Good morning, y’all. All of my pregame preparations and rituals were called in to play today. Red sock, left foot, black sock, right foot, vintage cap and t-shirt, and Butts was in his favorite spot. In spite of having all of my mojo working, a great many supplications were required to avert disaster today. The Bulldogs pulled one out today in Music City, 31-14. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a W.
The good news is that we seem to have found a defense. There is marked improvement from last year to this. Comparing the current Bulldog defense to the Grantham years is like college to high school. Our defense was in place before the snap, they communicated with each other and we were treated to a few blitzes. Jordan Jenkins was a full on Manster today and Leonard Floyd was pulling his weight on the other side as well. Seemed like the only thing the defense couldn’t control was the zebras. Play maker Lorenzo Carter was ejected early in the game for a very questionable targeting call. I don’t know how more properly you could take down a quarterback, maybe ask him to tea first? The zebras found no level of Vanderbilt holding excessive, including a suplex performed on Sterling Bailey. Jordan Jenkins was called for “hand in the face” on a play where the referee clearly confused the colors of the jerseys. The zebras did their dead level best to help the Vanderbilt offense negate the superb play by the Georgia defense. The Dogs made three picks to help offset the Vanderbilt passing, and held Vanderbilt to 105 yards rushing. Dominick Sanders took one of the picks back to the house for the Dogs final score.
The Georgia offense on the other hand was a study in contradictions. Nick Chubb continues to be the all-world back we need. Chubb ran for 189 yards and Sony Michel had a nifty 31 yard run for a touchdown and added 30 yards via receptions. As good as we are in the running game, we are deficit in passing. Greyson Lambert did not complete a pass in the first half. He started the second half just as bad. Finally he got on track and found some boys with red shirts on to throw it to. It was good to see Malcolm Mitchell out there competing for the ball. If we can find a quarterback with enough arm strength to actually lead a receiver we might have a passing game as potent as our running game. As it stands now, Lambert’s five yard touchdown run for the next to last score was his shining moment.
Special teams were special again. Isiah McKenzie is a force and he got the ball rolling with a fantastic punt return for a touchdown. On the other side of the coin was our two missed field goals that should have been gimmes. Being caught with our pants down on Vanderbilt’s on side kick did not help our cause either. Fortunately our defense held strong and allowed us to return to Athens with our head held high and another W in our pocket.
In celebration of what appears to be a new day on defense, I introduce the Godfather of Soul: