What a night in Atlanta.
Let’s start in the only place to start. Nick Chubb is
absolutely amazing. It was less than 10 months ago that he sat on the sideline
in Neyland Stadium with his knee taped up, and tears in his eyes. He dried
those tears, worked his tail off, and tonight, he is the reason Georgia beat
North Carolina and started the Kirby Smart Era with a win.
I don’t want to be a victim of the moment, but there aren’t
enough words to describe how much I love Nick Chubb. Two years ago tonight,
Georgia opened their season with a big win over Clemson in Sanford Stadium on a
night where Nick Chubb was the third running back for Georgia. He trucked a
couple of defenders that night, but the story was Todd Gurley and Sony Michel. Tonight,
the story is a young man who has done nothing but represent himself, his
family, and his university with the utmost class in his three years in Athens.
32 carries. 222 yards. 2 touchdowns.
I am tearing up thinking about how much I admire that young
man. His humility is so uncommon with the modern athlete, his work ethic is
commendable, and his talent is unbelievable. Enjoy the pleasure of watching
Nick Chubb for the rest of this season, and I hope he gets drafted as high as
possible next April, because no one deserves it more than Nick Chubb.
Ok, now for the rest of the game.
I thought Georgia looked like the superior team in the first
half. Defensively we were flying to the ball and making plays. Offensively, we
were running with authority.
The second half kickoff was a bit of a letdown, but the real
concern came on Georgia’s next offensive possession. Georgia was so unbalanced
offensively, they made an average defense look great against a great running
back. No one can run when the opposing defense knows you have no interest in
passing.
After Georgia fell behind 10 points, it was telling that the
coaches chose to go with Eason. Kirby deserves a ton of credit for making that
decision, because I wouldn’t have done it. Down 10, biggest drive of the game,
and you give the ball to a freshman. If he throws a pick on that drive, Georgia
loses.
That drive needs to be remembered by Georgia fans, not only
because our coach made a brave choice, but because Jacob Eason showed you why
he isn’t the starter on that drive.
The TV coverage did a great job of showing a missed check-down early in the
drive, but the bigger issue was the decision to twice throw deep on third down
into double coverage. Both times, UNC bailed Eason out by committing pass
interference, but both of those throws were terrible decisions. Tonight it
worked out, who knows if it will work out next time.
After the penalties, Georgia scored the touchdown, then got
the safety on UNC’s next possession. Then we got to see why Jacob Eason will be
the starting quarterback for Georgia very soon. Eason was poised and effective
leading Georgia down the field for an eventual field goal to take the lead for
good. The long pass down the sideline to McKenzie was the best pass from a
Georgia player since Todd Gurley threw a touchdown against Vanderbilt in
October of 2014, and I’m not kidding. As good as that throw was, the most
encouraging thing I saw out of Eason tonight was on a throw into the flat to
Brendon Douglas for about a 9 yard gain. The touch that Eason put on that pass
was better than the touch Matt Stafford had in his sophomore season at Georgia,
let alone his first game as a freshman. Eason can throw it a mile, but to truly
be effective, he has to know when to take a little off, and it seems like he
understands that, and has the ability to do it.
Eason will need to continue to grow and develop over the
next couple of weeks, but I hope he can win the job by the time Georgia goes to
Oxford at the end of the month. The two quarterback thing is ok, but at the end
of the day, there needs to be a guy, and that guy needs to know, beyond a shadow
of a doubt, that he is the guy.
There were some big concerns tonight. Georgia got no pass
rush for almost all of the game. Maybe it was a scheme thing against the spread
offense, but it was concerning for me that the UNC quarterback could have sat
down and had a sandwich in the backfield and still had time to complete a pass.
The penalties have to stop. The first game of the season is
often a bit sloppy, but we can’t commit the stupid penalties all year and
expect to win. Honestly, the penalties would have cost us more tonight, but UNC
managed to commit more stupid penalties than Georgia.
The kicking game is a total dumpster fire. I officially take
back everything I ever said about Marshall Morgan. He looks like Kevin Butler
compared to the jokers we have kicking this year. Even the kicks we made looked
like balloons deflating as they flew through the air. And why in the world can’t
we find a guy who can kick the ball through the end zone on the kickoff? We didn’t
return any kickoffs tonight, but they ran one back for a touchdown. Kirby said
he was nervous about special teams, and I can’t believe he has slept for the
past month of practice if that is how they have looked.
I love Isaiah McKenzie, but if he doesn’t learn how to put his
hand in the air for a fair catch, I wouldn’t let him return punts anymore. He
is either going to turn the ball over, or get killed.
It was a terrible decision by Kirby to burn a timeout early
in the second half trying to draw UNC offside on a play where you had to run
Lambert into the game just to try a hard count, because Eason hasn’t worked on
a hard count in practice. It just made no sense.
It was great to get a win, but we have a long way to go. No
one is more aware of that than Coach Smart. But when you look around the
country tonight, not too many teams had a better first game than Georgia. I don’t
care where we are ranked, that will take care of itself as the season
progresses, but Georgia looked far better than any other team in the SEC East.
Tonight was the first win for Georgia in the Dome since New
Year’s Eve 2006 when Georgia beat Virginia Tech in the CFA Bowl. We had lost
three straight in the Dome. Hopefully we started a new streak tonight.
Enjoy the rest of the night and the rest of the weekend. The
world is better when Georgia wins, so let’s enjoy a long weekend and what
should be a fun, stress-free homecoming for Kirby next Saturday between the
hedges.
Glory, Glory
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