MVDs: Alabama Edition
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You don’t stride onto Nick Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium and take down the Crimson Tide without a total team effort. Still, even in a heroic victory like this one some Georgia Bulldogs are bound to distinguish themselves over and above their teammates. Those dauntless ‘‘Dawgs are your MVDs, the most valuable Dawgs from Georgia’s 20-17 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Offense. Everyone.Literally everyone. Gunner Stockton. Dwight Phillips, The whole dang offensive line. The ten different receivers who caught passes. Mike Bobo, who called arguably the best game he has in years. There’s just no way to pick a single person for this honor. It was indeed a gutsy team effort.
Defense: Chris Cole. On any given Saturday Chris Cole is all over the football field, but on this evening “the Tarantula” was even more omnipresent than usual. Cole notched 8 total tackles, 5 of them solo stops. He had 2.5 tackles for loss, and broke up 2 passes in coverage. He also affected Keelon Russell on several occasions that don’t show up on the stat sheet but were nevertheless indispensable to victory. Big time players make big time plays in big games. And Chris Cole had himself a by golly big game in this big game.
Special teams: Peyton Woodring. For the first time in awhile the Bulldog punt return game felt like a liability rather than an asset. Drew Miller’s two punts were a 52 yarder into the endzone that should have been a 45 yarder inside the ten, and a 40 yard clunker that gave the Tide the ball at midfield. In the land of the blind the man who hits one field goal is king. Woodring shrugged off his first missed field goal of the season to come back and hit the23 yarder that turned out to be the game winner. That kind of mental fortitude is critical for a kicker, and we are absolutely spoiled at the position with Woodring.
Incidentally, Woodring also produced touchbacks on 4 of 5 kickoffs, with the other being returned from the endzone zone to the 34 but backed up to the 11 thanks to a Bama penalty. That’s pretty dang good by itself on a wet, windy night in a hostile stadium, and shouldn’t be overlooked.
As always your nominations are welcomed, encouraged, and celebrated in the comments. Until later…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
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