re: Game 1 (Saturday Sept 3, 2022) VS Utah Preview & Discussion Thread

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Trask 2.0 is now #2

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FIFY

Inz you aren't looking at the roster correctly, look again. Georgia lost a helluva lot on defense and their offense is not that good But they are preseason top 5.

Media just look at last year's results and cut and paste.

I already posted a list of offense and defensive players who aren't chop liver. The defense will be improved with the coaching change.

How Utah is preparing for the Gators...

So we have others besides Diabate talking about what they can do in the Swamp. My guess is their defense having issues is why their offense was that explosive.

As far as Diabate if he hasn't learned from last year you just have to run some misdirection and he will be out of position almost every time. We should copy what LSU and SC did to us on the ground a little and hopefully expose Diabate.

As much as I try to take any and every opportunity to shite on UGA, their offense was, at worst, solid last year (probably would've gotten more accolades if Bennett, who isn't bad, was more of a prototypical "explosive/dynamic" qb) and was mostly overshadowed by that ridiculous defense. They have some serious playmakers returning, it'll be interesting to see how their defense reloads. If they do have a big drop off on that side of the ball, it'll be interesting to see if the offense can pick up the slack.

I also wonder if their players will be as hungry as they were last year. After losing the East in 2020, and going another year without that elusive national title, Georgia was on a mission last year. I wonder if they can replicate the same intensity this year. I think that factor, more than anything (i.e. their offense, replacing defensive starters), might dictate how good the Mutts will be this season.

I honestly don't know what to think at this point. I don't trust the spring game because so much can change between then and now.

What concerns me about Utah is the chip they'll have on their shoulder just like any other non-SEC team has when they play an SEC school. They return 5 of their top 6 pass catchers, along with their QB, and most of their defense. With their Pac-12 Championship and playing Ohio State to the wire in the Rose Bowl, I'm sure they think they can win. I don't think they'll need any additional motivation aside from wanting to go 1-0 and beating an SEC school to start the year.

On the flip side, the heat and humidity will play a factor; how much of one is TBD. We've also got the advantage of having the most athletic player on the field at QB and one of the loudest stadiums in college football.

With the limited amount I know about both teams at the moment, it's hard to get a feel for how this game could go. Last year was an absolute disaster for us. And while Utah comes in ranked inside the Top 10, their only two noteworthy wins last year were over an Oregon team who squeaked out the majority of their Pac-12 wins, and had back to back losses at BYU and SDSU.

If this is going to be a close game and we are going to have a chance to win:

- AR will have to take care of the football and make good decisions. More than 1 turnover likely gets us beat.
- Our defense is going to have to keep everything in front of them. Utah is play-action heavy and likes to run the ball. When they do throw, we can't get beat deep.
- Their only potential weaknesses seem to be on the O-line and at LB. Somehow, we will have to find a way to exploit them.

I'm hoping The Swamp rises to the occasion and the team comes out feeling like they have something to prove after last year. My heart wants to grind out a win reminiscent of 1977 (38-29) and take a HUGE step in the right direction to start the Napier era at Florida, but my head says we may come up just short 31-30.

Excited nonetheless, and hope we find the win column in Game 1 to extend the series with Utah to 2-0.

LINK to Swamp 247 Thread on utah
Some updates from Utah 247 writers:

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-Cam Rising is still looking as sharp as he did to end the year last year

-It looks like they have three capable tight ends who can end up playing on
Sundays they accounted for over 1000 yards last year and 14TD.

-They have an All-American CB in Clark Philips but rewatching the Oregon game he got beat a couple time one for a TD and another he got called for a PI

-Freshman running back Jaylon Glover looking like he can get some PT which is telling about that RB room

-Looks like they're gonna load the box and try to have Ant beat them with his arm which is why I believe we should hit them with the Debose special & strike for a quick 7

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Utah running game...

Watching that gives me flashbacks to our defense last season.

too many unknowns for me to know what to expect.. But i dont expect an arse whipping..

Utah 247 Mod Post on Swamp 247

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Speaking to Utah's OL:

The big worry for us is that our OLs of prior years have typically gotten off to slower starts and gotten significantly better as the year goes on. Which would not be a good thing for this game. The hope we have is that this is the healthiest our line has been throughout an off-season since at least 2014. All of our two deep guys have been healthy and our coaches haven't been shuffling guys around as much.

As for personnel, we lost Nick Ford and Bam Olaseni. Ford started the year off at center and between him and Brewer, protection calls were not good and the line struggled early. Once Cam took over for Brewer and Maile took over at center, the protection calls and line play improved dramatically.

Fortunately, our best two linemen (in my mind, theres arguments to be made as to who our best OL was last year) are back. Braedon Daniels is a shorter (6'4, ~310) but very athletic tackle who will be our LT. Sataoa Laumea has been a starting guard for us for years and will be our RG.

Maile should be our starting center. He's a bit small and had a handful of bad snaps last year, but his technique and ability to call out protections compensates for that. His likely backup, Johnny Maea, was a starting guard for a bit until an injury caused other guys to take the spots and never look back.

RT will probably be Jaren Kump, the guy who beat out Bam last year before going does to a season ending injury. Has multiple starts and game experience but does have concerns coming back from injuries. The backup will likely be the guy who's been battling him all camp, Falcon Kaumatule. Falcon was a DE/TE in high school and has spent the last three years building up his body and learning the technique. People have been impressed with him this off season.

LG is currently a battle between Keaton Bills and Michael Mokofisi. Bills has several starts and both have significant game experience. Whoever doesn't win should be the primary backup at guard.


So the areas for hope are the health across the line, having Daniels, Laumea and Maile back, all of our two deep guys having multiple years in the program now, and the fact that 7 of our top guys have significant game experience, including 6 with multiple starts.

The areas for concern are traditionally slower starts to the year, a few guys with injury histories, and the fact that we do run our lines a bit lighter (Maile is our lightest guy around 305 and Bills our heaviest around 325 if I remember correctly).

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Maile is 6'2, 304. In contrast, Ford was 6'5, 317, and Alex Forsythe at Oregon is 6'4, 312. So compared to the higher end of the spectrum, he is smaller. But Kingsley for you guys is only 6'3, 301, so pretty comparable.

Dexter is longgggg at 6'6, but he's only 312. So he 4 inches and 8 pounds on Maile, but that's not too much extra size. Especially since I doubt the coaches are going to leave Maile 1 on 1 versus Dexter all that often, if at all.

The noise will be interesting for sure. The snap issues were more minor technique things, so here's to hoping he's worked them all out this offseason.

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