The Main Difference Between 2006 National Champion Florida And 2006 Peach Bowl Champion Georgia

National champion Florida was obviously better than a Georgia squad that finished 9-4 on the season, including a 21-14 setback in what has become an annual loss to the Gators in Jacksonville.

Florida had a veteran fifth-year senior at quarterback, while Georgia played a true freshman. An offensive line that was supposed to be a weakness for the Gators turned out to be a strength, while a veteran Bulldog offensive line underachieved most of the season.

The Gators' defense was obviously more fundamentally sound late in games. Florida free safety Reggie Nelson made huge plays while rarely being out of position. Georgia centerfielder Tra Battle made a plethora of great plays but had more snaps when he was mentally out of position.

Finally, UF had much more athleticism at linebacker, which will be evident after both Brandon Siler and Earl Everett are picked in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft this spring.

But yet Georgia had much better talent and production at running back, defensive end and cornerback. So why was UF a much more successful team?

One simple reason: Florida had big-play athletes at receiver who regularly make catches, while Georgia lacked a true vertical threat on the outside and probably led all NCAA Division I-A schools in dropped passes with an average of 4-5 per game.

How many balls did Florida drop in its 41-14 dismantling of Ohio State that proved the SEC's national superiority? The answer is none, which is how many national championships Georgia will win in the foreseeable future so long as dropped passes continue to be the one constant plague of the otherwise highly successful Mark Richt era.

Ironically, UF has even more receivers on its roster who were not pure receivers in high school than Georgia. The Gators just do a much better job of developing those athletes into competent SEC receivers.

On paper, a deep receiving corps led by a trio of NFL prospects in A.J. Bryant, Mohammed Massaquoi and Sean Bailey, should be a team strength for a Georgia squad next fall that will probably need to pass more than previous years due to a youthful offensive line and to take advantage of Matt Stafford's golden arm.

Unfortunately, the constant drops and lack of general progress by the Georgia receiving crops over the last six years engenders little confidence so long as John Eason remains the Bulldogs' receivers coach, particularly since all 10 of Georgia's returning varsity receivers have struggled with drops in games.

Massaquoi was Bulldogs' only proven sure-handed receiver until Eason tried to motivate him by not starting the smooth sophomore for Georgia's second game against South Carolina.

Massaquoi caught 38 passes as a freshman at UGA and 272 in a spectacular four-year career at Independence High. But for the first time in his football career, Massaquoi struggled with dropped passes over the next several weeks after Eason's motivational ploy backfired.

The Bulldogs have not recruited exceptionally well at receiver, but yet most of their signees at the position have failed to reach their potential, with some (Fred Gibson in particular) not even coming close.

Georgia has become an NFL factory under Richt and his underrated predecessor, Jim Donnan. During his first five years in Athens, Richt coached 34 players who have since dressed for at least one regular season NFL game.

That list includes 2 quarterbacks, 3 running backs, 1 receiver, 3 tight ends, 4 offensive linemen, 6 defensive linemen, 7 linebackers and 8 defensive backs. Note: This list counts David Pollack (LB) as a defensive end and Thomas Davis (LB) as a defensive back, which where their college positions, although both moved in the NFL.

I expect another seven Bulldogs to be drafted this spring in DE Quentin Mosses, DE Charles Johnson, LB Tony Taylor, TE Martrez Milner, OT Daniel Inman, RB Danny Ware and C Nick Jones, while T Ken Shackleford, S Tra Battle and LB Jarvis Jackson should all be invited to NFL training camps as free agents.

Notice the weakness on those lists? Just one NFL receiver churned out by an NFL factory that has posted an outstanding 61-17 overall record while playing in the best conference in America over the last six seasons.

No one can honestly say the Bulldogs have recruited more talent on the offensive line than at receiver during the Richt era. But those project linemen sure played better, since this past fall was really the only year when the Georgia offensive line underachieved for former offensive line coach Neil Callaway, now the head coach at UAB.

The one receiver who went on to play in the NFL from the Richt era, Reggie Brown, was actually signed by Donnan.

Until the Bulldogs get more consistent production from and do a better job of developing talent at receiver, Georgia will continue to lose big games due to dropped passes.

With a veteran, deep set of receivers with game experience slated to return in 2007, Eason's corps needs to produce like those outstanding groups he coaches for many years at Florida State if Georgia is going to contend for the SEC title.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-14-2007 @ 10:49AM

Reality Dawg said...

Ted,

How did you completely overlook the difference of the play of Flordia's defensive front four compared to Georgia's front four. The national championship game should have given you a clue. Their defensive line killed us when we played them and they had the Heisman trophy winner running for his life in the national championship game. Great defensive production starts with the play of the defensive front. Your ability to analyze football loses a lot of credibility when you totally dismiss the fact that the offensive and defensive lines usually determine most of the producton of everything else that goes on in a football game. If a college football coach was given the choice of one part of Florida's football team to build a football program around, I'm betting their pick would be Flordia's defensive line. Get real Ted.

1-14-2007 @ 3:34PM

Ryan Ferguson said...

Reality Dawg has a point, but so do you, Ted. I watched most of Georgia's games this year and the "drops" were horrendous.

Florida's 2006 defensive squad was without a doubt the best in the country from top to bottom by the end of the year. The front seven were always good, but the secondary steadily improved to the point they were among the very best in the country. Reggie Nelson and Ryan Smith helped a lot. In any case, that was as dominating a defense as Florida has ever had, and I'm not sure we'll ever see a stronger defense in the SEC. I mean, those guys absolutely ruled... aggressive, never playing out of position, fast, athletic, physical, and smart.

Florida's offense obviously didn't look good for most of the year, but like Meyer's 2005 squad, made a 'leap' near the end of the regular season. Their performance against Arkansas was outstanding save the two silly turnovers by Leak. The receivers were always good, and with Caldwell returning next year looks to be outstanding again. They're good players, good at fundamentals like catching the ball and blocking. They have to be good in practice before they get playing time, period. Obviously, that has paid off for Meyer and co.

In short, I agree with you, but I think receiver weaknesses are not Georgia's primary problem. Obviously the importance of quarterback play cannot be overemphasized; one player has such a huge impact on the overall production of the unit, and when you have a carousel of them playing like Richt did last year, that will affect everything from QB-WR timing to sync-issues between the backfield and the offensive line. With a good offseason under Stafford's belt, and some attention to receiving fundamentals, they can be a good unit in 2007.

1-14-2007 @ 1:04PM

Ted Kian said...

Reality Dawg, I do not know what game you watched last October, but Georgia's defensive line manhandled the Florida offense throughout much of the second half. Now, UF's offense handled the Georgia defensive line better than Georgia's offensive front did against the Gators. But the Bulldogs' defensive line probably actually had slightly more talent than the Gators' defensive line last year, even with Marcus Thomas playing against UGA last year. The top four defensive linemen for Florida in that game (Thomas, Moss, Harvey and McDonald) will all play on Sunday. None of them, though, are likely first-round picks. In contrast, Georgia defensive ends Charles Johnson and Quentin Moses are currently projected as first-round picks by several draft services, while sophomore UGA defensive tackle Jeff Owens has first-round talent. As mentioned in the blog, Florida's offenisve front performed much better than a more experienced Georgia o-line in 2007. But the biggest difference between the the two schools was no doubt at receiver, where Georgia was abysmal all season.

1-14-2007 @ 7:31PM

Ted- While I agree that our receivers dropping the ball had an impact on a few games and can be a serious problem for any team, you get consistant winning with defense. Georgia's front four could have had a much larger impact on the season than the dropped passes, had they performed like they did in the Auburn, GT, and VT games all season. I do want to point out that I was never making an attempt to compare Flordia's talent to Georgia's talent. If that was possible, how did the world get the national championship game so wrong. I was comparing Flordia's defensive line performance to Georgia's defensive line performance. Performace is the bottom line. GA did have a better second half against FL, but still gave up 70 yards rushing and had no sacks to FL holding GA to 39 yards rushing(18 of the yards were 2 QB draws)and one sack. Fl had one other sack in the second half by a LB that was probably made possible by the defensive front. I remember GA playing better but certainly not dominating. Give GA credit for executing the best plays available to a team when your offensive line is consistantly getting beaten. We hurt FL with draws and screens in the second half. My point was that you never mentioned one of the most important things that went on last season. The underperformance of the defensive line prior to the Auburn game. The defense needed to carry the inexperienced offense and lack of performance by the talented front four led to our two safetys being involved in stopping the run way too much in the first 10 games taking away from their pass coverage.

1-20-2007 @ 2:09PM

Texas Dawg said...

I agree with all but the biggest difference was LEADERSHIP...unfortunately for the Dawgs there was no leader on the offensive side of the ball until late in the season when Matthew started to have a little confidence in what he was doing. The D was the same all season we just gave up the short field too many times. We are really going to miss T Taylor's leadership and knowledge next year, lets hope some of these athletes we have can step up and fill some big shoes.

Bottom line on offense...block someone and just catch the damn ball, its really a simple game.

1-19-2007 @ 2:41PM

El Dawg said...

Ted,

Are you REALLY saying that UGA has better WR recruits than UF? Are you really saying the difference in the two are due to WR Coach? LOL. Andre Caldwell is NFL bloodlines, Dallas Baker, Percy Harvin was the #1 rec in the NATION! UF has placed WR's in the league for the last 20 yrs, thats why the top WR have come to UF.

UGA is not working with nearly as much talent. You cant coach talent, either you have it or you dont. lol

Do you think Mario Raley, TJ Gartrell, Kris Durham, D Goodman, Mike Moore, Mickey Henderson (1st yr converted DB) SEE THE FIELD AT UF? Do you think any of these guys ARE MORE TALENTED than the guys at UF?
lol

Also, contrast the talent Eason worked with at FSU? Did they have drop problems? Did they "develop" Funny how talent changes things. This guy didnt all of a sudden forget how to coach. lol

1-21-2007 @ 10:59AM

Johnny Galvin said...

since when was Chris Leak a 5th year Sr.

1-21-2007 @ 2:21PM

Good correction, Johnny. He did play and eventually start as a true frosh. I guess he just acted like a fifth-year senior, because he was so smart and mature.