Alabama Confirms Georgia Football Pre-Season Worries

In August, Georgia football fans worried over quarterbacks, wide receivers, and a youthful secondary. Alabama confirmed all Saturday.

The Georgia loss to Alabama is hardly the disaster bloggers and talk show hosts are describing. “It’s not just one game!”

Sure it is. It is exactly one game – a game every Bulldog wanted to win with all the want in their collective beings.

But it’s only one game.

Ask Ole Miss.

However, certainly Alabama proved its self the superior team on Saturday, and as the superior team, the Tide validated every pre-season worry of the Bulldog Nation.

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Quarterback Worry – confirmed

Brice Ramsey, unable to secure the starting quarterback job as the heir apparent, gave way to Greyson Lambert, who lost the starting job at Virginia. Lambert claimed the job after being on campus only five weeks.

Bulldog fans rallied around Lambert and certainly his performance spanning the six quarters from the second half of the Vandy game, the South Carolina game, and the first half of the Southern game provided reason for optimism.

But on Saturday, Lambert faced the best front seven he will ever face barring a Georgia and Alabama re-match in the SEC Championship game – a distinct possibility.

Alabama exposed the weaknesses in Lambert’s game. While 6’5” with an NFL arm, Lambert excels at the rhythm game, timing throws into tight windows in front of the safeties. Reading the deep routes, waiting for receivers to gain separation, is not his forte. Alabama’s superior front seven took away the short game by collapsing the passing packet and jumping the short routes. That was part of the issue – read on . . .

The good news is, now the Dawgs know what to do.

Wide Receiver Worry – confirmed

Justin Scott-Wesley retired from football after one final debilitating knee injury, leaving Malcolm Mitchell the lone proven wide receiver.

Bulldog fans pinned their hopes first on Reggie Davis. Now a junior, Davis displayed signs of being the consistent receiver the Dawgs so needed on the opposite side of Mitchell. And, more than a few times, “We can throw to the tight ends” was heard when the Bulldog faithful gathered at the water cooler.

Alabama exposed the Bulldog weakness at wide receiver, rolling up on Mitchell with little concern for any other outside threat. Football is the most specialized of all sports. You can’t fake a wide receiver any more than you can fake a block. Frustrated by the lack of wide receiver play, as the first half wore on Lambert turned to his strength and increasingly sought to deliver the ball early to his short receivers. Mitchell eventually began to shake loose in the secondary, but Lambert’s eyes were quickly in the short field, his pass away or running from the pocket.

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Secondary Worry – confirmed

Georgia lost talented transfers out of the secondary after Jeremy Pruitt’s first season. Although a normal part of the house cleaning that takes place when a new coordinator takes over, Georgia is still recovering from the losses.

With a secondary relying largely on sophomores, Georgia fans rationalized the “addition by subtraction“ value of the transfer losses. And last year’s young secondary played pretty well so this year’s should be better. But last year’s secondary played with the mentoring, leadership, and just plain grit of Damian Swann. No such leader has emerged.

The youthful Georgia secondary played young against Alabama. They tackled well, ran to the ball, and challenged with the ball in the air. But the young pups were often caught peeking in the backfield, free lancing, or simply making poor choices and the talented Alabama offense extracted payment.

One statistic simply and succinctly demonstrates the devastating effect of Alabama big plays.

Alabama converted only one of 12 third downs into first downs and did not convert either of their fourth down tries. That is a winning statistic. Holding down the Derrick Henry rushing attack on fourth and short while stopping the Tide in 11 of 12 third down attempts means the Dawgs were tough up front and, the vast majority of the time, very good on defense.

But the Tide took advantage of nearly every defensive mistake, something only a very talented team can do against a defense as good as Georgia’s.

The good news is, now the Dawgs know what to do. There is time still to make a move at wide receiver, perhaps Terry Godwin needs to get out of the slot and get wide as the starter. Greyson Lambert is nothing if not tough and smart, and he will clearly see the holes in his game exposed by the Alabama defense. The Georgia secondary is young, but no so young they can’t grow up with the right approach to their mistakes.

It’s just one game – ask Alabama.

Or ask Ole miss.

Next: Notre Dame Still Calls The College Football Tune

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