around UGA’s last season, which would make you a bandwagon fan.
Why did you drop Col Reb? You are still the same racist guy.
You sure do concern yourself a little too much with what I do. You are a lame sack, you know that?
Take a step back and ask yourself, “What am I doing with my life? Am I REALLY following around another man on the internet? Should I off myself?”
Lol…. dude you follow me around more than I do you. Answer the question. Why did you dump Col Reb?
If that was the case, why do you concern yourself with what I do? Especially when it’s not football related. You’re asking me about a non-football related thing. Which means you’re concerning yourself with me – something you’re denying doing.
K.Y.
Noob, you had it posted on this SPORTS SITE. That’s why I asked you about it.
Okay, since this is a SPORTS SITE, why are you asking me about things not sports related, f@ggot.
Why don’t you answer, girlie?
The fact that you need an answer is even more shocking than why I did it. Don’t you understand, Bulldawgrock/The Mayor/olemissforever
Oh, so you got tired of appearing to be the racist you are even before you open your mouth. I get it now.
You’re a psychopath. Get lost.
At least I don’t have sex with kin folks like you to…..brother,sister, mother, father, neighbors and any black folks you can find or fondle.
You are sick in the head. Get help.
KY
GO FOR it !!!!! but know the history
I too agree that the Pass Interference call was really off, really offensive PI! Oh well, hopefully it will all be academic after next Saturday…!