How offensive will Georgia’s offense be?

If it’s reasonable to expect Georgia’s defense to improve over last year’s results, based on the reasons elaborated here yesterday, what should we have grounds to expect from the offense?

It’s great that with Chubb and Michel back, the Dawgs are loaded at running back.  The tight end position looks set.  Eason’s got a year of the SEC wars under his belt.  Jim Chaney’s had a year to feel his way around what he’s got and what Smart wants.  There’s a noticeable infusion of new talent on the offensive line.

But it’s worth remembering how far offensive production has fallen in just two seasons.

But as a unit, the entire offense will seek added production after a couple of down years. From 2010-14, when Mike Bobo was Georgia’s offensive coordinator, the Bulldogs averaged no less than 32 points per game in a season. In 2014, Bobo’s offense averaged 41.3 points and 257.9 rushing yards per game, which helped him land the Colorado State head coaching job.

In 2016, Georgia averaged 24.5 points and 191.2 yards per game.

Remarkably, Georgia didn’t manage to achieve its 2014 scoring average in a single game last year.  To expect a return to 2014 levels of offensive production, then, even with the areas of optimism detailed above, is an unrealistic stretch.  Consider this, though:  if the Dawgs had scored one more touchdown per game in 2016, they would have finished with a regular season record of 10-2.  31.5 points per game isn’t exactly a monster number, either.  It would have been fifth best in the conference and 48th nationally.

If it’s likely the defense will improve, you’d have to think the team would be looking at a very productive season with an offensive scoring average of 31.5 points.  Thinking is one thing, though.  Attaining is a whole different matter.