Georgia Football: Florida’s Todd Grantham delusion
Georgia Football fans remember Todd Grantham pretty well. Now the Gators have had a good start, their fans are banging on about him being a great coordinator. Newsflash, he’s not.
Oh, Florida fans, you never cease to amaze me. With former Georgia Football defensive coordinator Todd Grantham now running that side of the ball in Gainsville, the Florida Gators have actually put together a relatively solid defensive group so far this season. Unfortunately, those performances seem to have given their fans and many pundits an unrealistic belief in their current coordinator. The man that has rightly been made fun of by UGA fans for years for his blitzing tendencies is suddenly getting lauded for them.
Quick titbit from a guy who was stuck with him for 4 seasons here. Seven games is not an accurate portrayal of the Grantham experience. If it was, then he’d have been amazing in Athens. The UGA defense was great for 7 weeks in 2011, it just kind of sucked against Boise State, South Carolina, and LSU in three games that actually mattered. The same was true again in the 2012 year where UGA played well on that side of the ball, except when they lost to South Carolina and Alabama.
Look, Florida’s defense has had a good start to the year. Yes, they also have some explosive players up front that could cause the Dawgs offensive line some issues. But look at who they played. Even when you take the cupcakes out of the schedule, the Gators have had a pretty easy start to the year. I know they beat LSU, the same team that just hammered Georgia. But that was in Gainsville and the LSU’s offense is not their strength. They’re a very different team away from home.
The fact is that Florida has only faced one remotely decent offense this season. That team was Kentucky and believe it or not, the Wildcats actually beat the defensive mastermind that is Todd Grantham. They did so by running the ball and taking advantage of quick throws when he brought the blitz. Does that sound like any other offense you might have heard of by chance? Sounds to me a lot like the UGA gameplan…
I’m not trying to beat up on Grantham, but this recent delusion about him being some defensive genius is laughable. He’s a decent defensive coordinator and he’s super aggressive which works well against some teams. However, when facing better offenses with lots of weapons, he’s traditionally struggled because his calls leave his secondary exposed. Georgia has those weapons and despite last weeks performance, it also has a QB who is capable of getting the ball to them in Jake Fromm. I like many also expect the Dawgs to use more Justin Fields this week which will be a whole other issue for Florida’s defense.
Next. UGA looks focused this week. dark
I’m not saying that UGA is going to put up a tonne of points this weekend. But look at the record of how UGA has done when facing Grantham since he left. The Dawgs put 37 points on him when he was at Louisville in 2014 and we all remember the beatdown they gave him at Mississippi State last year. Maybe I’m wrong and maybe this will finally be the time that Todd Grantham shows Georgia fans that he’s actually the worlds greatest defensive genius as he shuts down our offense and sends the Gators to Atlanta. But until that actually happens, I’m pretty sure that I’ll be saying ‘3rd and Grantham’ a lot this Saturday.