So, a random question that popped into my head while I was reading Matt Hinton’s SEC preview here: how much should we expect Georgia’s offense to carry the team this season?
The reason I ask is because Matt’s All-SEC team is pretty consistent with most I’ve seen. The Dawgs placed three offensive players on it, along with Fromm and Wilson as honorable mentions, while only one defensive player, Reed, appears, and that as an honorable mention.
Sure, that doesn’t take into account Georgia’s depth, where it has an edge on every SEC team not located in Tuscaloosa, but if having those special talents is what elevates a team to elite, it’s not a stretch to say that Smart is perceived to have more of that going for him on one side of the ball.
Of course, counter to that is the change at coordinator, although I’m not convinced it’ll be all that dramatic, and the turnover at wide receiver, which suggests that Georgia will likely be as conservative with its emphasis on the run game as it was in 2018, at least coming out of the gate as Fromm hones his skills with a new bunch of wideouts.
I don’t think Kirby wants a team that’s carried by the offense — indeed, one of Georgia’s strengths over the past two seasons is how balanced in been in all three areas of offense, defense and special teams — but he’s also sharp enough to know you’ve got to play to whatever strengths you’ve got. So, again, how much should we expect from the offense this season?
Get The Picture 
I will call it now. End of season we have an All-SEC at all 3 levels. Jordan Davis, Monte Rice, and LeCounte.
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Yeah, this is interesting. One could say that to win the sec you have to have a top performing defense AND an offense that approaches unstoppable. Our offense last year was not all that special, obviously it was really good and I love every second of Georgia football I’ve seen the last two years, but they were just very good last year. Going to be a fun and interesting season.
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They averaged more points and YPP than in 2017 last year. S&P+ had it as the third best offense in the country (behind Oklahoma and Alabama). The offense was great.
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Defense as a unit is vastly underrated by the pundits – equal to or better than Bama
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+1.
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A healthy Fromm and UGA will be fine. Wide Receiver will be the surprise of this team. Georgia is going to put up a LOT of points. I expect the backs to have a strong year, not only from hand offs but from quick passes out in the flat, giving them space. And there will be some emphasis on the tight end. Realize that the popular thought is ‘load the box’ and make them throw… It’s not going to work – look for Georgia to be well balanced, playing with multiple choices on how they want to attack you.
On the the defensive side; I actually expect Georgia to be the best since Smart got there. Less conservative, turning loose the outside line backers.
This is Smart’s most talented team and I personally believe he intends to be aggressive from the start.
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I think we lean on the defense this year while the Offense works it’s kinks out. New OC and WR’s gelling during the game are my only question marks left about the offense. Unfortunately without a small sample size it’s hard to know how good the O can be or if they will need to carry the team. We should know after JAX what this team can be offensively. I do think this defense is going to be the most complete defense Kirby has trotted out there at UGA. I am not sure if we have the type of game changers we had in 2017 but if a couple of guys develop it could end up being a really special defense.
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Good post. Done without Kool-Aid and rose-colored glasses. You bet that we will have that O down pat after J’ville and that’s when we will know what we are capable of for the rest of the year. Jarvis-coached D linemen look better already for Lanning’s first year and they have the ability of a rare one-two punch team.
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The offense is still loaded and will probably finish top 3 again by the advanced stats. The defense should be more solid up the middle, though questions remain on the edge. It’ll still be a top 10 unit, though it may not be good enough to get into the top 5 just yet. However, if they get better play than I expect out of the outside linebackers, it could be one of the best in the country.
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I agree, our offense is going to be hard for anyone to contain. And that is said while acknowledging the OC change is a bigger risk than the DC (cause KS is still involved directly.) I hope Coley is really good calling plays, but UGA could win 9-10 games with any of us dialing up plays. An OL with Fromm at the controls, RB talent like we have is a huge luxury regardless of who we play. Add to that a very talented group of receivers, and there is no question this offense can rock when needed. I think the inexperience narrative is overstated as people look close for a weakness. It ignores that WR is one position where freshman talent often can shine based on pure athletic talent alone. Tell me we are inexperienced at DB, OL, QB, or LB, and I will worry.
I agree with many here, the DL is probably the biggest concern, but I thik that is more about depth than raw talent. I know we don’t have an All American type stud at DL, but we will be pretty good if they stay healthy through the 2nd team guys. With the DBs and linebackers we have, they don’t have to be super stars. We may not have a superstar like R from 2017, or a shut down corner like Baker in 2018, but the collective talent on this defense may be better than we have had under Kirby.
This is a good team, just hard to see anything they are missing. We are going to Atlanta early December, and this time more capable than last of leaving there a champ and able to compete in the playoffs. Just don’t see any excuses, this season.
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It seems like DL is going to be a question and it also looks like everyone else is loaded on the DL.
Not sure how that happened.
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Guys, our front 7 has to step it up this year. They ran out of gas against UA the last two years and it cost us dearly. The receivers can’t help but be good with Fromm delivering the ball. The DL is key!!
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Ball control is the key when you’re thin on the DL. Gotta keep those boys rested and watching from the sidelines as the offense grinds out long, time consuming drives. The best cure for lack of depth on D is a slow grinding drive.
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Ugly, ball control is great up to a point. You still have to open it up just to keep ’em honest. Of course, that’s the point where the DL has to step up and stop the ground game. Once again, that’s where we collapsed last year against UA and Texas.
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Ball control isn’t just 5 minute run only drives, it is avoiding ~2 minute possessions without points. Bama’s D shut down UGA’s offense for majority of the 2nd half.
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43 pts per game avg by th O after 15 games sounds about right. on D we should only avg about 13 pts per game once season is over. I’ll track that #.
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If the defense does not improve fundamentally from last season we will need to depend on the offense a whole lot more than CKS or we like. I just wonder how long we can protect the defense with a play-it-safe offense. Can we afford to wait to turn on the gas until we absolutely have to? I hope we go wide open early so its not novel to the offense come September 21.
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Usual lazy sports writer b.s. Gonna be tough for Dontavius Russell to make sec honorable mention while playing for the Jacksonville Jags. Maybe Hinton should’ve made that his “surprise of the year”.
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Saying that the offense has to “carry the weight”, gives the impression that the defense has a chance at being a liability early in the season. I agree that to start, the offense may be our best side of the ball but I don’t think our O has to put up crazy numbers to keep from getting outscored. Our D is as good as any in the conference and our O is better than most. The other teams will have to work hard to keep pace. I don’t think we are as one-sided as the teams we’ll play. I feel we are one of the three most complete teams in the conference.
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Not worried one bit. This team is loaded on both sides of the ball – both in talent and depth.
We gonna be good………………….
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Yessir!
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Not worried, just remindful that the kinks are going to take a little time to get worked out. So it may look like one side is doing more than the other, but everyone is adjusting and will be balanced.
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If the defense can’t win games in its own, we can’t win the NC.
We had Bama whipped the last two years largely because our defense was dominating the game through three quarters. When the defense cracked, it was over.
Oklahoma is the only championship level game I attribute to being won by our offense in the Kirby Era.
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