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Where do the Dawgs go from here?
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Saturday's loss to Oklahoma State not only messed with the Dawgs' bid to claim themselves as the top program in the state, the Dawgs' performance on Saturday hurt the season outlook as well.
There's been a ton written about how anemic their offense looked, so there's no reason to rehash any of that here. It's been written all over the places from UGA bloggers like the Georgia Sports Blog, Bernie's Dawg Blog, Blogging Pantless, Bulldogs Blog, Roughing the Kicker, Dawgs: BUI, and The Stuff of Legend. Everyone's aware that there were issues. The real test now is how they rebound and reinvigorate the Bulldog Faithful.
The good news/bad news scenario is that South Carolina (UGA's opponent this weekend in Athens) appears to have a worse offense, but perhaps the same or even slightly better defense. UGA has talented receivers, South Carolina has none. South Carolina brings pressure up front, whereas the Dawgs didn't record a single sack last Saturday.
What UGA needs to do is go back to a simplified game plan that involves the running back more. Richard Samuel looked good, although he did have a tough time breaking tackles. The possible addition of Caleb King to the backfield back from his hamstring injury may help that some. If offensive coordinator Mike Bobo wants to build a game plan, it has to start with running the ball first and daring the Gamecocks to stop it.
With that said, Joe Cox (QB) has to do a better job of getting the ball to A.J. Green and getting it to him with some zip on it. Cox's passes didn't look sharp or accurate, with the latter being one of his alleged strengths this offseason. That being said, UGA receivers, particularly the tight ends, need to do a better job of catching the balls thrown their way.
Kickoffs continue to be an issue for the Dawgs, with the fan base pulling their hair out over the directional kickoff strategy employed by Coach Jon Fabris. The kicks went well last week, but the coverage was blown multiple times by kickoff personnel that was better than those on the field last year. Punting was a high point for the Dawgs, with Drew Butler having some great kicks, but he'll need to keep the ball in the air longer and not hope for a positive bounce, which helped him a few times in last week's game.
Defensively, the unit looks much improved over last year. There weren't many blown tackles and aside from Dez Bryant (who may be the best receiver in college football this year) getting behind the coverage for a couple of scores, the secondary looked great. The safeties, which I personally thought would be a weakness this year, laid some crucial hits on the Cowboys and overall looked very physical and quick. Creating turnovers is still an issue, though, with at least three missed interceptions that could've changed the course of the game.
Overall, if UGA wants to beat USC this weekend, they have to run the ball until it doesn't work anymore and then use play action to open up the pass. It's been a staple of Coach Mark Richt's football philosophy during his tenure and if it isn't broke, there's no need to fix it. Aside from that, the Bulldogs need to do whatever they can defensively to force Stephen Garcia to throw the ball as much as possible under pressure and try to create some turnovers from the lamented Gamecock QB.
If UGA can get some pressure and play smarter, more aggressive football on offense, they should handle South Carolina this weekend. However, if they abandon what's working like they did last Saturday and also incorporate some vanilla play calling, it will be another LONG Saturday for the Dawgs and one that might put Mark Richt on the hot seat, as ludicrous as that might possibly sound.
Extra Point: I wanted to include this even though it's not related to the story. I recently found a great podcast called The Dawgcast (www.dawgcast.com). For those of you who are podcast savvy and like to hear anyone talking Dawgs, this is a great one for you to listen to. They can also be found on iTunes as well for subscription.
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