Revisiting "Keys to the Hate"

The original article can be found here: http://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/2012/11/23/3680792/keys-to-the-hate-georgia-tech-at-uga

Focus and Emotion

I don't think either team was short on it today. Both teams came out full of emotion, and if anything Tech showed a lack of focus on the opening kickoff return that was run back past midfield. Other than that, neither team made a large number of mistakes and has played an inspired game given their circumstances. Even on Tech's initial possession, which ended with a "fumble" by Robert Godhigh on the 1-yard line, that wasn't so much an issue of focus as one of "he had John Jenkins, Jarvis Jones, and Alec Ogletree on top of him with Bacarri Rambo ripping at the ball". I won't blame him there, I couldn't have held on any better. I think it's hard to say that the game was won or lost here.

Tech's Front 7

It's been a terrible afternoon for Tech's Front 7. They've hardly gotten any pressure and have been unable to stop georgia's rushing attack between Gurley and Marshall. As I write this with 10:00 left in the 4th Quarter, uga has averaged 6.7 yards per carry over the course of this game, and to my knowledge has come up with one sack. This unit is a large part of the reason that uga has scored as much as they have, and has been shaky all season. We'll need to see large amounts of improvement next week to have any chance against FSU.

Tech's O-Line and Other Blockers

They didn't do a great job, but honestly, I'd say it was a valiant effort. They were way overmatched, playing against a defense with 6 starters (Rambo, Ogletree, Jones, Jenkins, Commings, Williams) who very well could be taken in the first 3 rounds of April's draft. Washington and Lee never had an abundance of time to throw, and the runners never had big, gaping rushing lanes like we've gotten used to in the last couple of weeks. The problem was Jimmies and Joes, not X's and O's, as they say. Again, valiant effort, but uga beat us pretty badly on this one.

Tackling

We weren't very good. Chalk it up to mismatched athletes maybe, but the long and short of it here is that we didn't do a good job on defense of wrapping up. That said, when you combine that with the fact that the first contact was usually after a 7-yard gain, we were going to give up a lot of yards. And we did. And those turned into points. A lot.

Lots of fundamental issues contributed to Tech's loss today, and at the end of the day we just weren't anywhere near good enough to win. The fumble on Tech's first drive killed any sense of momentum that they had. Look for another follow-up article in a bit. For now, did you guys see any bright spots in the game today? At all? Hell, were the commercials even any good, or did literally everything suck today?