Who knew that Bobby Petrino had
a Santa outfit in his well-traveled closet?
Turns out Petrino had a present for
Georgia fans: the snagging of defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.
There may not have been dancing in
the streets, but there was a little dancing in Dawg Nation.
What Georgia looked like on defense
was worse than the numbers, but numbers don't indicate clutch, game situations
and pure ability.
The departure of secondary coach
Scott Lakatos was welcomed, but in almost a piling on form.
Until this year, the secondary
numbers weren’t bad. This year, yeah. But lost, forgotten or ignored were the
injuries and youth.
Try for first-year starters and four
freshmen getting starts
That Lakatos’s successor will have
young experience is a sign of how tough this year was going to be, specific
plays against Auburn and Nebraska notwithstanding.
And he can’t take the hit for
Georgia’s general defensive problems. A secondary needs help from the front
seven to get a rush and/or help out in coverage.
Georgia was 43rd against the run,
just behind Vanderbilt, and 59th in pass defense (yardage) and 85th
in pass efficiency defense.
The Dawgs got a little better as the
season went on, the completion percentage and efficiency improving each month,
except for December/January in efficiency.
Georgia didn’t pick many passes off,
a surprise considering the general athleticism of a decent SEC team.
So Lakatos wasn’t as much of a
problem as people want to say. Players improve or they don’t, and it’s up to
them. Coaches don’t coach people to be incompetent.
But there seemed to be something
wrong throughout the defense, whether it was personnel, scheme, a lack of
discipline when players screwed up or didn’t hustle.
Something wasn’t connecting.
Let’s not overdo the “complexity” of
a 3-4. You’re moving an end who often stands back to linebacker. You still call
situational blitzes, coverage, etc. It’s not like going from Baylor’s offense
to Georgia Tech’s in a year.
Nevertheless, by the second half of
the 2014 season, expect Georgia’s defense to be better. There’ll be some
transition with at least two new coaches and maybe some changes in assignments,
but the bodies should be there.
KIRBY? UH,
NO
Unless there's other stuff going on
internally, Kirby Smart ain't goin to Georgia unless Mark Richt tells him that
he's got a retirement timetable.
Of course, Mark Richt doesn't hire
head coaches, doesn't hire his replacement. The AD does.
And I'm pretty sure Greg McGarity is
smart enough to realize that Smart is the defensive coordinator working under
the executive defensive coordinator - just like Mike Bobo is working under the
executive offensive coordinator.
And it's hiiiiighly doubtful McGarity is going to hire a guy - in the SEC,
mind you, and this ain't Kentucky - who hasn't clearly been the coordinator -
come on now - nor perhaps established his own identity since he's been with
Saban for nine of his 10 seasons as a full-time coach.
Ask Mickey Andrews about being
attached to Bobby Bowden's hip.
Alabama's media guide counts Smart's
1999 at Georgia as an administrative assistant as a year in coaching. It
shouldn't. He spent two years at Valdosta State and hooked up with Saban a year
later.
If a Georgia rival hires such a
resume as head coach, Dawg fans will laugh and scoff and clap with glee at the
delusion.
Frankly, Smart's no more qualified
to be a head coach at an SEC program than Mike Bobo is.
Note that Georgia's offense has had
better stats with Bobo as OC than when Richt was OC, and when everybody wanted
him to give it up.
And the "going home" thing
is overrated reason inspired by fan logic when a little desperate.
Some can venture out on their own
and establish something independent. "Going home" is usually a very
weak reason, especially if that's considered the top reason. Home isn't always
better.
Were that the case, then Saban or
Fisher might be at West Virginia, Miles at Michigan or Ohio State (from Ohio),
Malzahn at Arkansas, Dantonio at South Carolina or somewhere in Texas (born in
El Paso), Chip Kelly would be at maybe Boston College (he's a New Englander,
how bout that?).
And blah, blah, blah.
I LOVE
FRANKLIN, BUT …
Met James Franklin at SEC Media Days
a few years ago while doing a story on Perry’s Casey Hayward, then at Vandy and
now with the Packers.
There seemed to be something different
about the latest Vandy coach who would turn it around. He sure showed as much.
Frankly, I loved when he had that little to-do with Grantham and Georgia.
And no doubt he changed things at
Vandy. Goodness, nine-win seasons and bowls? Wins over perennial division
contenders? On the road even?
But if I’m Penn State’s AD, I’m not
ready to pull the trigger yet.
I’ve always thought you don’t get a
legitimate idea about a coach, head or assistant, unless they’ve been at a
place for at least four years, but really five when you throw in redshirt
seasons.
I want to see the ability to
recruit, thus just talent.
I want to see coaching six days a
week and on gameday under different scenarios.
I want to see player development of
those an assistant didn’t recruit, and of players who change positions.
And Franklin’s record is nice, but
those name wins were good in name only. Beating Tennessee twice in a row is to
beat a non-bowl Tennessee twice in a row. Sweeping Georgia and Florida in 2013
meant sweeping a banged-up team and one where players blocked each other.
The best non-conference wins? Well,
there isn’t one to brag about. UConn, Army, Wake Forest, and UAB were pretty
much the FBS non-conference wins. And, well, UMass twice, too.
Nothing there to dazzle anybody, to be honest.
I just need proof that something isn’t a fluke, to see how a program
responds when the momentum stops and karma fades, when injuries hit, when
there’s a bad loss.
I need the full cycle.
Three years isn’t the full cycle. That’s why hirings of Petrino and
VanGorder – how in the world have they not been together – and others are so
absurd.
I’m not saying Franklin is a bad hire. He’s been around: three seasons
at Maryland, where he was the coach in waiting (oops, Terps) and two at Kansas
State and one with Green Bay and five more at Maryland, to go with one at Idaho
State and a grad assistantship at Washington State.
He’s got a good background, coaching offense, and was clearly
well-thought-of at Maryland to be the CIW.
But Penn State isn’t Maryland and it isn’t Vanderbilt and he can’t
sneak up on anybody. He’s nto rebuilding, and many coaches are great at
climbing the mountain but struggle to stay there (helloooo, Georgia hoops coach
Mark Fox).
I grew up two hours from State College, never was a Penn State. Sort
of became one when Bill O’Brien took the job and handling things the way he
did.
That gamble paid off. Here’s hoping this one does, too.
Unless the reports of Franklin or his future assistants are contacting
Vanderbilt committs are true. That would be depressing.
LOUGHDMOUTHINGS
Auburn-Georgia and Auburn-LSU
happened in Saturday’s New Orleans-Seattle NFL playoff game.
Auburn-LSU happened in the
Seattle-New Orleans game when Marshawn Lynch’s touchdown registered on the
Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at U. of Washington.
Back in 1988, the machine blinked
and whistled in Baton Rouge when Eddie Fuller caught a touchdown pass from
Tommy Hodson in LSU’s 7-6 win over Auburn.
And, of course, Auburn-Georgia
happened on a 52-yard pass that ended up in the hands of Robert Meacham after
Earl Thomas and Byron Maxwell Bulldawged the pass. …
I envision A-Rod even taking a leak
like he thinks there’s a camera on him. The man has some vanity, and may have a
bad acting career ahead of him.
I happily envision a baseball season
with nary a mention of his name. Don’t know when that’ll happen. …
That Saints ending gets the “What
were you thinkin?” award for the postseason.
Marques Colston’s hysterical decision
to throw a cross-field pass rather than go out of bounds with seven seconds
left in the game
Lost in the blunder is Colston’s
11-catch, 144-yard game.
At least they didn’t blow a 28-point lead. …
Fred Couples spoke like a civilian
golfer when discussing the PGA's ban on belly putters.
“I don’t think my stroke will be
horrible,” he told Golfweek magazine. “I’ll still miss
4-footers.”
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