This Is Our Year – Auburn

Good morning, y’all. Let’s all be honest. Even if you were suffering from the gout, had a sty on one eye and pink eye in the other, you’d feel better after watching the Dawgs beat the convicts from the Plains. If you’re watching the game in a room full of War Eagles, and you have various non-monetary wagers placed on the outcome, it is even sweeter. Georgia wins 34-10.

The opening drive by Auburn looked like it was going to be a struggle of two teams trying to do what they do best. After their opening drive, I can joke and say that Auburn’s best was just not in the same league as Georgia. This season has been such a joyful surprise that there are more emotions at play than usual.

It’s not that I’m not thankful for the heart palpitations, it’s just that this season has been a joy to watch from the safe confines of my Corona free rec room. I think the overwhelming conclusion that I’ve drawn from this season is that our head coach is operating at about one hundred and ten percent efficiency. Clearly his fire and passion is driving the other coaches and players to excel at a level that I don’t think we’ve ever seen at UGA.

One person who seems to not only want to win but set some records while doing it is defensive coordinator, Dan Lanning. Coach Lanning’s group is leading the country in several categories and seems to be living Erk Russell’s “If they don’t score they can’t win” philosophy.

Offensive coordinator Todd Monken is taking a ragtag group of walking wounded and Freshmen and soundly beating whatever defense is placed in front of him. If we were grading using a “degree of difficulty” measure, he might be doing the best job. Of course he is practicing against the best defense in the country.

Defense:

Again, I was very impressed with our ability to rotate players in and out and not lose any quality of play. There is the possibility that the first three teams on Georgia’s lineup could start for any other NCAA team. We are that deep, and that good. The defense held Auburn to 318 total yards, with just 46 yards on the ground. Pass defense is supposed to be our weakness and while we did allow 272 yards through the air, we did keep Bo Nix in check. Hat’s off to Jordan Davis and the rest of the crew in creating enough havoc in the Auburn backfield to keeping Bigsby out of the stats. Bend but don’t break worked. Hat’s off to the team for staying focused.

Special teams:

Well, our mixed bag of nuts played well and actually provided no opportunities for a momentum change. Kearis Jackson had a nice kickoff return for 32 yards that was just a hair from going all the way. Jack Podlesny was 2 of 3 in the field goal department, and made his 4 extra points. Jake Carmada was only called on 3 times and his average was 48 yards with a long of 57 yards. Who says Australians can’t play football? A stellar effort on special teams, I hope it continues this way every week.

Offense:

Stetson Bennett went the whole way as quarterback, giving JT Daniels another week to rest his lats.Bennett was 14 of 21 for 231 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. His 53 yarder to Ladd McConkey was a thing of beauty.


Zamir White continues to give it his all in spite of being in a rotation with four other backs. He finished the day with 79 yards rushing on 18 attempts. The other backs combined for a total of 122 yards giving running back university a total of 201 yards on the day.

Ladd McConkey was the number one receiver with 135 yards receiving on just 5 receptions. Brock Bowers was second in line with 2 catches for 43 yards. The receiving crew accounted for a total of 231 yards bringing our total offense to 432 yards.

Time of possession was tilted in our favor, 33.5 minutes to 26.5. Looks like the coaches see the importance of maintaining possession of the ball.

Another top ten team coming to town this week, Kentucky. Be still my heart.

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