The Human Body is at Least Moderately Complex

UPDATE: Anthony Dasher says apparently Armstrong jumped the gun on this announcement. It isn't a done deal yet. I assume Dash is headed to the airport to find out.

Georgia has apparently hired Sherman Armstrong as the new Speed Coach to support Coach T and the UGA strength program. He's a qualified and proven expert in his field, and the owner of his own training business. He has trained over 40 pro football players and 60+ NCAA athletes including Reggie Bush. Prior to his work as an trainer, he was an All-American track star.

I am THRILLED with this development.

Sidebar:
-- More about Sherman Armstrong
-- About VAST Performance
-- Pro Athletes Trained

For the past year or so, I have loudly complained about the lack of expertise in Human Performance Optimization in our Strength program. My basic beef has centered around UGA's painfully slow recognition that the human body is at least moderately complex, and it requires expertise (as well as dedication and effort) to get maximum return from our investment in our athletes.

Basically, we re-staffed the strength function last year with guys who were committed to bringing accountability, hard work and focus to the S&C program at UGA. The result was a harder working, stronger and more in shape Bulldog squad (Note: Groo used the term "tougher" and I prefer that to my description). Their efforts generated meaningful improvement, and it was good enough to get the proverbial ox out of the ditch. Coach T deserves a tremendous amount of credit for that improvement.

However, leap frogging Bama and LSU requires more than just hard work. It requires working smarter.

Last year, we welcomed our athletic department to the late 1990s by hiring an actual nutritionist to address the fuel for our players' bodies. Last year, we also welcomed the athletic department to the mid-2000s by opening a high end rehab facility for our athletes inside the renovated Butts-Mehre building. The facility now includes submersible running pools and other facilities that most of CUSA had installed years earlier.

Better late than never I guess. Regardless of my bitching about the past, I am glad to see the program rebuilding the infrastructure it needs to go forward. We have come a long, long way in the past 18 months.

Anyway...back to the Speed Coach. Do I think he's going to make our players inherently "run faster." Nah. But he can improve their change of direction, flexibility and endurance. Those are factors that will make them PLAY faster.

See Also:
-- The Future of Georgia's Strength Program - DawgsOnline
-- Team Speed Kills - Blutarsky

PWD

More Defensive Stats

More stats on the defense's dominance vs. the offense/special teams self inflicted gunshot wounds.

Scoring Defense: 20.4 pts/gm
Scoring Defense MINUS 7 TDs allowed by Off/Special Teams: 14.3 pts/gm

That's a stunning 6.1 points per game in miscues. The damage comes from:

INT – 2 (SC and MSU)
Fumble – 1 (SC)
KO Return – 2 (UF and Vandy)
Punt Return – 1 (Ole Miss)
Fake Punt – 1 (SC)

More defensive stats can be found here and here.

PWD

Stats: Defensive Improvement

Todd Grantham: Image by Jim Hipple
If you're looking to pinpoint the exact areas where the defense has improved the most, here are some stats to shed light on the issue:

2011 Rush Defense: 86.9 yards/game (8th nationally)
2010 Rush Defense: 148.2 yards/game (56th nationally)
In SEC games, we've gone from allowing 138 yards rushing/game to 83.3 yards/game. The defense is actually playing better in league games against the run.

2011 Rushing Yards Allowed on 3rd Down: 1.21 yds/carry
2010 Rushing Yards Allowed on 3rd Down: 2.88 yds/carry
UGA is first in the league after being 9th in the SEC last year.

2011 Completion Percent Allowed on 3rd and 10+: 33.3%
2010 Completion Percent Allowed on 3rd and 10+: 59.4%
We went from 11th in the league to 1st in the critical "3rd and Willie" category.

All of those stats lead to the Godzilla Stat of the Season so far...

2011 3rd Down Conversions Allowed: 25.7% (1st in the nation)
2010 3rd Down Conversions Allowed: 41.9% (79th in the nation)

The scoring defense is down almost two points per game overall, and it's down almost four points per game in SEC contests. Both numbers would be better if it weren't for special teams and offensive TDs. Which bring us to the bad news.

2011 Kickoff Returns Allowed: 108th in the nation
2010 Kickoff Returns Allowed: 15th in the nation

2011 Punt Returns Allowed: 109th in the nation
2010 Punt Returns Allowed: 17th in the nation

Fix the special teams, and the defense will look even better as the field gets longer for the opposition.

All stats via CFBStats.com the absolute best college football stat site on the web.

PWD

Ole Miss Preview

I really struggled with this preview.  I had planned to do a breakdown of both teams, using stats and such.  However, I stumbled on one stat that was glaring, so unreal, that I decided to just use it and move on:

Ole Miss 2011 Total offense: 757 yards.  That is 252.3 yards per game.  For comparison sake, Georgia is gaining over 125 yards per game more.  Ole Miss has played the number 10 (Vandy..what?), 46 (BYU) defenses by total yards, plus DI-AA Southern Illinois (who the Rebels didn't exactly pile it up on with 315 yards).  Before you fret about that, remember, Elon gained nearly 100 more yards against Vandy than Ole Miss did.  Utah doubled Ole Miss's offensive output against BYU.

The key to this game really is sound defense.  On offense, run the ball and run it some more (they are stout in the first quarter on run defense, but fade through the game).  Take shots down field, but don't get fancy.  They aren't geared to spread the field and love to run the ball on third and anything.  Just about a vanilla as you could imagine. Defensively, use the meat upfront to create match up issues for them.  Force them into making mistakes, since they are so good at that.

It is time to get the road mojo back.  This is just about as good a road game as you could ask for in the conference to do so.

South Carolina's Offensive Coordinator is Hardheaded, too

Image: Hipple

You know, we in these parts make our thoughts on Coach Bobo's intractability when it comes to utilizing the players he has, as opposed to molding those players to his philosophy. In my mind, that is one of the most maddening parts of being a Georgia fan right now, the insistence on running the same plays we ran with Musa Smith in 2002 with Carlton Thomas in 2011.  Just nutty. 

However, this quote:

"We don't go into the game thinking [Marcus Lattimore is] going to run 35 or 40 times. But when things start happening in the passing game, you wonder, 'Why in the world are those guys trying to pass?' So you end up running, running, running trying to win the game." - South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier

Really illustrates how old dogs and new tricks just never get familiar.  Hell, even I could game plan for South Carolina:

• Lattimore touches the ball on hand offs and toss sweeps 30+ times.
• Jeffrey is thrown to deep on the first opportunity after a long first down run by Lattimore.
• Lattimore is thrown to at least 5 times a game: two swing passes, one underneath screen, two RB screens.  This is my play of choice on any 2nd and less than 4, plus 3rd and 7 to 3rd and 15.
• Jeffrey gets at least 10 looks, all in patterns that don't require the QB to throw the ball in a seam or to a location (in other words, fly patterns, deep outs and short fades that allow Jeffrey to use his size to get separation. 
• Lattimore is the safety outlet on any pass play. Lattimore on a quick three step and cut is my hot route call.
• Garcia has to drink a cement mixer shot for every jump ball he throws, preferably on the sideline.

It is really simple to me.  Now, I know Spurrier knows way more than I do, but it isn't clear he knows more about game planning around your strengths than anyone else.

TD