Well, now.
"By week 5, you know what type of offense you have… going into the SEC Championship it's nothing new to us so we have to go out there and execute." #UGA pic.twitter.com/XTSMZqXYIW
— 11Alive Sports (@11AliveSports) December 12, 2019
“You get to Week 5, and you know what type of offense you have.”
Well, now.
Filed under Georgia Football
Get The Picture 
The reality is Georgia’s offense held the team back this year. The Dawgs D was the best in the nation. If Georgia had 6-6 Washington State’s O, the Dawgs would have won the national championship this season.
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Agreed.
The upside is I expect our D to be better next year.
Hopefully, the offense gets in to gear….
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I don’t know how Kirby has put up with this crap. Would someone explain to me how the offense isn’t going to be just as bad, if not worse under a Fromm/Coley combo next year??
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Junkyard, the offense will be just as dysfunctional next year. Kirby Smart believes in his heart of hearts that the offense can only do harm to his defense. He wants to play safe, conservative offense to put his defense in the best position to succeed. As long as Smart refuses to use the offense as a weapon, he will continually put he defense in positions to lose.
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Let’s hope this year’s complacent Kirby returns to being the guy who screamed into his headset at Chaney. That’s why I think we’re gonna see some changes. The Luke hire was a great first move.
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The fact that apparently he tried to hire Bobo in some capacity speaks well to this issue. The fact that Bobo wouldn’t take the job does not.
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Could you imagine how effective the defense would have been if the offense had just been more consistent at getting first downs? It doesn’t even have to be world-beating, just functional.
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I’d hedge it as “one of the best,” but not “clearly the best.”
The secondary / pass defense had some holes great offenses could exploit. The run defense/front 7 was damned good, but despite the off-season push for more havoc, no edge rushers became dominant, sacks/TFL only went up a bit from last season, and they didn’t force many TOs. So they have room to improve, and likely will next year.
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Agreed. Lack of consistent pass rush, lack of turnovers, and occasionally soft coverage over the middle were the only minor shortcomings in an otherwise fantastic unit. They did have a few deficiencies, though.
I do think they have the ability to be even better next season, to echo the sentiments of others.
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I don’t think we can claim to be the best defense in the nation until we have a great pass rush. I have yet to figure out why we can’t get heat on QBs. I agree with the rest of the post though.
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It’s keeping with KIrby’s cautiousness. He usually only rushes three because he doesn’t want to get burned..an all out rush is great when it works, but if it’s sniffed out by the offense it can be a disaster. If Kirby’s getting moderate pressure out of three, he’s happy. We’ve seen the Dawgs can bring the heat when they go after a QB (as in the end of the Auburn Game) but Kirby won’t gamble until he almost has to. Same philosophy on offense..gamble little..accept small gains and hope they mount up to a W.
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Well, we know Kirby’s focus is on recruiting, not changing the offense right now and I just took a peak over at 24/7 and…yikes. That streak of Top 3 classes sure looks over. Let’s hope Kirby closes strong, because with Pittman gone, no other assistant coach on staff shows up in the Top 25 recruiters.
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Would appear around week 4 opposing dc’s knew what kind of offense UGA had…
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Which is why I don’t really get having Fromm throw 42 times in the SECC. Actually, I don’t get why we mostly limited him until that point. Feels like we intentionally hamstrung our own offense for no good reason.
Any time we actually tried to open up the offense there were always big play opportunities, even if we missed on quite a few. I’d just rather use and try to improve the talent and potential instead of playing it safe until it’s too late. Whatever. The season is mostly over and hopefully the offense will improve for next year. Fromm should go pro but hopefully we don’t ruin him if he comes back.
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I think part of it was there was no way they were going to give Swift 15-20 carries (though why you don’t try that with Zeus, I’m less sure.)
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Yeah, they went the opposite of the identity they spent all season making. Not that I had a problem with it because plays were definitely there to be made. Maybe they would have made them if they’d done it more all year. Or maybe Kirby is right and they just weren’t making plays and that’s why the play calling seemed restricted. It’s the chicken or the egg question.
I still go back to coaching. The WRs were inexperienced, sure, but I don’t believe Fromm fell off on his own. This is why I hope Fromm has a serious heart to heart with the coaches. For his sake as well as the program’s.
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I wonder how much it hurt this offense to only throw 20 passes a game for the first half of the season? To me, if you have a young group of receivers you want to get them going early in the season when the schedule is typically easier. You want to get game film on them so in the meeting rooms you can critique their route running, not just their blocking. Kirby’s been putting a lot of the blame on the receivers, but he sure didn’t do much to help them out at the beginning of the season.
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That’s a really good point I hadn’t considered. If you’re not willing to throw passes to those young receivers early in the season, you can’t be surprised that they don’t look like seasoned pros by the time November rolls around. Unfortunately, given Kirby’s ultraconservative offensive philosophy, it’s hard for me to see that situation changing anytime soon . . . though I would love to be surprised.
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Great point. It did occur to me early in the season that we should be using cupcakes to sharpen the offense. Not for style points but for practice. I let the thought perish as I figured CKS knew the offense was sharp enough. I kept looking for the emergence that just never happened.
The Florida game was the last time JF looked sharp. That seems like a long time ago.
Maybe against Baylor, this offense will…(slap my forehead…there I go again).
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How were we not able to evaluate very early on — in summer camp, preferably — that Cager, Pickens, Blaylock, and Robertson were going to be “the guys” and tell everyone else (Simmons, Jackson, AND FOR GOD’S SAKE ESPECIALLY Matt Landers) that they were, unfortunately, going to have to sit while Jake developed timing and trust with “the guys” that we were going to need at season’s end? Timing and trust that can only be developed in game situations (which means wearing out cupcakes, if necessary).
The only other comparable SEC mystery I’d like answered is how a genius QB guru like Mullen was not able to tell coming out of summer camp that Trask needed to be the QB rather than Franks?
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The young receivers (Blaylock and Pickens) weren’t the problem … the upperclassmen were.
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Maybe I’m wrong but I think it definitely hurt the offense. I also think it made Fromm maybe feel more pressure to perform when we actually seemed to open up the offense. So many games it was hand off, hand off…now pass on 3rd and long. Fromm seemed best when he could just go be a QB. Everything looked so calculated this year.
I also feels like this kinda frees the coaches and play calling of some responsibility. “Players have to make plays” even if the leaders aren’t putting them in the best position to succeed. I never agreed with Saban blaming players and I don’t agree with Kirby doing it. Imo, Saban mostly got away with it because he nearly always had superior talent. Some programs are catching up and it no longer looks to be good enough. Good enough to win 10-11 games, sure. Titles? Eh
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Once again…. it’s entirely possible (I’m proof!) to simultaneously believe the following:
1) Kirby Smart is a GREAT coach.
2) Kirby Smart is at a turning point (for worse or better) in his career, and I’m not sure he understands that.
3) Kirby Smart is a GREAT recruiter.
4) Kirby Smart lost a LOT of cache with potential recruits this year.
5) I’m confident Kirby Smart’s best days as a head coach are ahead of him.
6) We may look back ten years from now and see 2017 as the closest we came to the national championship since 1982.
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All of these things for sure could be true, next year is crucial in determining which will be. I do believe Kirby has finally had a humbling experience and hopefully it helps him change. He will be hearing it on the recruiting trail for sure, as the promise of Bama-like championships is falling flat right now.
For the record, I do not think the play-calling in totality is a mess, but we are in dire need of a dedicated QB coach and possible passing game coordinator. We desperately need an infusion of guys with speed who can get separation at WR with this recruiting class (and maybe a transfer).
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I would comment as follows:
1) I think Kirby is a great defensive coach. As a head coach I think the jury is out. But there is no reason to believe that he can’t be a great head coach.
5) There are times where I am afraid that Kirby’s best days as the head coach at Georgia are behind him. 2017 might have changed that narrative forever.
6) While also being a Falcons fan as a lifer from Atlanta (though, because it is the NFL, it is more of a rooting interest than a passion), I’m not sure that I can bear 28-3 AND 2nd and 26.
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That’s great, Jared.
I understand and I believe all six.
Number two, however, is IT.
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Dawgs played one great offense this year and it got smoked by it.
They played 3 serviceable offenses and played well, but the games were 4th quarter tight.
The rest were either inferior level opposition or 2nd or 3rd string quarterbacks.
I feel like Bama would put 37 on us as well.
I’m not gonna speak of this D as legendary just yet.
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The reason the defense got beat up by LSU is the lack of offensive support.
LSU does have an amazing and prolific offense. Even the best defense is going to look a little diminished against them. Add to that the failure of the Georgia offense to let them get some rest…and add to that the growing realization by the LSU staff that they could pull out the stops and throw it all at the defense because Georgia was stuck on 3 points and not moving the ball..add to that two turnovers by the offense..and you have a legitmate REASON…not an excuse, for LSU scoring all of those points. This defense is excellent.
Georgia played a lot of good defensive teams this year. Not excusing what should have been a much better offense..but UF, esp AU, TAM and LSU all have very good defenses.
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LSU’s yards per play against Georgia was about half a yard better than Alabama’s effort and half a yard worse than Auburn’s. Their first half ypp was better than their second, when they were running clock.
3rd down conversions: again, right in line with what they did against Alabama and Auburn’s D.
I didn’t see the defense make LSU sweat any more than any of the other 4/5 star laden defenses they faced.
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If Kirby doesn’t make some sort of change to his offensive philosophy he will be nothing more than Muschamp with better recruiting and therefore a better record. The SC game was exhibit A in the argument that Kirby and Muschamp have the same coaching philosophies right now. Georgia made enough mistakes on offense to lose the game and that is what Muschamp (and Kirby) wants the opponent to do.
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You may be on to something there, JCDawg.
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Every year the teams competing in the Championship game have a transcendental player. 2017 was the two headed beast of Chubb & Sony PLUS Roquain on D for us. I didn’t want to believe this and felt superior coaching could overcome this, but I’m now much closer to believing we just have to get lucky in recruiting and have that Heisman type player leading us AND let him do whatever it takes to put up those types of stats. Right now, that player is not on our roster.
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Disagree FP. That player is Jake Fromm. He was on our roster and bad coaching ruined him, at least this season. When I say bad coaching I mean it all….bad QB mechanics coaching, bad offensive game planning, bad WR coaching, bad WR recruiting and bad passing game coordination. Oh, did I mention bad in-game play calling? There’s that too. Sorry everybody but I’m pissed off. We had our best D in years and we squandered it with bad O. And that was because of decisions made by a guy we’re paying $7Million.
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If recruiting starts to falter Kirby is in deep shit
He is winning because he has better talent than the majority.of teams we play. AND it is going to happen if we keep getting smoked in.the important games.
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This is correct
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We’ve gotten smoked once in an “important” game.
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We will know more on September 19th, 2020.
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Maybe we’re locked into manball, in the near term, because our huge linemen are not ideal for modern offenses. Zone blocking schemes require twitchy lineman who can run. If we change to an offense that attacks all over the field, will our current line be instantly obsolete?
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Rodrigo Blankenship, 2019 Lou Groza Award winner.. DGD.
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Really happy for Rod … a nice guy finishes first. To see some of our “fans” respond to the tweets was frankly embarrassing.
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We got to week five and we knew what offense we had. We just didn’t want to admit it.
Love,
Cowdog
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