Georgia Football: 7 Ways the Bulldogs Can Rebound from Boise State Loss

Unfortunately, the Chick-fil-A classic in Atlanta did not live up to the hype. Boise State cruised to a 35-21 victory over the Georgia Bulldogs, stating their claim as one of the top teams in the nation. They simply beat up UGA in most aspects of the game, including coaching.

The only good news for UGA was the fact that this was not an SEC conference game. Some bad news though, is that next week UGA squares off with South Carolina, the predicted champion by many in the SEC East.

So how do the Georgia Bulldogs bounce back?

7. An Increase in Defensive Pressure

Todd Grantham's defense managed to sack Boise States' quarterback, Kellen Moore, a total of zero times. He was hurried very few times and managed to carve up the Georgia defense by completing 28-of-34 attempts for 261 yards and three touchdowns.

Georgia's defense seemed to open up the blanket and allow Kellen Moore sit in the pocket and have his receivers find soft spots in the zone.

The Bulldogs need to pressure South Carolina's Stephen Garcia and force him to make quick decisions, which could lead to turnovers.

6. Find a Solid Relplacement for Alec Ogletree

One of the biggest offseason hypes surrounding the Bulldogs was how converted safety and former top recruit, Alec Ogletree, would fly around the field and rack up tackles. Unfortunately for Georgia, Ogletree only played in two series before suffering a foot injury that may require surgery and side line him for 4-6 weeks.

Georgia needs to find a solid replacement for him because South Carolina will give the Dawgs a heavy dose of Marcus Lattimore. Walk-on Jeremy Sulek and Freshman Armarlo Herrera are the two players that received the bulk of the snaps after Ogletree was hurt, but neither of them shined for the defense.

Todd Grantham needs to be creative and find the best four linebackers on the team and play them, even if that means they play out of position for a couple of weeks.

5. Aaron Murray Needs to Be Aaron Murray

Where was the Aaron Murray that Bulldog Nation was so accustomed to seeing last season?

Against Boise State, Murray was 16-of-29 throwing for over 200 yards and two touchdowns with only one interception. Now these numbers may not seem terrible, but UGA needed Murray to play like the Heisman candidate many thought he was.

Murray didn't scramble for virtually any yards, and there were multiple times where he opted to go deep with the ball instead of taking the seven to ten yards that were given to him by the Boise defense.

Georgia needs Murray to get his completion percentage back above sixty percent and use his feet more if they want to beat South Carolina.

4. Start Isaiah Crowell at Running Back

Coach Mark Richt opted to start Richard Samuel over Isaiah Crowell this past Saturday against Boise State. This was due to the fact that Richard has been in the program longer and he knows more of the offense than the true freshman Crowell.

Having said this, Crowell clearly outplayed Samuel against Boise State. He ran for 60 yards on 15 carries while Samuel ran for only 12 yards on seven carries. Crowell had some nice runs making something out of nothing with a long run of 12 yards, and he simply looked better than Samuel. 

Georgia needs Crowell to be the featured back for this offense if they want to establish any type of running game.

3. Continue the Good Run Defense

Despite all of the bad that was displayed by Georgia last Saturday, the Dawgs held the very talented Doug Martin to only 57 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries. The Georgia's huge D-Line did a very nice job of taking up space in the middle of the field.

The bulk of Boise State's run yardage were toward the sidelines.

South Carolina has one of the best running backs in the country in Marcus Lattimore, and if Georgia can hold him to the numbers posted by Doug Martin, that will be a win for the Bulldogs' defense.

2. Offensive Line Needs to Step Up

Aaron Murray was sacked six times against Boise State. Now a couple of these sacks were on him, as he held the ball too long, but there were multiple times where he was pressured right from the start and had no opportunity to look down field.

The run blocking for the Bulldogs also needs a boost. The Georgia running backs did not have many holes to run through, but give credit to the Boise State defense for clogging the gaps.

If Georgia wants to rebound from their loss, they need to protect Murray and open up some running room for the backs to get loose and break a couple long runs.

1. Return to the "Georgia Way" of Offense

What happened to the good ole Georgia Bulldog I-formation?

From the opening play of the game last Saturday, Georgia implemented their new, up-tempo, no huddle, spread style offense.The Bulldog offense had little success moving the ball consistently out of this spread shotgun formation, and many times the Dawgs looked confused and tired out on the field.

Georgia has its roots in the power running pro-style I-formation offense. It simply says we will push you around, let our running backs run all over the field and burn the defense on play action.

Mike Bobo, please go back to this style of offense.