4 Hard Downs: UGA Explosion, Surgery, Comms Matters & Killa Cam
The Swamp Got Dried Up, UGA Didn't Explode and Football is Football
We are back on schedule baby!!! Had a full week with like 90+ games and still have one to go tonight. My family is at the pool, I’m just here grinding and watching things that I might have missed or figuring out why things happened.
I feel bad for my wife. Not because of the season, that’s normal and a part of our life that she has known since our second date when I was ready to commit to life together but needed her to know this is my job. I feel bad because she is in this push and pull relationship where mostly the wives ask why I can’t do stuff on Saturday; then mostly the husbands ask about CFB like she has a mind meld with me about their team.
She’s out there powering through while I’m inside taking notes and doing laundry.
USC-LSU was last night and the Trojans get a win. My biggest take away was, as simple as I can put: Two very athletic teams that aren’t that good.
Can they get good? Sure. Are they good right now? No.
In the family news that some of my favorite people on the planet like to hear about, more stuffy surgery.
The head came off. I don’t know what my kid is doing to this thing but the head came off. So Sunday while they’re pooling it, after my run, I sat down with the sewing kit and reattached this head to Puppy.
She’s happy now. So it is time to make y’all happy and SPOT THE BALL!!!
1st Down: Explosion vs Erosion in the Benz
The Dawgs have explosive plays. However, the Dawgs are not an explosive team, they’re an erosive team.
They’re bigger. They’re stronger. They’re faster.
They have a margin for error that you don’t have. To win, you need to be perfect, on both sides of the ball. For 40 minutes Clemson’s defense nearly was; offense not so much. Then the last 20 minutes the dam breaks.
You’re tired. You don’t have the experienced depth. You make mistakes. You give up huge plays because you’re tired.
Tired people screw up. Doesn’t matter if it is an overworked forklift operator, or a truck drive or, in this case, a football player. The dam breaks and then Georgia is the water that destroys your town.
Every game is them carving out the Grand Canyon, not waiting to blast off to the moon. When you see all these layers of eons of sedimentary rock from the first 40 minutes, you’re dead.
They didn’t destroy Clemson 34-3 to prove their offense is better, it is the same. They didn’t destroy Clemson 34-3 to intimidate Clemson. They didn’t destroy Clemson 34-3 to prove they should be #1 in the country.
They destroyed Clemson 34-3 so that every other team knows, “anyone can get it if you think you can fuck with us.”
2nd Down: Cam Ward Was HIM On Saturday
Check out this stat line:
If you haven’t followed my guy, Stephen Hartzell, I am a Friend of the Program and check him out. On our show, Felder Friday for College Sports Now, we got into it about Graham Mertz vs Cam Ward.
Call me crazy but I think Ward and by extension Michael Felder won this one. A 24 point win in The Swamp, that’s quite convincing. We’ll see what happens tonight with FSU, if they rebound, but after Clemson got slumped…
Is Miami the ACC favorite?
3rd Down: Almost. Sometimes, Does Count
Obviously if you’re reading this you’re familiar with the Brandy song
However if you’re UNC, NC State, South Carolina, Michigan State, Colorado, UCLA and hell might as well through Michigan into it as well. Almost does count. No one walked out of those games feeling awesome about the 2024 season.
Games closer than they should have been. Great efforts from the opponents, for sure. Yet, not what you want out of your favorite. Eeking out a win is very different than putting the screws to a team and making them quit and pack it up and pack it in.
-QB issues at UNC with the Johnson injury
-Defensive holes at NC State
-Consistency issues at South Carolina
-Cluelessness at Michigan State
-No run game at Colorado plus terrible clock management
-New coach trying to figure anything out at UCLA
-Michigan pulling away late due to erosion but Fresno State helped
Going to be some long seasons but they survived and advanced. With the 12 team format, they’re not out of it but none of their fans woke up Sunday happy.
4th Down: Comm Situation Is A Work In Progress
I watched a lot of football this weekend and still have more to go. Started watching the 15 second number on the playclock and realized the helmet system leads to bad motions, false starts and ultimately not productive football.
Thanks FOX
Back to back in Morgantown. A rushed snap that’s low because they finally got lined up and a motion that hits the guy because they’re trying to NASCAR and timing was off.
Then I took a step back and realized they’re asking kids to use an IFB. IFB is an interruptible foldback. They, the coaches, can talk to you, you can’t talk back and you have to disseminate the information they’re giving you to the 10 other players.
Most people cannot hear while they’re also talking or signaling. Trust me, I’ve worked with a lot of people in this industry and there are varying degrees of IFB capability.
Oh, and add in the clock.
This hit me near and dear; they have to get the message in their ear while they tell everyone else what to do and watch the defensive setup while making sure they make time mark.
That’s a big ask.
I get it. I’ve worked with numerous NFL guys who cannot handle hearing a producer in their ear while watching the clock in studio, trying to hit times and still speaking coherently.
Then add in someone trying to destroy you and a defense shifting at the 15 second mark because now your comms are down.
Overcoaching via the comms saw some teams revert to signals again. Comms also lead to a QB having to regurgitate things to all 3 groups (OL, WR, RB) instead of them just getting the signals from their designated person; slows down tempo. Slow down tempo and lose the advantage.
I’m aiming to talk the tablets for the podcast this week and add in some helmet communication stuff.
Cheers!!!