“And then things have gone downhill. It’s disappointing.”

I never thought I’d see the day when Nick Chubb and Sony Michel would join the “run the damned ball, Chaney” club.  But here we are:

Nick Chubb and Sony Michel walked into offensive coordinator Jim Chaney’s office Monday morning hoping to make sense of what happened during Georgia’s 24-10 loss to Florida.

Chubb only got nine carries for 20 yards, and Michel was handed the ball three times for 2 yards.

Those aren’t the numbers the two star running backs are accustomed to.

Georgia has long been known as a downhill, physical run-first team. After a dominating performance against North Carolina in the season opener, which saw Georgia rush for 289 yards in a 33-24 win, the Bulldogs have been hit or miss in the ground game since.

With Chaney going away from running the ball against the Gators, Chubb and Michel met with Chaney to find out why and what the plan would be moving forward.

“I talked to Coach Chaney, but what he said was true,” Chubb said. “We weren’t good at running the ball that game. They outplayed us so we had to try something new.”

For the few 5- to 7-yard runs Chubb had, it seemed there were many more where he, or another ballcarrier, was stuffed at the line of scrimmage. That’s why Chaney switched it up in the second half and went predominantly with the pass.

Even so, Chubb said he asked Chaney if the run game would be a focal point moving forward. With a player as talented as Chubb, it would be wise in most situations to make the effort to get him more than nine carries in a game, even if the run game is struggling.

“I don’t think I’ll get nine carries again,” Chubb said in a joking tone.

The impromptu meeting the players had with Chaney lasted a few minutes and came with Chubb and Michel knowing Chaney has an open-door policy.

I guess we can’t blame Bobo for this one.

Really, this feels unprecedented — not just two stars going to the offensive coordinator to ask what’s going on, but that it plays out publicly in the press.  Has there been a stranger stretch in Georgia football than what we’ve witnessed over the past two years?  I can’t think of one.

Here’s betting on tons of power running sets against Kentucky Saturday night.  The ‘Cats are almost as bad defensively against the run as South Carolina, so perhaps that’s not a bad strategy, except remember that SC did a better job shutting down Georgia’s running game in the second half when Boom committed more men to the box.  Were I Stoops, I wouldn’t wait that long to make Jacob Eason beat me.