North Texas Reaction

Before Georgia fans get too carried away with Saturday’s performance against North Texas, let me first criticize Georgia fans.

How can you be aggravated with the team for now showing up against North Texas when you don’t show up for North Texas? The best place for students to do homework on Saturday would have been Sanford Stadium in the first quarter. The place was quiet as it could be.

The fans weren’t interested in this game for the most part, so just remember how you didn’t care that Georgia was playing North Texas next February, when you are longing for football. We only get 12 football Saturdays each fall, please don’t waste them, because the season will be over before you know it.

Now, on to the game itself. For people who actually watched the game, I think there were plenty of great signs for Georgia. First of all, you have to be at least a little more optimistic about Georgia’s defense, especially against the run. Georgia played the run very well, and even though North Texas doesn’t have the talent of an SEC school, they were experienced. Georgia did a much better job with the fundamentals of defense. Staying in your lane, tackling, getting hats on the ball throughout the game, Georgia did all of these things well following an off week.

Aaron Murray also played well. There were a couple of passes that floated on him, but for the most part, Murray did a good job.

I think the most exciting thing I saw on Saturday was Reggie Davis. Georgia has some absolute burners at the receiver position. The 98 yard touchdown pass and catch was more impressive because of Davis’ speed. Combine that with the speed of Justin Scott-Wesley and you have two guys that run past a defender in one on one coverage and take it to the house. It is just one more match up problem that Georgia can offer opposing teams.

Obviously there were two glaring issues for Georgia on Saturday, but I think they might have been blessings in disguise. The kick return for a touchdown and the blocked punt for a touchdown are inexcusable. They should never happen, and they should definitely not happen against North Texas. The blessing may come that with those two mistakes fresh on their minds, maybe the special teams will really focus in on what they are doing and eliminate the mistakes before Georgia gets LSU next weekend.

The kicker, who I will refer to as the kicker rather than using his name because he does not deserve for his name to be said or read, missed a field goal in his first game back. He also made a kick, which I’m sure will be cause for him to take his boat out this afternoon. Georgia’s kick game, not their defense is my biggest fear going forward.

All in all, it was a mediocre performance by the Dawgs, but in a way, I think that is a good thing. My wife Aimee said that she feels like Georgia plays down to their opponents. Obviously, the Dawgs played down to North Texas yesterday. The special teams’ problems made the score look closer than the game actually was. But why waste a perfectly crisp performance against North Texas?

With College Gameday coming to Athens next weekend, something tells me that the boys will be ready to go when the Tigers come calling. Win on Saturday and no one will care that North Texas blocked a punt.