By: Charlie Moon

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

My friends in South Carolina are going to be mighty shocked when I say this.

The Dawgs have problems.

Growing up in South Carolina a Dawg fan and being in sports journalism for 2.5 decades, I hear it when I say something about the Dawgs they don’t agree with.

Last year, I said the Dawgs were one of the best four and should have been in the playoff – regardless of the SEC Title loss to Bama. Dawg fan or not, it was what it was. The committee’s goal was to get the best four. The Dawgs belonged – period. Point blank. So many became “Over-reaction guy.”

“How could the Dawgs be in? They just lost to someone outside the top 4.

Or the…. “We don’t want to see Bama and the Dawgs rematch.”

The bottom line was, the Dawgs AND Bama were 2 of the best 4 – if not the best 2. And don’t call me crazy because Bama lost to Michigan. Going into the playoffs, how many of you had Bama beating Michigan?

Once the playoffs were done, experts came out of the woodwork. It was what it was.

But after last Saturday’s field goal fest in Lexington, I’m wondering if the Dawgs will have to be a benefactor of the new 12-team playoff format. I know some of my good ole friends will balk at this, too, but let’s be real.

In the 2- and 4-team format of the last 30 years, there should have been many more SEC squads in, even if it meant as many as 3 of the 4 were SEC squads.

I try not to be hyperbole and/or “overreaction guy.” Y’all know. It’s like “over-reaction guy’s” brother or ”backwards hat guy.” You know that one guy that yells at every play, but probably couldn’t even tell you one offensive line starter. Or they always boo at every flag – even before the ref makes the call.

Well, “over-reaction” guy has it easy this week, saying things like: “Man, the Dawgs stink” or “I told y’all about Carson Beck!”

Then, there’s the elephant in the room. “I told y’all Mike Bobo ain’t no offensive coordinator.” Ahhhh boy, Dawg Nation has argued that since Bobo’s first OC stint between the hedges, 2007-2014.

Deep dive time. Chew on these factoids. In the Dawgs’ 8 quarters against Power 5 teams (Clemson, Kentucky), they’ve tallied just 5 TDs.

In fact, four of the 5 came only in the 2nd half against Clemson alone. It took an entire 3 quarters and 3:00 for UGA to get in the endzone against the Cats.

Maybe the Cats had more brawn than our experts believed, or maybe there’s something amiss in Athens.

Yes, UGA lost guys like McConkey and Bowers from last year, but the cupboard in Athens is supposed to be filled to the brim.

Trevor Etienne ran it for 79 yards on 19 carries. Of those 19 carries, 12, count them, 12 were against 7 men in the box playing the run.

A 6-man line can’t account for 7. Well, sometimes they can. But you can’t expect them to do it all night wrong.

What’s the point here? Either one of two things are happening here.

#1 The OC is not getting the offense into the best fits, which is the job of a coordinator.

#2  The QB is not recognizing and audibling at the line.

Look, no OC is going to have the perfect call and no QB is going to always notice. But to have it happen 12 out of your top RB’s carries, is unacceptable.

Yes, there are times when an OC mandates the call stick and doesn’t give the QB an option to change the call at the line. And of course, there’s this, this is the first year of the helmet earphones allowed for one player. They have the option to communicate with Beck at the line.

And who knows, maybe I’m overreacting. This was not the biggest issue Saturday night, but it was the most glaring to me.

Sure, there could be issues that the UGA coaching staff are not going to discuss with the press. Maybe the receiver core wasn’t ready for the bigtime. Maybe there’s an undisclosed nagging injury to Beck.

Whatever it is I’ll only say this.

If the Dawgs don’t figure this out by September 28, Bama is going Roll our Tide right out the Dawg Pen and they won’t even have to pull an “Al from Dadeville.” Because the whole country will see it.