The offense may be a little too meh for our taste, but the Dawgs are riding high in the polls and CFP rankings. One big reason for that:
Scoring 39 of 40 times it has reached the opposition’s 20-yard line this season, Georgia currently ranks No. 1 in the 130-member FBS in Red Zone Conversions at 97.50 percent. Likewise, the Bulldogs currently rank No. 3 in the FBS in [fewest] Opponent Red Zone Conversions at 62.50 percent, as their opposition has scored just 10 of 16 times it has reached Georgia’s 20-yard line.
There’s only one other team that currently is ranked in the top 15 in both, so they’ve got that going for them.
A nice thing about that is it’s an area that Kirby has shored up from last season.
… Georgia’s current red-zone rankings are up—and significantly—from last season, when the Bulldogs’ red-zone rankings were No. 13 (90 percent in Red Zone Conversions) and No. 107 (89.19 percent in Opponent Red Zone Conversions).
The not-so-good news is that, while Georgia is scoring in the red zone at an impressive clip, it’s settling for a lot of field goals. Its red zone touchdown percentage (67.50%) stands only at 34th nationally. That’s how you get a chart that looks like this:
That being said, as Garbin elaborates, overall, Georgia’s red zone productivity is in a very good place.
At the current rate this season, Georgia’s Red Zone Efficiency–Offense of 5.63 would be the Bulldogs’ second-best mark behind 5.75 from two years ago, while their 3.38 average in Red Zone Efficiency–Defense would also be the team’s second-best mark, only trailing 2.90 from 2003.
Also this season, Georgia’s Red Zone Efficiency margin of plus-2.25 points would easily surpass the team’s current high of plus-1.65 in 2003…
Get The Picture 
And, if I recall, the one time UGA didn’t score was when Jackson’s hand was broken and he fumbled.
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Encouraging statistics vs LSU’s defense.
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Red zone touchdown percentage is “only” 34th nationally? That’s still pretty good, fam. If you’re adding points to your total virtually every time you’re down close and you’re the third best team in the country in terms of keeping the other guy from adding to his total when he’s close, you’re going to win more often than not and Georgia has.
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LSU jumps out to me there. 53-55 attempts but the average points per is right about where the Dawgs are. Are they kicking a lot of field goals too?
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But they are in the red zone about 1.5 additional times per game than the DAWGS. That’s what concerns me.
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Basically speaking for UGA to be effective they must be in the Red Zone 3 times to gain percentages if their opponent scores 7, considering Hot Rod makes all three attempts. Making it 9 to 7.
Than also means that UGA must have at least 2/3 more possessions or length of time of possession than the opponent.
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There’s your answer to everything you need to know about Kirby’s strategy. Be conservative. Pound the rock. Wear the other guys down. We score when we’re in the Red Zone. We don’t allow scores. We will continue to win “ugly” and that’s perfectly fine by him…until we don’t, but I still contend he threw the USCe game playing ultra vanilla to get the team’s focus for the rest of the season.
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That’s another confounding thing about this offense. We have trouble moving, but once we get to the red zone, we’re doing a good job scoring. I actually thought out TD percentage was even higher.
Just keep grinding it out and hopefully we’re the last team standing.
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I don’t understand all the criticism of the offense. UGA lost I think pretty much all the pass catching production at WR and TE. The replacements a 2 true freshman and a transfer. Coley is calling plays for the first time in the SEC. The #2 running back is gone. When all those factors are considered, I think the offense is playing pretty damn well. The other thing is the team is not built on a high scoring offense but a dominate defense and a ball control offense.
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I’m not sure how meaningful that Red Zone defense statistic is. A lot of times when we’ve held the other team scoreless in the red zone, it’s been at the end of games when we’re winning in a blowout and the other team goes for it on 4th down to try to get the TD. In a non-garbage-time scenario, the opponent would probably kick field goals on those types of drives.
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