I meant what I said earlier this morn regarding this game (bottom of pg 1, above)--This IS a turning-point game for us, I think, and maybe much more than for just this season. Trouble is, and why it's hard to know exactly what to expect, is that the last couple of such "tests" we've not simply lost--we've handed the game to the other team and managed to make them look like world-beaters in doing it. They springboard to "over-rated" status while we return to "footnote land", where the Haters have been so gleefully quick to relegate us. The winner of this game will, at the very least, have more or less redeemed themselves somewhat for their earlier loss and reinvigorated their season. In our case especially it is crucial, as we start that buzzsaw "gauntlet" the rest of our SEC schedule amounts to.
--There's a reason I'm gonna talk about an earlier SEC game here for a moment--bare with me:
Meanwhile, by the time most of ya read this (judging by the screaming QUIET here a little before 2:30 pm E), and tho' UGA's comin' back (oops--HAS "come back") in the 2nd half of the one I'm gonna talk about, it doesn't change the basic point I'm trying to make. The real eye-opener so far has been in that Mizzou/UGA game: I already thought our over-the-border rivals were VERY beatable this season, even before all the injuries, and that is a contributing factor today for them (and for the foreseeable), BUT: These Tigers do have a strangely effective offense. I say "strangely" 'cause it doesn't LOOK that slick or fast as they're running these plays from the snap (they seem slow to me), but in the first half at least were beating that Bulldog D almost every time it mattered. That one may well be a tougher match-up for us than the "Cocktail Party", the way it looks. 'Course, the Tiger offense we face today is like Mizzou on steroids and a notch or two faster; We beat this team and I'll be a lot more comfortable going into every game until the last one on the schedule...
It isn't EITHER defense that gets it done for these two teams, in fact it'll be what gets Missouri beat in this one, if that's what happens. We know all about the Bulldogs' losses to injury, much publicized on offense but maybe more damaging to their D, which they can even less afford; Mizzou, though it has some stars on the other side of the ball who are getting it done today, are clearly a "we can outscore you" kind of team. So, way I'm starting to see it, we'll be playing most of our remaining SEC schedule against squads whose underlying approach is some mix/variation on just that--shoot for what, maybe 24pts against our tough D, and figure that'll exert enough pressure on our offense that it beats itself? A fair analysis/strategy, but one thing has changed: Tyler Murphy now at QB.
Today is the first, and probably the toughest, of those teams, and if it's even close it'll be a blueprint for the rest. I think we'll need 'bout 27 pts then today--and fewer than that to beat the rest, if we do.
