Things I will be watching
1. Quinn. His play was nowhere near pre-injury last week. Does he rebound to early season form? If not, this will be a struggle for Texas
2. Georgia’s eye discipline. Talent is all over that defense, but they have played like 11 individuals this year. I expect a lot of motion in this game to test Georgia’s football IQ. They have to play smarter and tackle better
3. Will Georgia try to establish the run? Bobo doesn’t seem very interested in running the ball. Crazy Georgia is like 40/60 run/pass
4. The deep ball from Georgia. They have athletes at WR. MSU got behind Texas a couple times. I expect multiple deep shots off double moves from Georgia
1. What happens if he really gets tagged? Any news on how his injury did? Those aren't ones that necessarily go away immediately. Not hoping for injury - just wondering.
2. The tackling is the biggest concern. We've been as bad as ever under Smart. One good thing is that we have all but one DL back. Not sure they are at 100%, but we will be rotate more than we have been able to all season. That will be very helpful with tackling. If we can get off the field on 3rd downs - not something we have excelled at this year - with more bodies the DL which has played well should play even better.
3. I don't see us trying to establish the run ... it's on the OL. They have been really good in pass pro, but very average, at best, for run blocking. It's crazy. Our tackles aren't as good as they should be, but still doing a decent job protecting Beck. If we can neutralize your pressure, could be a long day for your DBs. I think he will throw the ball 40-50 times. Bobo would run it, just not sure he can. Looks like we will get our staring center back ... we have played Center no. 3 the last 2 games - Ratledge is the backup center and he is out.
4. Same for you on the deep ball. We've gotten burned by Bama and then MSU on the long ball. And you have really good WRs, too. An interesting point is that the long ball is not the strength of either QB.
- We need to limit turnovers. Beck has 5 INTs, and several fumbles and a safety ... way more than last year. We lost the SECCG last year when he fumbled on our 25. On the other hand, I prefer he be slinging it around and not worry too much about it. He's almost been too conservative. I'd give up an INT if he would really cut loose like he can.
- We have a couple freshman that are going to get really involved this game - at RB, Frazier is really dynamic and seems like he has pass pro down better. With RB2 out now, we won't have any choice but to run with him. And, we look to be starting our 5* CB who has had a couple really good weeks of practice - Ellis Robinson. If he can play well at CB, we can move some other people around to more natural positions. Now would be a good time for our DBs to start playing to their star ratings, except for Dan Jackson who was a 2*/3* and is playing elite.
Honestly, it should be a really good game with two good teams, two good coaches. I'd be shocked if it is decided before the last few minutes. I chose my score - 31 - 23 because I think our D can get back to the bend but don't break D we've had in the past few years. 3 FGs, 2 TDs. Change 2 of the 3 FGs to TDs and it will be a different outcome.
