Georgia Snowflakes: The Defense

I don't know what to say. UGA had everything out early to mitigate any pass rush, and Gray got burned badly. And hello, did they not know Browers was their main guy?

I feel bad for Ross and Hutchinson that they go out looking like complete schmucks. Because they're not.

Harbs needs to effing recruit some big nasties on the interior of DL for once.  Having great bookend DE's is nice, but the middle of the DL isnt jack squat compared to what we saw today in GA.

Why are we still trying to cover receivers with linebackers?

Getting fucking killed by linebackers covering running backs with apparently no help over the top is a Michigan tradition.  I thought Barrett was supposed to be the coverage linebacker that made that not such a free kick to our nuts, but apparently something went to shit there.  

I know Georgia was more conservative in the second half, but I was proud of how they stiffened up in the second half. I think MacDonald got smoked in the first quarter and then Georgia had fewer wrinkles or shelved them.  Great game plan by them.

The secondary has been quietly making chicken salad out of chickenshit for a while now and that finally came to an end.  They were block magnets on outside runs and routinely got beat in coverage. Watching Stetson smurf run around Vincent Gray was icing on that cake. Should’ve told him that Stetson was a WR for MSU, then he’d have tackled him right away.   Appallingly, some of the best coverage of the whole damn night was Gray on the long touchdown where he just fucking stopped playing.  I can’t say that I remember any other time a corner is dominating a route and then just says “well, fuck this” and stops running.  He must thought the play ended or something.  Incredible. 
 

But it’s equally incredible that they made it this far, and they played OSU WR corp of death as well as they did.  We desperately need a talent injection at DB, and I think that’s coming.  Losing Hill will hurt, but I don’t think he was ever quite the Peppers level impact dude we hoped he would be.  If you can put someone who is close to his level with some better DBs, I’m optimistic.

I think what really hurt us was the secondary. The outside runs and WR screens were designed to force our CBs and safeties to deal with blockers and speed. It seemed like their goal was to make our CBs deal with blockers and put Brad Hawkins in a footrace. It was a good strategy.

One of the biggest things that separates the defenses of Georgia, Alabama, and (in most other years) OSU/Clemson/LSU and everyone else is a bigger, faster secondary. They're probably the most rare players available to recruit and the top teams stockpile them. Our secondary completely outplayed their athleticism this year (thanks Macdonald), but a complete team loaded like this was perfectly set up to test them. The quick throws/outside runs nullified our greatest strength—the dline—while attacking our biggest weakness. We needed more than one Dax Hill out there today.

Perhaps the strangest thing is that Ryan Day didn't do this. I think that shows 1) his hubris and 2) his dedication to air raid.

I didn't think Michigan D was going to hold UGA  under 20. I think they could have played better stopping some third and shorts. If the offense would have showed up there would not be as much pressure on the D. UGA has much greater team speed. Our chance was pass better and loosen up their D for the run later. There were Key drops, Cade stayed in the pocket too long and did not have his best game. UGA focused on stopping the run and it worked.

DL and OL must be much better to compete at elite level. We have to keep upgrading the talent level. Defensive recruiting needs to make a splash or two.

Our LB's were lost and UGA exploited every mismatch they saw.  

We were worried about the secondary and LB's all year.  Finally, we ran into a team that could take advantage of both.  I thought it would catch up to us against OSU but it took UGA to do it.

The good news is we are bringing in Will Johnson (who should have a good shot at locking down at least the nickel position and possible Vincent Gray's spot on the outside) as well as other talented reinforcements.  

We will take a step back with the loss of Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo.  I know some are worried about DE, but if you look at the talent Braiden McGregor has and the leap Ojabo took this year, there's reason for optimism.  And both Hinton and Mazi should improve again.  

They can maintain this year's level of play.  To take the next step, and beat OSU again, however, I think requires McCarthy becoming what we all want him to be.  

Corners looked same as last year when ya take the pass rush away ! We need speed linebackers on the outside who can get to the edge and a middle linebacker who makes his presence felt . Disappointed we had Baldwin getting passes instead of Anthony 

Must have been exhausted by the second half.  Credit the teams heart for holding Georgia to one touchdown in second half after a tough first half.  Fantastic season.  Aidan should have drew a half a dozen holding calls at least.  Tough game for secondary.  Georgia is talented and had a good game plan throwing short outside passes neutralizing Aidan & David O.

Reminds me of one of the peppers years. Maybe we played bama? They asked the other team what they thought about an all world talent like peppers and they said... We've got 10 peppers on our team. Felt like that everywhere today. Bigger, faster, stronger, more skilled. Our dl was pushed around, our linebackers were run over and our dbs were roasted. I love this team but they were exposed for lacking size, speed and talent against the very best. I don't think that gets fixed quickly but maybe another run next year helps us pull in some more playmakers

One thing that I didn't understand was the DL seemed to have trouble getting set before the snap in the first half - I wonder if Georgia was throwing new things not on film, or we hadn't seen a lot of

Hated all the free access outside tonight. Credit to Georgia for a great gameplan. 

Georgia did their homework.  They knew our D was vulnerable to screens and killed us with them.  Most of Bennett's passes were out fast, thereby squashing our ability to get to him.  It was an effective game plan and it worked out well for them.

There's no way to put together a defense that can handle the elite of the elite without special talent at cornerback and/or defensive tackle. That's the bottom line. You also have to have athletic linebackers who know what they are doing. Josh Ross and a true freshman Junior Colston do not fit the bill.

I feel good about our defensive tackles and cornerbacks next season. And I feel pretty good about our linebackers if Colston takes a leap with the mental aspect of the game. But this season it wasn't good enough unfortunately.

Im more disappointed in the defense than the offense.   I knew it wold be tough sledding  against Georgias defense, but I thought our defense at a shot at neutralizing Georgia’s offense.  Wrong.   Our guys played like ass.  Hutch made one play, but was otherwise a non-factor.  Our corners got burned, we let running backs blast through arm tackles….it was atrocious.    Our lack of speed at linebacker and contain was exposed.   If was 14-0 in a blink of an eye, and realistically the ball game was over.     Next year we need to find guys that can get to the QB because Hutch and Ojobo will be gone ( most likely)

Tough day, especially for Colson & Gray. The quick throws neutralized Hutchinson and Ojabo.

Kinda wish Michigan shifted to quick throws as well but that's for the offense thread.

I worried that the problem would be getting pounded between the tackles, but instead, it seems like Michigan lost the edge every damn time. 

They game planned us, on O better than we game planned them on D, then we were slow to adjust. The O did the D no favors and vice versa. Feel like I got whacked in the nuts with a 5lb sledge. Great season but I want more, and it’s obvious it starts with stockpiling 5 stars. 

Who knew? At least from our fan base view. They got shredded. I didn't see this coming. Georgia was again too fast. By the time our guys slowed them down, the game was over and Georgia wasn't as aggressive. 

Vincent gray had a rough night 

What lingers/still stands out:

GA went away from Hutch on basically all of their plays.

GA picked on Gray & Colson, I had flashbacks of OSU vs. Brandon Watson.

Their 1st down 8-yard pile-moving runs  were well timed calls. I would notice 1 or 0 LBs behind the DT at the snap and sure enough the mass of bodies would plunge through to 2nd level.

Dang Gray not a good day.

He quit running and give up good coverage in the fly route and he seemed to get lost and give up on the halfback TD pass.

Brutal death blow.   

This is where our elite DB haul will pay dividends. We had have more big bodied athletes to combat those big WRs. The D will be fine once we get an answer off the edge

Out-talented, out-schemed, and our team, which normally played relatively mistake-free ball was making uncharacteristic mistakes all night long. 

Finally, nobody was going to stand between Georgia and a rematch with Bama. They wanted it more, just as we did against OSU, and yes, they have a level of talent with which we're not accustomed. Their defense, in particular, would have eaten OSU's lunch all day.  

Still proud of the guys. Need to identify a few key areas for improvement and maybe bring in a few talent upgrades. Definitely something to keep building on and the added media exposure can only help.  A helluva season. Hats off to a tough bunch of kids.