That game was zero fun. Offensively we were just completely lifeless, as I am sure anybody reading this is already aware. Paul Johnson talked a lot about execution and how we blew assignments and he is probably right but I doubt it would have mattered much. I'm sure we could have done better but we weren't going to score much. Their defensive front just destroyed us. When your athletes can't consistently block their athletes any better than that, I don't really care if you get the assignments right or not. You won't sustain success.
We will know more about what that means after this weekend. I am hoping that Clemson is loaded on defense and so we might still be a pretty good offense. Louisville will test Clemson's defense. If they hold Louisville to some respectable number like 2 points per possession (I'm assuming Louisville's offense is legit based on what I've seen so far), then we may be talking about a nasty defense. If Louisville hangs 49 points on Clemson, then we are in trouble.
Of course, we'll find out more about us before we even get to see the Clemson game. Miami provides a real test, but one that almost certainly is more manageable for us. The game sets up reasonably well. Miami hasn't really been tested yet, but is getting lots of respect anyway. And presumably they watched the game Thursday night, so I can't imagine they are real scared of us. I like the way all of that sets up for us psychologically. It isn't perfect for us though - this is Miami's first real game and its on the road so I'm sure they won't be flat. But I do think we should have the mental edge at least early.
Facing Mark Richt against is interesting. This will be the best coached Miami team we've played since CPJ got here. But it's also one of the lesser talented Mark Richt teams we've played since CPJ got here. To be sure Miami has talent. Yearby at running back is very good and he isn't even getting most of the carries. Stacy Coley is a talented WR. Kaaya is one of the best pro prospects at QB in the country. I'm sure they have young talent on both sides. But I suspect they aren't as deep with talent as the typical UGA team we have played under Richt. So I'm intrigued at how this will play out.
We absolutely will need to move the ball and eat clock like we did in 2014. We should be able to do that, I think. Miami's defense shouldn't be anywhere near as good as Clemson's. Probably not as good as Boston College's. But we haven't played a defense, other than those two, with talent at this level. So who knows.
Defensively I'm worried. Miami hasn't been tested yet but they've looked good against lesser teams. And we know Richt can coach offense, and we know what he can do with a QB like Kaaya. Roof will bring his usual bend but don't break, I suspect. I also suspect we'll continue our dubious streak of allowing a TD on the opening drive (which stands at 3 games since we allowed even Mercer to do it). Kaaya only needs to be disciplined enough to take the check down when it is there. As an experience QB, he should be.
If the offense can play very well, we can win. If not, we'll need some turnovers. More than likely this will be a close loss, or maybe a 2 TD loss. I'll be surprised if its any more than that.
This should be the last week where we "don't really know" much due to lack of anybody playing anybody. Going forward, everybody we play will have been tested and we will have been tested. But this game still has some mystery. I hope we find out we are better than we think.
As always, Go Jackets.
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