The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Georgia vs. Ohio State Drives 8 & 9
It must get worse before it gets better. Two punts and a sad state of affairs.
Feeling like Blondie standing on that stool with a noose around his neck, the future looks grim for the Bulldogs at this point in the game. The Ohio State offense is rolling over the vaunted Georgia defense. Both teams had fruitful first halves, but, as we will see, it appears that Georgia’s harvest is looking smaller this year.
Like the man with no name, the Bulldogs remained calm amidst this trial and patiently got through it. But we won’t see that today. First, we must look at what went wrong.
Drive 8
2nd & 6 at the -33 (14:07 3Q)
On the first offensive play of the second half, Georgia ran for a modest 4 yards. On the third down they had a nice concept with a man over the middle that was batted down at the line of scrimmage. So this second down is what we’ll look at. They turn to their trustful slot fade concept.
Georgia gets the picture-perfect look — MOFO Man (the free safety races to cover the running back on the motion) with only a four man rush. TE Brock Bowers is on the fade and while he’s up against a defensive back who’s off the ball a tad farther than you’d like, Bowers does a good job pressing his feet and avoiding collision.
However, because of the depth of the defensive back, Bowers has to also get a tad wider than you’d like to see on a slot fade. The problem here is a space problem. By getting wide too early, he has less space to fade out after the break. He doesn’t help the space problem by almost looking to re-stack the defender. QB Stetson Bennett doesn’t have a ton of space to put the ball outside, and Bowers would have a hard time tracking it. Regardless, Bennett over throws the ball and doesn’t give Bowers that chance.
So this drive is one of missed opportunities: a solid 4 yard gain on first, an overthrow on second, and a batted ball on third. Ohio State would receive the punt and go on to score a touchdown.
Drive Summary:
3 plays, 4 yards, Punt (1:04)
Score:
OSU 28 - UGA 24
Drive 9
3rd & 7 at the -38 (8:27 3Q)
After a promising 10 yard gain on the first play of this drive, the Bulldogs face trouble in the run game: they aren’t facing a numbers problem as much as they are a blocking problem. The Buckeyes are getting off blocks and keeping the Bulldogs from breaking an explosive.
This gets them into this critical 3rd & 7.
Ohio State is showing a MOFO look pre-snap that looks like Cover 0. They’ve shown Cover 0 on third downs before so that would check out. However, at the snap they roll to Cover 3 (MOFC Zone). The Bulldogs have a man beater dialed up in a deep mesh concept. It’s not without zone answers, but they come too little too late.
At the back of the QB’s drop, no route is available or ready to be thrown. The crosser form the number three receiver to the field is leveraged by the weak hook player and the mesh routes aren’t settling in zone for him.
Bennet does a great job stepping up in the pocket and looks to be ready to throw to the sit route (the primary zone route on this play). For whatever reason he has reservations and doesn’t pull the trigger. The sit is open and would’ve gotten the first. So here we see a cardinal sin of QB play: indecisiveness. Bennett doesn’t trust his eyeball and rip the sit. Result is a throw away.
Drive Summary:
4 plays, 13 yards, Punt (2:22)
Score:
OSU 35 - UGA 24
Where Do They Stand
Ohio State just won’t stop rolling on offense and their defense looks to be getting it together. Things don’t look great for the Bulldogs at this point. Two unsuccessful drives to start the second half with the other team continuing to roll in a shootout is a serious test to the focus and resilience of any team. But that’s football — focus only on one play at a a time. The game isn’t won or lost on one play. It’s the collection of doing the right things over and over again consistently that puts the odds in your favor.
Things will turn up tomorrow but only slightly. Drives 10 & 11 result in only 3 points but there is plenty to look at.
Until then,
Emory Wilhite
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