Stamina

duck, I noticed IC's drop off at the beginning of the 3rd qtr. Since it was the START of the 2nd half, I believe IC is actually injured or "dinged" at little bit. His rib injury may still be bothering him. Shouldn't be gassed come out of the halftime locker room........I'm thinking aggravated ribs, you may be right though.

Also duck.....Temple was ranked ahead of us!!!!!.....TEMPLE.....are you kidding me?

Also agree with you sadlerdawg......keep running the freaking ball!!!!

One thing to keep in mind on stamina...we have a lot of YOUNG talent on this team, including IC, who you know everyone is paying a lot of attention to. He, like all the true freshmen, will take some extra time to get used to the speed/pace of SEC football. Until he does, he'll continue to play hard, but be a little gassed at the end of games. No different than Lattimore last year.

I'm realizing now (or maybe I realized it a year ago and am just now allowing myself to admit it) that our offensive talent is, and will always be, playing well "in spite" of our offensive coaches, not "because" of them. It's not going to change until we get a coach with some balls (pardon the language.) As long as I can remember, when leading going into the 4th quarter of the game, Richt-coached offenses play "not to lose" they do not "play to win."

The good news? When it's all said and done, a few adjustments/coaching sessions to avoid the big play, and I think we have a top 10 to 15 defense by mid-season. Not in the SEC...in the country. These guys are playing hard, playing aggressive, and they want to prove that the Junkyard is back in front of Dawgs. I just hope they can hold on long enough for the offensive coaches to pull their heads out of their tails and wise up.

Its going to be a slow return to the top 20,or better this year ,but, it is going to happen. The defense is going to give us a good chance to win some big games if it keeps going like it is and the injury bug dont bite at the wrong time. NOW SIC 'EM DAWGS! Sic em

Good read Mike Honcho. Had not considered the "getting used to SEC football". Coming out of high school, you are right on with that. wlayton had forgotten about the "ribs" problem IC has been faced with. Another good point.

Sorry, Richt plays scared. Like sadlerdawg has pegged him pretty much . . . why go for 7 when you might score 3.

growl wrote: Its going to be a slow return to the top 20,or better this year ,but, it is going to happen. The defense is going to give us a good chance to win some big games if it keeps going like it is and the injury bug dont bite at the wrong time. NOW SIC 'EM DAWGS! Sic em

Good poing growl...the great thing about our position on defense is, the injury bug HAS bitten and we've been able to play through it, at least the last few games. A point of pride for me with this defense is the fact that we lose our two starting middle LB's...maybe the 2nd most important piece of a 3-4 (I put noseguard first) and still manage to field a solid front 7. Having Christian Robinson's talent on the field is valuable by itself, having his knowledge of the defense overall and his ability to get younger players in the right spot could prove to be priceless. Anyone heard if he'll be back this week?

I agree about running the ball.
Give Crowell 60% of the carries and rotate Thomas and the other guys.
Run Smith on some sweeps.
Establish the rushing game and it helps the OL establish a groove, maybe give them some confidence.
It also gives the defense some rest.
We can win by running the ball, playing good defense and getting back to excellence on special teams.