Yesterday, it was all about getting D’Andre Swift the ball.
“If number 7 is running the ball the way he was running the ball, it’s hard to give the ball to anybody (else),” Smart said. “The guy was making people miss, running possessed.”
Today, it’s about letting Jake Fromm make plays.
Smart said he also wants Coley to help find ways for Jake Fromm — the top playmaker of all — to take more shots downfield with more opponents aiming to stack the line against the run game…
“It’s limitless what we’re trying to do, but the central focus is protecting Jake and let him throw the ball vertical,” Smart said. “Spread the ball out some and loosen people up.
“We know our strength is running the ball. Sometimes teams try to take that away, and you’ve got to have answers.”
Sometimes? Shit, Kirby, when’s the last time Georgia faced a decent team that didn’t try to slow down your running game?
I’m a dumbass blogger who’s never coached a minute of football in his life, but if watching Georgia go up tempo against Notre Dame didn’t give you a clue on how to solve your dilemma, I don’t know what to tell you.
Get The Picture 
Totally agree. I am also just a dummy, and I continually scratch my head about things that seem to be very obvious. Like up tempo. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think Jake ran a hurry up offense in HS, and he is eminently comfortable in that scheme. No criticism intended – he has managed to transition into the pro set extremely well. Game manager, getting the team in the right play, etc – everything we want and he needs to do. But if we have teams off balance, out of breath and stumbling, why not put this offense in more often and roll over them?
On the positive side, at least we are not pulling that HS BS like Kelly with the fake injuries.
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Houston County ran uptempo, no huddle, and Fromm crushed people with back shoulder throws. He also ran through defenders when he needed to. Broke about a 30-40 yard in a blowout win over powerhouse Northside Warner Robins. Blasted through a linebacker in the process.
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Considering the depth or (lack of it), I don’t want to see Jake busting through anything. I held my breath on his scamper Saturday night.
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Agreed, just pointing out that he can dish out the punishment when called upon to do so. Pretty sure there was video of him cleaning 315 in high school. Surprised we don’t run more QB sneaks in short yardage. Fromm’s physical strength is a really underrated quality in his game.
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Only saw him play once in HS, at Lee County. Not a good night for him at all. Actually had me concerned about him as a college prospect. So very glad I was wrong!
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I saw him play many times during his hs career. All at home, but all were good games for him.
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Devil’s Advocate for the Defense, here. Go hurry up all the time and you’ll be putting more stress on your defense all the time leaving them on the field longer.
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Correct, but to have it in your repertoire and to use it more often is a huge benefit. One problem GUS BUS has is that he took years to learn that he occasionally has to take the foot off the pedal.
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I just don’t see how being up 21-0 early in games puts additional pressure on the defense. It’s not just the hurry up… it’s trying to establish the run at the expense of throwing on early downs… which is when Fromm is undoubtedly at his best.
I think many of our bad games with CMR were because we game planned to get the game into the 4th quarter where our running game would take over. Kirby seems to have fallen into that trap several times over the last few years including Saturday.
Really surprised at his comments this week. He’s probably talking to wide receiver recruits as much as to Coley… cause if he was talking to Coley why would he do it in public. But Kirby clearly has concerns that future decent defenses have figured things out when it comes to slowing down our running game which by definition means slowing down our offense.
I wonder how else Kirby will evolve. Still hoping for a fullback and the occasional toss sweep.
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Teams are playing tight to the line of scrimmage and daring Fromm to beat them with the deep ball.
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I don’t think that’s because they don’t think Jake can do it. It’s because they don’t think Kirby and Coley will give him the chance.
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Bama’s WRs play rock paper scissors to see who gets to catch the TD pass because they know it’s a lock. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/alabama-wide-receivers-use-rock-paper-scissors-to-determine-who-runs-potential-touchdown-routes/
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I saw that
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I have a feeling they won’t be doing that when LSU comes to town.
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IDK….have you seen LSUs defense this year?
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Has anybody?
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Their defense has taken some hits but that Stingley is for real. They only have one of him, though.
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What eethomasfnc said.
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I think it’s more that they don’t think they have any chance to stop the run without doing it, and if they’re going to get beat, they don’t want it to be because Georgia runs for 300 yards.
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Very true … my point is every coach that faces us respects what Jake does. They don’t want to get gashed on every play.
Even with the spread, the game hasn’t changed … run the ball, stop the run first.
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It makes sense for teams to commit to stopping the run. It doesn’t make sense that we don’t make them pay for it.
It’s either our HC is too conservative or they don’t trust Fromm.
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Define “make them pay for it”. Do they need to start throwing 40 times a game? It’s not like Georgia never throws the ball downfield. The Notre Dame game has given rise to all sorts of weird narratives.
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The ND game is really all we have to judge the new OC. The old one seemed reluctant to go deep, but that’s just an observation without data.
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They already were making them pay for it. Up tempo was a big part of the second half surge.
It worked. And if something is working on offense, you don’t stop doing it until the defense successfully adapts to stop it.
I swear, some of you guys sound like Bad Mike Bobo.
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When did he stop? On the final possession? They were still going fast on the last field goal drive until Herrien was stuffed on first down. I just think you guys are being hypercritical for no reason on this stuff, and most of the narratives surrounding the game don’t really hold up under scrutiny.
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They slowed the offense down after the Reed interception.
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Maybe they should have kept that up then, because they gained 32 yards before they went fast and ran Herrien into a wall.
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One thing about Bobo was when he called a play somewhat out of the norm which was successful he inevitably checked it off his list.
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I agree. I wondered why they hadn’t tried it earlier in the game. Especially in the second quarter.
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Does flopping on the ground count as adapting? Since we’re all about the “escape goat” today, can we call this play a “Fainting Goat”?
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I forgot to define make them pay for it. I’d say fly type routes where the WR gets past the defender. Even if it’s an incompletion I think it scares the hell out of the DC.
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They ran those. Notre Dame got away with interference on three of them. Didn’t seem to scare them.
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Did we get past the DB? IIRC it was tight coverage.
We look to have the speed at WR to get past DBs especially since they’re playing close to the LOS. It’s been a head scratcher since Kirby’s first year.
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Sufficiently past them that they had to interfere. I don’t know how the OC is supposed to cause coverage busts on the outside in man coverage. It’s not like Notre Dame has bad corners.
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I can’t remember if it was here or some other website, but I recall seeing a few comments suggesting Coley deserves some slack because he’s a “new” offensive coordinator. But he’s been OC at a few other stops in his career and he’s been at UGA in some capacity for several years, so I don’t think he deserves any sort of grace period.
I do wonder if he’s getting mixed signals from Kirby though, like the quotes mentioned above. “Keep feeding Swift the ball, but put the ball in Fromm’s hands more too.”
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I don’t understand the tempo thing either. When you get that first first down on a drive, it’s time to step on the accelerator especially if you like the defensive personnel grouping against your offensive grouping. At a minimum, it keeps the defense from substituting and tires them out. Over the course of the game, that eventually breaks a team’s will to fight back.
Tempo doesn’t mean throw it all over the place. You can be Mr. Impose Your Will and do it in HUNH tempo.
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And by running more plays, you’re giving your stud offensive players more touches. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
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I totally agree. Eventually the dam breaks, and Swift takes one 70 yards or Fromm hits a big play in the passing game. When you have superior depth to every team currently on the schedule, quicker pace of play plays to that strength.
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Yep
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Plus there are players like Swift/Cook/Woerner who can line up in multiple spots so you could combine tempo with last second personal grouping switches (Cook lined up at TB with Woerner at HB, then motion to 5-wide) and not substitute.
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And eventually, you WILL catch them with too many on the field….unless they flop of course
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This title made me actually LOL.
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Anybody got a plate of beans?
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Candy-gram for Mongo! Candy-gram for Mongo!
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Up tempo is a double edged sword. You better get first downs…..
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[NARRATOR’S VOICE]: They were.
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Well, there is that too.😎
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Ron Howard is forever the voice of my inner narrator.
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The best narrator is Morgan Freeman
I wish I could tell you the Georgia went no huddle for the rest of the game. I wish I could tell you that… But football is no fairy tale world.
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“They were” until the ND player fell down pretending to be injured and the network went to commercial. Five minutes later after the the commercials were all over and the ND D was well rested, ND stopped the Dawgs on 3rd and 2 and Kirby opted to kick a FG, setting up the exciting ending to the game. 🙂
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Georgia slowed the tempo down after the Reed interception.
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Even if you go back to the Vandy game, it wasn’t until he finally started letting Jake push the ball down the field that we actually put the game away. That short game, side to side stuff worked great on the first couple of drives, but then Vandy adjusted and things bogged down for quite a while until we finally started going more vertical. I understand and fully support running something until the other team stops it, but Coley is way too slow to switch gears once it is getting stopped.
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I’m not saying you’re wrong, but that easily could have been the gameplan. Yes the goal is to score every drive, but it’s also to set things up so you can see how the other team responds or wear them out early running side to side.
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That is not what happened. They scored without breaking a sweat on those first three drives (which included a downfield throw to Cager). The game was effectively put away then. From there, they ran the ball a lot, had some penalties set them back and failed to complete passes down the field for a variety of reasons (protection breakdowns, bad throws, mistakes in routes, coverage by Vandy). Vandy rarely actually stopped the run, and penalties aided them as much as anything in slowing Georgia down. However, the passing game was largely ineffective, and it wasn’t because they were purposely trying to work the short passing game.
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My recollection is that Kirby’s teams have always played better in a HUNH offense, going to back to Eason’s freshman year. That year was filled with offensive burps and starts, only to find that the offense could move the ball in a HUNH offense when they needed to. Kirby said that it only worked because the defense was giving him certain looks, but quite frankly, I didn’t really buy it then, and I’m buying it less now. This offense, with these players, has shown that it can be one of the best in the country. But it’s certainly running like it has a governor on it right now because Coach Impose Your Will thinks it’s more important to run clock and avoid mistakes than it is to run your offense and score points.
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UGA is below average on passing downs and explosive pass plays.
They aren’t forcing teams cover the entire field.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/dan-wolken/2019/09/21/georgia-notre-dame-kirby-smart-offense/2409648001/
Yep.
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CKS keys to success:
Let Fromm throw
Uptempo O
Wear black jerseys*
That one’s for the boys.
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I really believe (and hope) that we’re trying to be patient and allow the receiving corps to develop. The top 5 receivers through 4 games are Blaylock, Pickens, Cager, Wolf, and Robertson. With the exception of Roberston, these are all fresh faces to the program, and DRob didn’t see any meaningful playing time last season. These guys are GOOD, and will continue to gel with Fromm through the season. I’ll save the hand wringing until I see a lack of production through the next three games, but my expectation is that we’ll be clicking by time we get to Jax. If we squeak by against UT, Cocks, and UK, we’ve got serious issues and will be hard to expect us to finish the season without a disappointing loss.
I was not thrilled walking out of Sanford on Saturday night because it was closer than I thought it should be, but ND had their backs against the wall, reading all the headlines about how they can’t win the big game. Hopefully the go on to run the table and our win ages well.
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When you think like a hammer, you’ll find some damn nails. I like our coach but like the rest of us I can see him being very set in his ways.
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Smart puckers up in big games and big situations. He has done a fantastic job of running the program, but he needs a loosen up coach on the sidelines.
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I think the throwing it deep component is more important than the up tempo component. You can go up tempo and dink and dump and still not loosen up the defense.
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agreed.
You need to make the defense cover the entire field. You have to push the ball down field and to the middle of the field.
Tempo doesnt make the defense cover any more of the field.
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Funny. I was getting chirped at about this the other day. I was overreacting they said. We won the game they said. It’s our DNA they say.
Bullsheet. You’ve got a GT and you’ve never put it up into triple digits? Why even have it then? Problem is we have a garage full of exotic cars but we use them sparingly and those we do use could be questioned as to whether we adequately operate them, as well.
Analogy aside, is this a pride thing? Kirby’s forte is defense, so is he sacrificing offensive possibilities for the sake of having stout defensive stats? Players need breaks? Arent we two and three deep in a lot of positions? You can still be on the field a while and run more plays and then challenge your defense to go three and out…but our offense needs the diversity to do so. Jet sweeps seem to be getting sniffed out. Quick hitters will too with defensive speed. It seems like we are getting similar looks and results with an OC who touted the playbook was opening up in the offseason.
At some point it will hurt the team with an L and on the recruiting trail as well. It almost did Saturday night, too.
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I mean, the advanced metrics rated the offense in the top 3 last year (7th in FPI and 9th in SP+ so far this year), but carry on.
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What were those stats like in the three games last season where we lost? Alabama was the highest as I can recall, but LSU and Texas were examples where manball, or whatever we call the philosophy, failed us.
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It’s almost like teams lose sometimes when they play other good teams. Go figure.
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And teams pad their stats when they play teams that are “not good”. Love the snark, again. Duh, I never figured out that those three teams were good. Thanks for the enlightenment.
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Don’t open up with the idea that you were being “chirped at” and run through a bunch of unreasonable bullshit if you don’t want snark.
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Unreasonable? Is it really unreasonable to assume that advanced stats were beefed up by play against inferior opponents? I don’t think so. My position is no more unreasonable than yours, and our three losses last year validates that, dick.
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Generally speaking, advanced statistics adjust for opponents (among other things) in any sport, so while I wouldn’t call that unreasonable, it does belie an ignorance of how advanced stats tend to work. And the fact that they lost three games doesn’t inherently tell me anything about the offense. As it turns out, it performed poorly against LSU (as did the defense) and well against Alabama. I don’t care about non-playoff bowl games as measurements of anything, so the Texas game is moot as far as I’m concerned. The offense didn’t have a particularly good day against Tennessee last year, for the record. The rest of the year, it was between good and excellent.
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Pretty sure I misused belie there. Oh well. I’m a dummy.
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Bless Kirbs Heart. Might I say that if Jake goes down, the Dawgs will suffer. Actually if you were able to get a up close and personal views if Jake pulls the ball on three other RPO’s he is still running.
Jake is not real fleet of foot but if the entire DL and LB’s jump the run read there is no one left for 15-20 yds. Check out Clemson and see if Golden Locks don’t run it.
I did coach football for 30 years the jet sweep is a play from the T formation as well as the Notre Dame box, which may I add is just the wishbone spread out. The only missing part is a FB and a Kirbs needs to even though the NFL has no longer the use of such except New England.
I love our TE’s but Wolf and Worner got crushed on the LOS. Again there were 8 in the box, ND dropped 2 most times but the were still 8 yds from the LOS.
The jet sweep is effective as long as there is zero penetration in the OL. Point of emphasis Kelly said he wasn’t’ worried about the OL caused they had faced slants and pulls and Dawgs Mano a Mano blocking is best defeated by just trying a stationary push forward.
Fish Fry’s offense is alive it’s just in a different formation, the read, the keep is just the same.
We need a Veron Haynes to stomp on their faces with a hobnail boot, the FB’s might just catch a meaningful place after cleaning up the trash that 4 wide or trips tight seems to be unable to do when they bring they bring the house.
Just say, you might detect itbbut it”s just a broken bone !
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