So, that was the hurry-up offense?

Funny, but both times the Dawgs defense has faced the “hurry-up” this season, they have come through quite well.  In Missouri on September 9 and then against Ole Miss.

I’ve often wondered, aloud as I am known to do, if some coaches in the modern era of football have made the game just too darn complicated.

That being said, you cannot deny what Hugh Freeze has done at Ole Miss, or what he has done in his stops on the way to a head coaching job in the SEC.  His wide-open offense has helped make the Rebels a winner.  And despite the loss to the Dawgs, they are one win away from going to a bowl game.

However, you can scheme and design and try to come up with something new all you want, but nothing beats talent, and that’s where UGA had the decided edge.

The turning point of the win over Ole Miss was mired in audibles and over thinking, and it wasn’t even with the hurry-up Rebel offense on the field. 

With time running out in the first half and the Dawgs trailing 10-7, Aaron Murray completes a pass to Rantavious Wooten for 13 yards down to the Rebels’ 25.  About 1:30 to go and still time to score.  However, the next two plays were horrid.  Murray looked like he couldn’t make a decision at the line of the scrimmage and the clock headed toward zero. 

Play one, tick…tick…tick…snap, sack, loss of seven back to the 32. 

Play two, tick….tick…tick…snap (finally!), sack, loss of eight back to the 40. 

Now only 12 seconds left and probably out of range for Marshall Morgan, the Dawgs call timeout. 

The next play, Murray scrambles and finds a wide open Tavarres King for a touchdown.  Extra point is good; Ole Miss would never see the lead again.

And my point?  For all his second guessing and trying to over think things, it took Murray’s athletic ability to get the job done.  

No schemes, no designs, just talent.

Many teams have made offenses so complicated that they have signs they flash on the sidelines to, I assume, help the offense.  If you were at the game, you probably saw what I saw.  Some poor schnook on the Ole Miss sideline had sign duty, and one of the placards he held up was the face of Stewie from Family Guy.  Let me guess, in the Ole Miss playbook this means act like a sociopath and try for world domination.

We've come into an age of football where audibles and check-downs and signs and second guessing are the way of the world.  No longer will a play come in from the sideline to the huddle followed by the team lining up and running that play.  There’s more pointing and looking to the sideline and hand signals than ever; and I often wonder if sometimes 19-20 year old kids are asked to think too much.  Yes, I know I sound like an old curmudgeon, but, for Pete’s Sakes line up and snap the darn ball. 

There, I said it and I feel much better.