Ever since I posted something a few weeks about about Knowhon Moreno slacking during SEC Competition he has been on an absolute tear! I wonder if he read my post and got all pissed off?
The Georgia Bulldogs steamrolled LSU on Saturday 52-38. Knowhon Moreno led the way with 163 rushing yards on 21 carries (7.8 ypc) and a touchdown. His longest run of the game was 68 yards.
“I didn’t hear anything but somebody behind me trying to catch me,” Moreno said. “I was just running hard, trying to get an important score.”
The Dawgs got up to an early 21-7 lead and were able to build on that throughout the game. LSU had no chance stopping the high powered running attack of Georgia. The Dawgs are finally playing the like Georgia everyone expected them to be during the offseason.
Knowshon Moreno and the No. 7 Georgia Bulldogs will have their hands full this weekend when they travel down to Baton Rouge for a game against the No. 13 LSU Tigers. This is Georgia’s chance to make a statement. With Florida coming up next week, back to back wins over the Tigers and Gators could propel them to near the top of the BCS poll.
Knowshon Moreno is coming off a huge 172 yard performance against Vandy last week. He’s never played against LSU, so I don’t have a previous game to look back on. But I think Knowshon will be able to have a field day against them. Florida was able to run all over the Tigers, and I expect the Dawgs to try and do the same.
Below is an excerpt of a couple of things some LSU defenders were saying about Knowshon.
”He follows his block and takes his time; when he sees a seam, he bursts into the seam,” said LSU linebacker Darry Beckwith, who will have numerous opportunities to tackle Moreno when No. 11 LSU hosts the No. 9 Bulldogs on Saturday. “I think that’s what makes him a great back.”
Defensive end Kirston Pittman has another description for Moreno’s ability.
“He does a great job of running behind his pads,” Pittman said. “He waits for his blocker to get in front of him. If he sees a blocker pulling in front of him, he’ll slow down and let the blocker pick up the block and hit the hole. That’s one of his great assets.”
The University of Georgia Bulldogs may not have dominated Vandy like a great team should have, but the Dawgs will take the 4-14 victory over an SEC team. Last week I talked about how Knowshon Moreno has struggled some in SEC play. Saturday he found his rythm and made some big plays.
Knowshon finished the game with 172 yards on 23 carries plus a score. He also added 10 yards receiving from 1 catch. Generally when you see a RB with 170+ yards that usually means they busted a 50 or 60 yarder. Not for Knowshon though. His longest run of the game was only 22 yards. He was consistently pounding the ball for positive yards.
One note of concern is that Knowshon may have been banged up again during the game. The AJC noted in their game review that Knowshon was taking himself out of the game in crucial situations.
“We leave it up to Knowshon,” said Richt, seeking to describe Georgia’s substitution policy. “He takes himself out. When he’s standing by the [running backs] coach, he’s ready to go back in. When it’s a new series, he’s ready unless he’s injured.”
So why, with 2:08 left in a seven-point game, did the first call go to the freshman King, who lost 6 yards? Richt really couldn’t say.
So something may be going on. If any of you readers have insight on this situation, please post a comment and let me know.
The No. 22 Vanderbilt Commodores are headed to Athens to face off with their SEC East rivals the No. 10 ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Knowshon Moreno has a small history against Vandy. In 2007, he went for 157 yards rushing against them.
As I noted in yesterday’s article, Knowshon has been slowed during SEC play so far in 2008. If there was ever to be a bounce back game, it needs to be against Vandy. The Commodores have a couple of big guys anchoring the middle of their defensive line. If Richt wants to get the Dawg ground game going, he’ll need to push it outside.
“I think Knowshon has run every bit as good as he has ever run it is just about getting him to a certain point where he can get some space.”
I predict Georgia to win this game pretty easily. If they can get up by two scores early, it will really help the running game. Knowshon Moreno is capable of going 150+, but I see him getting something like 115 yards and two touchdowns.
For the first time in 2008, Knowshon Moreno was held scoreless. Can you imagine a game where Knowshon gets 27 carries (a season high) and doesn’t find the endzone? It may hurt his Heisman chances a little, but the fact that UGA still won the ballgame will counter it. The Bulldogs beat the Vols 26-14.
Knowshon’s final stat line was: 27 carries for 101 yards, plus 1 reception for 14 yards.
In a postgame interview, Knowshon was asked how his team was able to bounceback after that crushing defeat against Alabama two weeks ago. “Alabama didn’t give us a new perspective on the season, but guys had to refocus,” said Moreno, the Dawgs’ star tailback. “It takes a special team to refocus after loss like that and come back and win against a good opponent.”
One thing to note from the game on Saturday is Knowshon Moreno took a big hit in the fourth quarter from Tennessee safety Eric Berry. Moreno pulled himself from the game and didn’t return. I doubt it was anything too serious. I will keep you updated on his status throughout the week.
The battered Tennessee Volunteers are headed to Athens this weekend to play the Georgia Bulldogs. I think the Dawgs are favored by around 12 or so, but I expect them to win by a lot more then that.
Helping Knowshon Moreno and the Bulldogs to victory is the return of star fullback Brannan Southerland. “It’s definitely good to get him back,” tailback Knowshon Moreno said. “He’s a big boy, he’s a veteran and it’s definitely going to help just to get the fullbacks back together.”
He’s a mauler and was responsible for opening up those large rushing lanes for Knowshon in 2007. Last year, Knowshon only had 13 carries against the Bulldogs and gained only 30 yards on the ground. If the Dawgs want to win this one, they’ll need a bigger game out of him. The AJC said:
We’re only halfway through the season but already you can see the Heisman Trophy story lines starting to form. The media is starting to fall in love with the Big 12 quarterbacks and that’s understandable because they, especially Chase Daniel of Missouri, are all playing lights out. Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno struggled against Alabama (34 yards on nine carries) but everybody is going to struggle to run against the Alabama defense this year. Georgia was off last week while the other guys were piling up big stats. Despite having a tender elbow, Moreno needs to shine against Tennessee on national television and get back into the minds of the Heisman voters. More importantly, a big day by Moreno gives Georgia the best chance to win.
I predict Knowshon Moreno getting 18 carries for 104 yards, 2 receptions for 30 yards and 2 touchdowns. If he’s not wearing the elbow brace he could go even bigger.
University of Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno suggered a contusion (substantial bruise) on one of his elbows in the second half of the game on Saturday. As if losing to Alabama 41-30 wasn’t bad enough, now Knowshon may miss the Dawgs next game against Tennessee. Luckily the Bulldogs are off this weekend, so that gives Moreno two full weeks to heal up.
“He has a pretty good contusion on the elbow,” coach Mark Richt said this afternoon. “He’s already getting some good movement back. He has a shot of playing in the next game but it’s not guaranteed though.”
Before Moreno left the game, he had only rushed the ball 9 times for 34 yards and a touchdown. He also added 3 receptions for 14 yards. Because the Bulldogs were down 31-0 at the half, they had to abandon the run. That’s a terrible strategy to employ when your best player is a running back, but it’s something that had to be done.
The loss on Saturday night dropped Goeriga to #11 in the country in the AP Poll.
I’ll keep you posted throughout the week on Knowshon’s status.
In 2007 against Alabama, Knowhon Moreno struggled. He was held to only 76 yards on the ground from 17 carries. Not like the Knowhon numbers we’ve seen thus far in 2008. Moreno is averaging 6.6 ypc and has 9 touchdowns through the first 4 games.Alabama won’t be an easy matchup. They’re ranked #8 in the country and have a strong defense. They’re entire defensive gameplan will be built around stopping the run, and specifically Knowhon Moreno. “I saw how high he can jump,” Alabama defensive end Bobby Greenwood said. “We all know he runs hard, so we’ve got to make sure to bring him down.” It’s clear the players have respect for Georgia’s running back. “He’s an amazing player, a spark plug,” defensive end Lorenzo Washington said. “He’s one of the toughest running backs I’ve ever seen. You can shut him down, shut him down, shut him down, keep hitting him, and then he’s going to bust out for a big run.”
But even the coach had something to say: “It’s not just that he’s a great athlete and a great running back,” UA coach Nick Saban said. “But you talk about a guy who has an unbelievable competitive spirit … He made a couple plays last year as far as extra effort that are just not to be compared to people we play against.”
I see weakness in the words of Nick Saban. I want Georgia to destroy Albama. A lot of experts are saying it’s a coin toss, but I see victory. I see 20 carries, 130 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Need tickets for the Alabama game? It’s not too late to get them on Stubhub.
The hot pick of the week was going against the Dawgs. All the media darlings thought UGA would get beat in the desert. Well how do you like us now! Knowshon Moreno rushed 23 times for 149 yards and two touchdowns in the Bulldogs 27-10 victory over Arizona State. That’s what we call ’showing up when the lights are on.’ UGA played well enough to keep their #3 ranking in the AP Poll.
I’ve got a couple of videos I want to share in case some of you missed the game or just want to see Knowshon in action again. The first one is an in focus video, which shows just about every Knowshon Moreno play of the game (very cool). The second one is a highlight of Knowshon scoring his second touchdown (he goes airborne from the 4 yard line and lands in the endzone for the score).
Knowshon Moreno and the Georgia Bulldogs are flying across the country to Tempe, Arizona to play the Arizona State Sun Devils. It’s a cross-conference game, so there isn’t much history between these two teams. They’ll have to study a lot of film to pick up on things. The #3 ranked Dawgs are favored by 7 points over the unranked Sun Devils. But just because ASU isn’t ranked doesn’t mean they aren’t a good team. In fact, they’re just on the cusp of the Top 25.
So many people are predicting an upset. I don’t see it happening though. Despite the low scoring game against SC last week, the Georiga offense has all the fire power needed to put up big numbers on ASU. Stafford and Knowshon can score a lot points, proven by Moreno’s 7 touchdowns through the first 3 games.
If Georgia can go into the desert and win this game big, they’ll earn all the respect from the voters that may have been lost over the previous weeks. I’m not sure if it will propel them to #1, but it may.
I think Knowshon Moreno will have a superb game. Millions of people will be watching this primetime game and he shines brightest with the lights are on. Knowshon is capable of putting up 140 yards on 18 carries, another 30 yards from 3 receptions, and 3 touchdowns.