Quarterback It would be tough to complain about Aaron Murray's play on Saturday. The junior signal caller completed 30 of 38 passes for 427 yards and four touchdowns. If not for a few drops, Murray could have surpassed the 500-yard mark, and looked to be on target all night. He was under some heat, but did a nice job of moving around in the pocket and finding open receivers. There was a time or two where he gave up on the play a little too soon and took the sack, but it completing 79 percent of your passes isn't something that is easy to do. After a very tough game against South Carolina two weeks ago, Murray responded with a career performance and more or less carried the Bulldogs to a win. Grade: A+ Running backs For the first time this year, Georgia's running backs didn't play very well. Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall didn't get a ton of opportunities, and it appeared as if they weren't running with the same vision or intensity that they had run with in previous weeks. There were a few times where one cut could have gotten them into space, but they didn't make that cut. Ken Malcome came in late and ran with a great deal of power on the final drive. He churned out a first down and helped Georgia put the game on ice, but was a non-factor for the first three quarters. Marshall and Gurley also made key errors in the passing game. Gurley caught a swing pass where he tried to run a defender over when it would have been wise to get out of bounds and stop the clock, and Marshall tried to make a move to the outside on a third down play where he should have tried to power his way for a first down. Overall, the group is still growing, but there are plenty of teaching points in this one. Grade: C Wide receivers When your quarterback throws for 427 yards, you know the receivers have done well. Tavarres King had a tremendous game and seemed to get excellent separation all night. Malcolm Mitchell had his first 100-yard game of the season, and did a great job of making the first man miss. Marlon Brown didn't put up enormous numbers, but he showed a great deal of effort after the catch, and did a tremendous job on Georgia's final possession of securing a catch for a big first down. Chris Conley added a touchdown as well. Arthur Lynch had two big catches for 32 yards and a score as well. A couple of black eyes for the pass catchers was a drop by Brown that would have gone for a long touchdown, and a drop by Arthur Lynch that would have put the game on ice. Overall, the performance of Georgia's receivers was very positive. Grade: B+ Offensive line
At times, the Georgia offensive line looked as if they were regaining their pre South Carolina stride, but most of the time, they struggled. David Andrews had a lot of trouble handling guys on the inside and wasn't effective in blocking at the second level. The guards, Chris Burnette and Dallas Lee were probably the most solid all night, but Lee struggled in pass protection and missed a couple of assignments. Burnette is quickly turning into UGA's most consistent offensive lineman. Mark Beard and Kenarious Gates shared time at left tackle, and both were wildly inconsistent in pass sets. Both showed that they could be beaten on the edge, and Gates was beaten to the inside more than normal as well. John Theus had some moments where he really got pushed around, but he also did a better job as the game went on and started to show some attitude late. Georgia played sound football, albeit against mediocre competition, through the first few weeks, and they haven't plays as well in the last two. They need to recapture that going forward if they want to hang points on Florida. Grade: C- Defensive line The Georgia defensive front is really struggling at this point, and they had their poorest game of the season against Kentucky. South Carolina was able to run the football on the Bulldogs, but they did it with one of the best running backs in the country. Unlike South Carolina, Kentucky is not a very good team on the ground, but Georgia's defensive line made them look like they are. Cornelius Washington and John Jenkins often played too high, and were beaten at the point of attack. Garrison Smith was a little more consistent and did a good job of playing with a lot of energy. Kwame Geathers was the lone bright spot up front as he had a sack and two tackles for a loss. This group has to find out what is missing or the defense will struggle mightily for the rest of the season. Grade: F Outside linebackers This group had to do it without Jarvis Jones, and they did pretty well. Jordan Jenkins continued his solid play, and always seemed to be in the right spot. He played with a great deal of discipline, and was able to get some pressure off the edge at times. Chase Vasser continued his solid play in 2012 as he did a good job defending the option and took on multiple blocks on the toss sweep on more than one occasion. Without Jones, that play making ability and confidence wasn't there, and there were times when Jenkins and Vasser got pushed around. Both, however, held their own and had solid games. Grade: B Inside linebackers Georgia's inside linebackers are suffering big time right now from the poor play of the defensive line. Multiple offensive linemen are able to work to the second level on run plays, and it is causing Georgia's linebackers to have to get around or through blocks rather than just fitting against the run. Alec Ogletree led the team in tackles again with 11, and seemed to be playing fast all night. Amarlo Herrera did a great job when he was able to fly downhill to the football, but struggled to get off blocks at time. There were some missed tackles and sometimes when they tipped their hand too soon on blitzed. Those mistakes must be corrected. This group's play will get better as the defensive line plays better, and they had better hope it is soon. Grade: B- Defensive backs The Georgia secondary wasn't challenged much with the pass, and they had mixed results when they were. Sanders Commings probably had the best game of the bunch as he tackled well all night and was excellent in coverage. Branden Smith also did a solid job in coverage, and was being more aggressive with the Kentucky receivers than he had been all year. Damian Swann was excellent in run support, but had a couple of plays where he was too aggressive against the pass. He was caught with his eyes in the backfield on one occasion, and the play could have gone for a long score. The safeties, Bacarri Rambo and Shawn Williams, continued their inconsistent play. There were a couple of occasions where both were flying around, tacking solid angles, and supporting against the run. There were other times where they were committing bad penalties and missing tackles. If these two players can find their stride, it will go a long way toward helping the defense get better. Grade: C+ Special teams As usual, it is a mixed bag for the Georgia special teams. Mitchell had a fumble on a kickoff that could have been big if he didn't recover it. Rhett McGowan had one solid return, but he also failed to field a couple of punts that flipped the field for Kentucky. Colin Barber didn't boom punts for the Bulldogs all night, but he didn't allow any returns either. The kick coverage team allowed one solid return by the Wildcats, but Connor Norman made one of the biggest plays of the night when he recovered an onside kick. Marshall Morgan missed another extra point, and barely hit a chip shot field goal. Overall, this unit has to become more consistent and needs to be lights out next week if Georgia wants to beat Florida. Without Norman's huge play, this group would probably earn an F. Grade: C-
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