Diving a little deeper into the "Aaron Murray hasn't beaten a ranked team" thing

TL;DR WARNING. TL;DR WARNING. TL;DR WARNING. I would only advise reading further if you're a UGA fan, are at all interested in the topic clearly posted in the subject, or are very, very bored.



First of all, that is such a misleading statement. Take the bowl game last year. If our kicker was worth a damn and he makes the game winner, what would be different as it relates to Murray? Does that one play, by our kicker, that lasts about 5 seconds, really determine how good or how bad Murray is? Second of all, he has beaten ranked teams. With that said, I've gone through every game he's played against a ranked team and listed his stats. The overall record certainly isn't good, but how much of that we can really pin ON Murray directly? Let's take a look see shall we?

2010- Freshman

@#24 SC- L, 6-17 14/21, 192 yard, 0/0
Our defense game up 182 yards and 2 touchdowns to Lattimore. His numbers weren't great, but it was his 2nd game ever. Our run defense really let us down, but he could've done more.

#12 Arky- L, 24-31 15/27, 253 yards, 1/1
Ok yardage. However, our defense gave up nearly 400 yards to Mallet including giving up the GW touchdown with under a minute left. Once again, this loss falls heavily on our defense.

@ #2 AU- L, 31-49 15/28, 273 yards, 3/0.
By comparison, Cam had 148, 2/1. Murray played great this game and put us way ahead early. However, the defense gave up 460 yards and we committed 10 penalties. We rushed for 81 yards. He was basically forced to try to win the game himself...against the best team in the country and eventual national champ at their place.

#25 UCF- L, 6-10 21/38, 198 yards, 0/2
This is the only game his freshman season where you can really say he stunk up the joint. This was just such a lackluster game in all phases it's still mind boggling to think about.


2011- Sophomore

#5 Boise- L, 21-35 16/29, 236 yards, 2/1
Pretty good numbers, not great. They had 11 more first downs than we did and we doubled their penalty yardage. None of the that falls on Murray. He certainly didn't play outstanding, but he played well and our defense gave up 35 points to the 5th ranked team. You could make a case he should've done more, but you can't pin this game on him.

#12 SC- L, 42-45 19/29, 248 yards, 4/1
Excellent numbers, and also threw for a 2pt conversion. Our defense gave up 7 and we also had a stupid turnover that led to 7. In all fairness, that pick was returned for 7 and he also had a costly fumble. He wasn't flawless, but he certainly played well enough for us to win. We gave up 176 yards to Lattimore. Anytime your team scores 45 points, you should win, period. He made some mistakes, but again this game is not on his shoulders.

#20 AU- W, 45-7 14/18, 224 yards, 4/0
Outstanding game by Murray and our defense came to play. Easy win.

@ #23 GT- W, 31-17 19/29, 252 yards, 4/1
Another great stat line that resulted in a win.

#1 LSU- L, 10-42 16/40, 163 yards, 1/2
Bad stats for Murray, although he had 2 sure touchdowns in the first half hit receivers in the hands and were dropped. That's not his fault. We gave up 200 yards on the ground and allowed a ST touchdown to the team ranked #1 all season long. It would've taken an A+ effort in all phases of the game to win and we obviously didn't. But I definitely don't see how Murray would be to blame for this loss. We simply lost to a better team.

#17 MSU- L, 30-33 (3OT) 20/32, 288 yards, 2/2
Not great numbers, not bad either. We were up 7 with 2 minutes in the game and our defense blew it. Our kicker missed 2 FGs that would've won the game. Like I mentioned in the beginning, if our kicker makes one of those would that change Murray's day? Of course not.


So there you have it. A woefully bad record against ranked teams, but when you look closer he really isn't to blame for many of them. For people who say "Murray is overrated because he can't beat ranked teams", I would point out that the reason he hasn't beaten more is largely due to the defense in those games especially in 2010 under a first year coordinator.