Every week, Dayne Young and Brent Rollins will collaborate to show you the nuances of Georgia's technique and tendencies. This recap focuses on Georgia’s 21-14 win over Auburn.
*All grades and other data via www.PFF.com*
Dayne: Georgia went on the road and beat the best defense it will play this season, in one of the toughest road atmospheres in college football. That deserves loads of praise and is a massive accomplishment. As you'll see below, it took a total team effort.
Brent: Despite nine three-and-outs and the defense playing 16 more snaps than it has in any game this season, the Bulldogs' team prevailed and clinched its third consecutive trip to Atlanta. Three different players scored touchdowns, sixteen different players recorded a defensive stop (solo tackle), and eight different players had a reception. The gauntlet is not done yet, though. As I mentioned in my post game observations, Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond is the best running/passing combo the defense has seen, and the Aggies have their own Javon Kinlaw-like player in Justin Madubuike.
Front 6 shines
Dayne: It is treacherous to be a quarterback against the athletes on Georgia's front. Look how quickly Auburn's final play went from a clean pocket to Bo Nix attempting to flee. Travon Walker is a special breed of athlete. There is simply no explanation for a man his size being able to move so swiftly.
Brent: We begin with the beauty that was the ending. The early coverage on the back end allowed Walker to use his freaky size and speed combination to come all the way around to get the sack. In addition to this play, the true freshman had another quarterback hurry and stop. Nix was pressured on just 10 of 57 drop-backs, thankfully this was one of them.
Dayne: Our first two videos prominently feature Adam Anderson, an often forgotten contributor to Georgia's defense. He uses his lateral speed to evade Auburn's running back, then forces Bo Nix to throw away the football to avoid a safety.
Brent: While it's apparent the coaching staff isn't comfortable with him as a more frequent contributor, his ability as a speed rusher has given him a role in third and long or defined passing situations. Of his 64 total snaps, he has rushed the passer on 45 of them (70 percent) and gotten pressure on nine of those 45 pass rush snaps.
Dayne: You always hear coaches telling players to beat their man. Tyler Clark did that and more on this rush attempt. Wow.
Brent: Did you notice the section heading? Not long ago, the "Front Seven" was the main talking point when discussing the line of scrimmage defenders and linebackers in traditional defenses. Well, "traditional" defense now only encompasses the "Front Six," as the nickel cornerback has become a true starter to defend spread offenses. The "star," (as it's referred to in Kirby Smart's defense) Mark Webb, played 79 of the possible 87 snaps. As you can see above, the Bulldog defense is basically daring Auburn to run the ball—and they still couldn't. Tyler Clark did his best Javon Kinlaw/Derrick Brown impersonation on this play and has played well throughout the season. While not quite at his overall grade level from 2018 because of missed tackles, Tyler Clark is one pace to top his stop and pressure numbers this season.
Dayne: Richard LeCounte reads this reverse so quickly and makes it to the backfield before the ball carrier can turn his shoulders. Shout out to Mark Webb too for playing to the open field in case Auburn was able to bounce this carry out wide.
Brent: You know the Bulldogs practiced all the variations of reverses and trickery we have seen from Gus Malzahn over the years. This is actually a very bad play call to the wide side of the field, given how Georgia had declared their defense (see Crowder inside the slot and Mark Webb hovering without an offensive player to threaten him). Still, what Nolan Smith does on this play is a thing of beauty. He squeezes down as the back goes away from him, sees the reverse, and hits Nix to maintain outside leverage, then uses his own freakish athleticism to quickly shuffle outside and force speedster Anthony Scwartz back inside. While Herring gets the credit for the stop here, and LeCounte and Mark Webb were right there to make the play, the true freshman Smith gets the most love here.
Brent: Huge play by Jermaine Johnson. The Tigers had picked up a couple of first downs, and Bo Nix was getting into a rhythm before this fumble. Great individual effort by Johnson, who was the Bulldogs' fifth-highest graded defender in the game (72.7 game grade).
