Jackets Lose 19-13.... Toy with my Emotions

Well, I'll say this much. The team never gave up. However, I had virtually given up on the Jackets in the 1st half, because UGA was having their way in our secondary, and they were dominating our offensive line. But our boys battled and battled, and built some momentum in the 2nd half with David Greene out of the game with a cracked thumb. The defense deserved major props for keeping us in this game...... again.

I am proud of the team for making a game of it. I am frustrated like everyone else at the play-calling on the last drive. I am typically very favorable to ours players and coaches, but bottom-line, we blew it. We spike the ball on 3rd and 21, then Reggie throws the ball out-of-bounds on 4th. What was that? Like everyone on national TV, I saw Patrick Nix motioning to Gailey to spike the ball, and somehow Reggie Ball followed through with that signal, even though it appeared Gailey didn't agree. I don't know what they were thinking. But Chan calls the plays right???

Well, the fans are melting down right now on the discussion boards. Hey, credit and blame go to everyone for this one. The O-Line deserves blame for not protecting Reggie ball in the 1st half at all. The secondary deserves blame for total breakdowns in coverage. Our offense again deserves blame for just not getting it done and scoring points. The coaching deserves blame for the debacle at the end of the game. And you know what...... all those same people deserve some credit for things as well. So what the heck.

Well, here are some random thoughts

1. We better develop some serious depth at QB. It is tragic that there was nobody except D-Bilbo to come in and throw the ball when Reggie was hurt. And guess what - next year will not have QB depth either. What we will have is a stable of unexperience, high potential guys..... But potential ain't depth. We know the QB job will be wide open. But anyway you cut it, we are probably in for ups and downs in 2005. It's the inconsistent junior-to-be or the redshirt freshman, or the redshirt freshman, or the converted QB-to-WR D-Bilbo.

2. I am still in the camp of keeping Chan Gailey but hiring an offensive coordinator, and Patrick Nix didn't show me tonight that he was the guy for the job. Get a guy who can complement Tenuta on the defense and put some discipline into the off-unit. As for Chan Gailey, I still would like to see what he can do next season and the one after that. That won't be popular with many fans, but the guy has elevated his recruiting EVERY year here, and ultimately you have to have the horses to win games. He is getting better guys every year and that WILL pay-off.

3. Chan is labeled as a "conservative" offensive guy. I don't think that is a good phrase. I prefer to use the term "disciplined". It just seems that the O-unit lacks discipline. All you have to do is look across the field at our defense to see the difference. Some of it is the players and some of it is the plays and sophistication of the offensive playbook.

4. I am glad David Greene is gone. That guy made ALL the difference in that game. When he was in the game in the 1st half, we stunk and he picked apart our secondary. When he went out, we made our move and got back into the game. Then Greene comes back in at the end and successfully moves the ball downfield to eat up clock and lessen our chances of getting the ball back.

5. CBS is the biggest "homer" for UGAg that I have ever seen. How many personal profiles can you run about 2 guys - David Greene and David Pollack. Heck they were running personal interest stories on Greene while Shockley was in. They made this big to-do about the injury and the "courage"...blah blah blah. Meanwhile, nothing about Reggie Ball suffering an elbow injury and rotating with Bilbo. Nothing about Daniels taking over RB duties with a sore knee after losing our 1st / 2nd / 3rd string RB's. Nothing. There was no doubt who CBS wanted to see win that game.