Home / Hotline Reports / Bulldog Hotline - Nov. 30, 2009
Bulldog Hotline - Nov. 30, 2009
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Scott is again live from Hotel Indigo. UGA has now won 15 of the last 19 against Tech. Our bowl will be UGA’s 13th straight and 45th overall. Ealey was again named SEC frosh of the week. Georgia’s 339 yards rushing vs. Tech was the most for UGA in 21 years. Diamond Dawgs coach David Perno will be on in hour 2 and will have an update on Chance Veazey.
Scott opened by congratulating CMR on the win. Richt said it was a great night for Georgia football. Scott asked if this was the most complete game of the season. Richt laughed and said we never punted or returned a punt. The key to that ballgame was the OL and DL taking control of that game. Richt paid a special tribute to Reshad Jones for solid tackling and the one handed interception, and two key pass breakups on Tech’s last drive. That was big after the grief he took after this game last year.
Scott noted the OL was wiping Tech’s DL to one side of the field. CMR – for two backs to average over 9 yds. per carry that blocking has to be good. The backs are able to get good speed and run over guys downfield. The TEs blocked well, WRs blocked, and Chapas had his best game.
Scott noted Martinez said the game plan was FB, then QB, then pitch, in that order. CMR said Tech kept trying the FB but it didn’t work. When they ran the option to one side we defended it well. We had a little trouble with the counter option but they didn’t have many big runs. They did have the one big pass play on that quick hitch. But they’re a big play offense and we limited that.
Mitchell in Baxley opened the calls. He congratulated CMR on the win and the coaches for having the team well prepared. He said his grandmother could’ve run through those holes. Any changes to coordinators, and what about young QBs in the bowl game? CMR – great job by the OL and the TEs. WRs also blocked well downfield and the RBs blocked well when we did pass. Cox also did a good job of getting us into the right plays. People think just because we need to get better it always involved changing people but it doesn’t always involve that. CMR wishes we could play a frosh QB in a bowl game but it would affect a redshirt. It would be nice to say a bowl game counts towards next year but it doesn’t.
Tim in Bonaire said his grandparents got a kick out of the players pouring the Gatorade on CMR and him not liking it. What about those deep balls Tech threw near the end? Tim also wanted CMR to say Hi to his son, Noah, which CMR did. CMR said he didn’t want to see any smiles out there because we had that mindset where everyone’s jaws were set, and no smiles until 0:00 on the clock. There was about 1:20 left and it was over provided we snapped it 3 times without fumbling. CMR said his jaw was still set which is why he got mad. Evans caught the brunt of it but Richt hugged him later. On that deep ball, their guy (Hill) looked like he might have caught it, but R. Jones stripped the ball as they were tumbling out and actually took the ball away but his foot was barely out. If his foot had been a few inches closer to the line that play might have been reviewed and it would have been over right then.
Robert in Sandy Springs congratulated CMR on the wind and said it was nice to take some wind of the sails at the trade school. He noted CMR seemed more amped up and focused for this game, and wants more of that next year. What about guys we’ve redshirted – does Richt regret redshirting anyone? Also, what about directional kicking? We have the best kicker in the nation and the caller would rather see us kick away and take chances. When we try gimmicky stuff it seems to backfire.
CMR won’t deny the intensity was ramped up some and joked maybe he needs to get someone to punch him in the face. He got the water dumped, snapped at the boys… Did we regret redshirting anyone who could have made a difference? CMR can’t think of anyone…
(connection to Richt was lost twice during this answer .. 8:32 pm)
Kia Drive of the Game came early tonite, 8:34 pm, and it was the opening drive of the game. UGA went 74 yards in 10 plays and took a lead that was never relinquished.
Eddie in Acworth thinks Scott’s calls will give him a coronary. Going back to the Tech after listening to 45-42 for a year will be a lot of fun. Eddie thought Jones took last year as a personal affront – the INT was a circus catch. Also, what about the writing on King’s arm (and Ealey’s eyeblack)? And if Bowden retires tomorrow, please don’t go to FSU. CMR wanted to talk about Jones – no question he wanted redemption. His most impressive play was on their TD, he went all out after their WR. He did not give in and laid out trying to trip him up. Richt thought it was his best effort play all year. CMR didn’t know about the writing until after the game. Sometimes it’s a tribute to an injured teammate or sick relative.
I thanked CMR for us playing like Georgia again, taking it to Tech, and asked what we saw that made us think we could be effective running right at them. CMR – strategies we had were to take the ball if we won the toss and try to make them play from behind, and to grind the clock. Part of their game is to grind the clock and suck the life out of it. It would be in the best interest of our team to work the clock. Once we realized we could run it that well we kept doing it.
8:44 pm - SunTrust halftime adjustments. CMR – as the game went on, Tech decided to play more zero coverage and man coverage. So we had to begin to account for the safeties more in the run game. For as much man coverage with no safety help, that’s as restrained as CMR and Bobo have been. We were still able to run well enough against the pressures. And the defense played well enough to where we didn’t have to take an abundance of risks. Also, avoid giving up big plays on defense.
Rick in Woodstock added his congratulations. He pointed out Coach Johnson downplayed the importance of this game during the week, while last year thought it important enough to put the score on rings. What about the importance we put on it, and what about the long FG we tried late? CMR – our boys and our coaches don’t need a lot of motivation to get fired up about this game. What happened a year ago helped a little bit too .. tearing up the hedges and other little stuff. We wanted to do something about it. CMR said he’s always had a healthy respect for GT and their football program.
The screen was one play we’d like to have back. We didn’t need to lose yards or expect to lose yards on that play. If we had it to do over we’d just hammer it a bit more. CMR knew it was 55 yards, but based on warm-ups Blair could kick it 65 the other way and 60 going the way we were going. We just have that much confidence in one of the best kickers in the US.
8:52 – Scott reminded that Hartman Fund donors have until Dec. 4 to have bowl orders filled on priority – online or by returning the paper form. General public sale begins right after bowl announcements Sunday evening.
Scott asked CMR about hints .. CMR said no, several 7-5 teams and everyone took turns beating others. A lot of this may have to do with who they think will have fans who will travel. Economics will factor heavily into this. Fans pre-ordering could make a difference in where we might land. Scott added if we win the bowl game it would be 13 straight years with at least 8 wins. CMR said it would be wonderful to keep that streak up.
Mike in Norcross noted we decided to receive when we won the toss – why? He also had questions about Martinez and all the 30 point games we’ve allowed the last five years. CMR didn’t recall saying we would never take the ball if we won the toss after the rule changes. As for keeping teams under 30, you’ll win a lot more games if you keep people under 30.
Scott asked about bowl practice – CMR said we would start a week from tomorrow. Two practices next week, then a practice the morning of the gala with recruits in town, then a few more after exams then pack it up until after Christmas.