These ‘Dawgs belong in the junkyard

Suffice to say, its been a rough season for Georgia Bulldog fans.

I never really bought into the pre-season #1 ranking, in fact I was actually hoping that Georgia would start at #5 (#1 and #2 puts a bullseye on you, #3 is cursed, and I don’t like #4, and 5 is my lucky number). But, pre-season polls are the not the reason for Georgia’s incredibly disapointing season.

It just seems like the defense was lacking a killer-instinct this season. All season long they played pretty soft, and even though they came out visibly jacked-up for the Alabama game, they didn’t perform all that well. Three times this season they gave up 40+ points — all losses.

Unlike many other Georgia fans, I don’t attribute this entirely to coaching — Martinez has fielded some killer defenses in the past few seasons (the ‘06 defense was pretty nasty, and the ‘07 defense wasn’t anything to sneeze at either), and Martinez himself is a pretty fired-up guy. It just didn’t seem like there was any leadership on the field. Maybe that has to do with Jeff Owens going down in 1st quarter of Game 1, but I can’t believe that’s the only reason.

Watching the Georgia-Georgia Tech game, it wasn’t the x’s and o’s that killed the Dawgs, it was the most fundamental of fundamentals — tackling. If I see Rashad Jones try and shoulder-shove someone one more time I might puke. This was the #1 saftey recruit in the nation a couple of years ago? Doesn’t seem like it sometimes. Ok, a lot of times.

I’m not sure what the solution is for next year. I don’t think firing Martinez will solve all the problems. We need to find a defensive-end who can pressure the quarterback, and our coaches need to stress the fundamentals.

Oh, and blitzing a little more would be nice. I don’t care if it works, at least its more entertaining.

~ by deluxetoaster on December 4, 2008.