If Andy Staples ($$) is right about this, it would be disappointing.
It does, however, seem as if Kirby Smart has eschewed a complete overhaul.
The Bulldogs have one remaining open assistant coach slot, and it doesn’t seem likely Smart intends to use it on a new offensive play-caller.
It’s not just what a fresh set of eyes would bring to the offensive scheme that matters to me. It’s also that Smart would be signaling with the right kind of hire that he’s open to making the offense more dynamic.
Admittedly, that doesn’t require anything close to a complete overhaul of Georgia’s offense, but I do think it requires something more than just a little tweaking around the edges.
Get The Picture 
That was my question from twitter. After a night drinking some scotch and staring into a fire for a few hours in the cold, I’ve decided that Kirby is going to be Kirby and he won’t change and there’s nothing we can do about it.
I do not believe we’re ever going to win a national title with him as he is, until something shakes him up worse than having a garbage offense for one year. Change can happen. Nick Saban embraced it, but did so as an older man. Kirby is just now hitting his mid-40’s and so sure his way is the only way. Perhaps losing a couple of divisions to Sideshow Dan the Clown is going to be what it takes for Kirby to be introspective and change his ways. I don’t know.
All I know is, as I said, we hired Kirby to be Nick Saban, and instead he’s Les Miles without the national title to fall back on to excuse his stubbornness.
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If Kirby could only become as introspective as Dabo!
The fact that you think Dabo and Ed are smarter or more “introspective” than our coach makes you a damn idiot.
This isn’t fucking chess. They’ve got better offensive playmakers! That’s where we need to catch up.
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You couldn’t swing a dead cat in our offensive huddle without hitting 4 and 5 star players.
But it’s personel. Sure.
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How does our receiver/te crop look to do in the 2020 draft?
Where does Mel Kiper have: Simmons, Woerner and Wolf?
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Pickens, Blaylock, and Robinson all of them 5-star receivers. Put them in Bama’s offensive system and they’re All-SEC players. Why? Because Bama’s scheme accentuates their strengths while limiting their weaknesses. Robinson is a guy who needs to catch the ball in space, where he can then use his elite speed to get YAC. Do you know what he’s bad at doing? Contested catches because the scheme sucks at getting him open in space.
Scheme. Not players. You’re wrong, Derek. Should be used to it by now, though,
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So when ROBERTSON not Robinson had 3 yards on the nearest defender and Fromm under threw him, was that scheme or a lack of introspection?
I say our qb fucked up a sure td.
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You didn’t answer my response.
We had more than enough receiver talent to win this year if the scheme fit what they did well, amplified their strengths instead of amplifying their weaknesses.
You may be cool with Kirby’s play not to lose offense that has to work 100% perfectly in order to score points, but I think most of us would rather have a dummy offense like tOSU runs where the players don’t have to think as much and yet, still seems to be able to find them space to run after the snap.
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You are wasting your time here if you can make sure Simmons and Landers catch the fucking ball.
Millions await. Push away the keyboard and put your “introspection” to work.
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Hit him in the hands, he still should have caught it.
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True, but still a horrific throw.
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Both Pickens and Blaylock had good seasons. Of the two, don’t believe either would have started for Bama.
Looks like 2 of Bama’s receivers are projected in the first round.
Give the dawgs Bama’s receivers and they are a final 4 team.
As far as Robertson goes…if he is bad at contested catches as you say, chances are, he won’t be very good in CF….especially in the SEC.
It’s a contact sport, not very many are going to get uncontested catches (SEC).
Biggest problem last year was receivers holding on to the ball. “Scheme” got them open, it didn’t make them drop the ball or run the wrong route.
We had some talent at WR, just not enough of it…..and scheme won’t always work when that happens.
No matter which, it is all on Kirby.
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And yet Robertson almost had a 1000 yards receiving in Cal’s offense, which was a dummy spread offense.
If you think he couldn’t do the same in Bama’s offense or tOSU’s offense, and that they wouldn’t create for him opportunities to catch the ball in space and then run after the catch, you haven’t been paying attention.
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No, I am afraid it’s you my friend that hasn’t been paying close attention…..or maybe you have and just do not understand what you see.
It all works on “John Madden” or a perfect world…..just a little different when you get hit in the mouth. The SEC and the PAC 10 are two different leagues.
We had a lack of talent at the wide receiver position, we also had our QB handicapped by not running the ball due to depth.
If there is anything that I blame on the offense, it is the lack of talent at the skill positions…..and again, that is on Kirby.
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Yeah. No talent. Three 5-star receivers plus Cager, and we have no talent.
Keep telling yourself that, Greg. Maybe one day it’ll be true.
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Cager out, with him….we win the SC game. He also missed a lot of the year. Probably only 1 loss if he stays healthy (reg. season).
Robertson can only catch the ball if he is not covered (by your own admission).
Pickens had a pretty damn good year.
Blaylock gets injured, he also had a good year.
What do we have left?
More about the players and recruitment, less on scheme. Even a moderately good “John Madden” player could see that.
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Yet, it’s not happening just “on Madden” or in a perfect world. It’ happening in the SEC (Bama, LSU) the ACC (Clemson) and Big 10 (Ohio State)
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And they have different players/skill sets, at WR and QB.
Try and keep up if you want to disagree, not a good look for you.
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The point, Greg, is that by recruiting rankings UGA has objectively better players than those teams, and a VASTLY worse offense.
I don’t think it’s me that’s not keeping up
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No doubt UGA’s offensive staff can’t develop receiver talent from running routes to drops.
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Routes?…. yes.
”Drops”? …that’s between the ears.
All these guys know how to catch by now.
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Did you see how Brady improved the drop percentage at LSU? Or maybe the LSU receivers just cleaned out their ears.
We have the talent. The coaching (which includes the scheme) was deficient. Or maybe needs successive #1 recruiting classes for 4 years running to get the talent on board.
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And exactly who’s fucn fault is that. We lose Cam , Watson , Fields , and Lawrence because we run A PRO STYLE OFFENSE. you think LSU just got better by practicing harder? You say Fields wasn’t ready ? So he just went from a lost soul to a Heisman finalist because he is a year older or maybe the offense in simpler than the NY Giants offense. I’m sure Ole miss scored 37 and gained over 600 yards because they have better players. You think Ole miss , beat bama twice because they have better players? How about . Auburn. ? I’m sure Navy won 11 games this year because they have better players. In the top 25, only UGA , Wisconsin and Iowa run a pro style offense. So either ask Derick or the rest of the other 22 coaches for your answer. You can also ask the Baltimore Ravens.
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Ed isn’t smarter but he made a better hire at Receivers coach and developing the passing game.
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Oh yeah, scheme and plays make no impact at all. That’s why Chase and Jefferson were putting up huge numbers in 2018 (and Burrow was a clear Heisman candidate and no way was CE-H getting passed by a true freshman at RB, everyone knew he was a monster.)
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Y’all, it might be a bit hyperbolic, but that doesn’t make any of it false. I will say though, whichever side you want to argue about Kirby, Manball, Coley, etc., when he says “there’s nothing we can do about it”, that is 100% TRUTH. It was this way with Richt too though I get it, it is “fun” to argue about all of this. But even if you insist on arguing about, the quicker we all come to grips with A) it is just a game that B) we don’t have any control over, the easier life becomes. The Dawgs will always be my #1 hobby, but I highly recommend finding a lot of back up hobbies. Because until Kirby evolves as a coach, I think we are looking at a lot of the same for the years to come. Yes, being in the title hunt is what we want, but face it, Kirby’s job is to actually close the deal.
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A really, really, really boring Les Miles?
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Les Miles – NC – Successful Fake Kicks = Kirby Smart
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Your players have voted with their feet.
Update the offense or become the Georgia Tech of the SEC.
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Oy.
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Give me a break.
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Lulz.
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There’s still some “insider” chatter on the Rivals board about help coming in January, but of course take that noise with a YUGE grain of salt
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Well, the DawgVent does have a higher hit to miss ratio than The Junkyard, so maybe take it with a little bit more salt than normal?
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The Vent was convinced either Jimmy Johnson or Andy McCollum (“more and more”) was going to replace Donnan, too, so yeah…avoid if you’re trying to stay low sodium
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Worst news of the off-season yet.
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It’s not news. It’s Andy’s opinion. We’ll see what transpires.
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I mean, if there was going to be something, anything, wouldn’t it have been done by now? Will Hall has been available for almost a week. Same with Joe Moorhead. Both are fantastic QB coaches and keen offensive play callers.
I don’t believe Fromm leaves if he knows someone is coming to help him improve the offense and thus his draft stock. I believe he left because Kirby told him nothing is changing. Fromm was the canary in the coal mine.
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Who knows? Certainly neither you nor I do.
I take a little comfort in Kirby opening up a coaching spot in the first place. YMMV, of course.
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Are you kidding, this schmuck know everything.
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*knows
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Perhaps the guy he wants is still coaching.
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Actually beating UF and having a real chance to make or win the CFP three years in a row is much better than we have seen in a long time.
Would i like to see a QB coach and real change on offense. Of course I would what I won`t do is on January 9th say we are doomed to fail.
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You might very well be right and that’s not because the off-season has been filled with only good news. I’m bracing myself to watch us waste another elite defense in 2020.
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Kirby and Coley blamed the unexpected attrition at receiver for the poor offense this year. They have way more attrition now at multiple positions in the offense, so the talking points are there if the offense fails again.
At some point, however, Kirby will have to win a championship and coach around the attrition. Kirby set up his recruiting dynamic of getting kids in the NFL and celebrating when they leave early. Fine. But if Kirby can’t win big in his model, then the “attrition” talking point is going to get old real quick.
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Alabama has no problem turning freshman receivers into All-SEC receivers. Why?
It’s the scheme, stupid.
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Dude, is there anything that you won’t contort to fit your narrative?
You’re not a fan of the offensive philosophy. We get it.
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Wait, so Jerry Jeudy wasn’t an All-SEC player as a freshman, playing in a wide-open Alabama offense that schemed him open in the middle of the field and gave him plenty of space for YAC?
That didn’t happen?
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Matt Landers is Jerry Jeudy without a coach or a scheme. Got it.
I guess the nfl will draft Tyler Simmons since they can give him both right? Who cares that he can’t catch!
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I remember all those great catches and YAC that Mecole had as an All-American receiver at UGA…oh, wait. That’s right. He had to go to the pros to become a rookie All-Pro receiver.
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His stats are pretty comparable actually.
538 receiving yards this year at KC
543 yards last year at UGA (in fewer games)
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?!
NFL defenses versus SEC East defenses, a couple of cupcakes.
Now tell us how he has Mahomes throwing to him versus a piece of shit zombie-QB
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I think I’d take Mahomes over Fromm. I guess we disagree. To each his own.
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I’d take Mahomes over Fromm. I guess you disagree. To each his own.
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And the fact that they could hang on to the ball and not get redirected on their routes.
Not to mention, a QB that had some legs. It keeps the DB and backers guessing.
Both Bama and Clemson have pro style offenses. Bama has more RPO, but they can run that more because of who was pulling the trigger.
More about what you can run (plays) due to the personnel….and that boils down to philosophy and recruiting…..not “scheme”, two different things.
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Don’t let semantics get in the way. Scheme. System. Philosophy. It’s all the different words for the same thing. It’s all about intent. Kirby has no intent in running a wide open, play to win offense.
Kirby is a play not to lose coach. It’s why he shut down in the offense at the beginning of the fourth quarter in each Bama game. He didn’t keep his foot on the gas because he’s a play not to lose coach. He did the same thing to Florida and Auburn this year and we almost lost those games after dominating them.
Do you know what you’re doing when you play not to lose? You’re never playing to win.
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I remember a guy who couldn’t play to win. Still up to the same old tricks:
https://www.seahawks.com/video/2019-wild-card-dk-metcalf-seals-win-with-clutch-36-yard-grab
Fire Schotty before the next round!!
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I fully expect kirby and fans to excuse 2020 offense with more blaming players and big offensive turnover. And no Jake.
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Kirby has an even more built-in excuse to cover for Coley’s ineptitude and his own play not to lose tendencies on offense than he had this year.
Until the moment Kirby changes his play not to lose ways, I won’t believe it will ever happen. He’s shown us who he is.
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It finally sunk in yesterday that we basically lost all the draft-eligible starters on offense, yet had several return on defense. While I can’t argue with any of them turning pro, it just seems like a bad indicator that the offense is having a near full turnover while our defense seems more “bought in”.
Can someone pep me up with a list of draft-eligible offensive contributors that are still here? Cleveland and Robertson are the only ones that come to mind.
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And honestly, given Cleveland’s academic issues, I wouldn’t be surprised if he jumped as well.
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The guys who left on offense had better chances in the draft. The D is full of guys that are great team players but need to shine a bit more.
It’s more of a tell about the level of talent we had on offense.
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I’ll go with that. Thanks.
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Why would he make a change/addition??
It is his offense….and he wants to show everyone it works. Even if he wanted to, thinks he is limiting himself (choices) because it is indeed….his offense.
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Year of the Gators.
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It sure as hell is not. They are losing a ton of players of their own. Trask coming back helps for sure, but our defense will be better. Also give me Kirby against Sideshow Dan any day of the freaking week.
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This is the most retarded comment I’ve read in… well, forever, frankly.
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All this gnashing of teeth has me seriously wondering if Dawgs fans have become Bama fans (but without the recent national championships). JHC on a popsicle stick, the slightest hint of adversity gets some people moaning, “Kirby’ll never get us to the promised land!” “We’re gonna lose to UF and UT!” “We’ll finish third in the SECE!” “We’ll never score more than two TDs in a game again!” Really?
Sure, there’s always room for improvement, but the football program is in a very good place – as good as we’ve had it except for when Herschel (and I guess Frankie Sinkwich) stalked the goal line. There are some bodies to replace, notably at QB, and it’d be nice if the offensive playcalling resembles what we saw in the Sugar Bowl instead of what we saw against USCe. Do any of you honestly think that, thanks to lights out recruiting and (at least defensive) player development, our roster isn’t as loaded as any in the country? Though it goes against my nature, I’ll be optimistic that the 2020 offense looks a lot more like what we saw in New Orleans than what we saw against the fighting Muschamps. In short, we’ll be fine – and almost certainly better than fine. Now let’s sit back and look forward to September instead of dreading it.
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Why do people talk about that offense in the Sugar Bowl like it was something special? It wasn’t. It was the mostly the same shit. All throws outside the numbers to the sideline, completely giving up the middle of the field to the defense. You know, the middle of the field, where dynamic offenses dictate to the defense and have huge YAC numbers? Yes, Coley rediscovered the toss sweep. Whoopty doo! That offense isn’t good enough to beat LSU, Bama, Clemson, tOSU, or other playoff teams, let alone get to the playoffs. That offense isn’t even scoring 30 points a game.
You say it’s gnashing of teeth for nothing? Tronan, it’s gnashing of teeth precisely because the Dawgs have all this athletic talent and Kirby is absolutely wasting it on an outdated, predictable offense for no reason other than his own stubbornness and refusal to adapt to the realities of modern college football. That means we could have a much better offense than this, a wide-open, high scoring offense like Clemson, Bama, LSU, or tOSU that takes advantage of all that blue chip talent, but Kirby steadfastly refuses to change.
THAT is why we’re upset. 26 points against Baylor? 24 points against the Gators? That’s not an offense that can win a National Title, because you’re not playing those teams in the playoffs. You’re playing teams that score 40 points a game that have the same number of blue chip players you do, meaning your defense, as it was in the SEC title game, won’t hold them under your offense’s crappy scoring average.
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In the Sugar Bowl, I saw our starting QB have one of his best games of the year, our depleted receiving corps play their best in a couple of months, two RBs who’d never started a game make major contributions to the victory, and an almost completely rejiggered OL play well against one of the nation’s more highly ranked and most disruptive defenses. I also saw our defense hold an offense that averaged five TDs a game to only two. But, you stick to your narrative.
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That stick up your ass ain’t gonna remove itself.
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I have to agree on most points. Let’s also remember that Baylor hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire in the recruiting rankings either. It was our young 4-5 stars against their 2-3 stars, a complete mismatch physically, and we still struggled to put up points, scoring only once in the 2nd half. Coley sucks today and will suck tomorrow.
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+100 Corch. I was happy to see the offense actually work against Baylor but it was basically the same offense as we ran all season. People are acting like 26 points against Baylor proves that we’ve arrived offensively. Nothing could be further from the truth. We can out talent Baylor, UF and the rest of the East on matter what system we run, but you have to have a world class system when you’re facing teams that are equal in talent…aka the teams in the Playoff. You’re not out-talenting Clemson and Bama.
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Dude. You’re the embodiment of “Empty Barrels Make the Most Noise”.
Give it a rest.
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What is Josh Harvey-Clemons doing on a Popsicle stick?
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I also don’t think he’s necessarily bringing in a new playcaller, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t bringing in someone to help open up the offense.
Remember, for all the praise Brady is getting at LSU, he does NOT call the plays. Playcaller is still Ensminger, who was known to run a rather dull offense before getting some help/creativity brought in with Brady. Not hiring a new playcaller does not necessarily business as usual on the offensive side of the ball.
Now if he goes out and fills that position with just another special teams guy or something like that, I’ll start to worry. But with Luke in the fold to provide input, another creative mind in the offensive staff could still change a lot.
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I agree totally — it is possible to reshape the offense and still have Coley as the main play-caller. In fact, Coley’s creativity in the Sugar Bowl looked to me like a decent start towards a more creative offense.
If Kirby hires an “offensive mind” to help Coley with some new ideas to reshape the offense, that will be a good thing, even if the new hire is not the primary play-caller.
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What creativity? I swear, winning the Sugar Bowl was the worst thing that could’ve happened to Kirby because it convinced him, and fans, that nothing major had to change with the offense. It was the same offense. The only difference was the month of practice time with Pickens and Fromm getting more in sync, and that the opponent was a Big-12 team, not LSU, who exposed our offense as garbage.
It was the same offense. I didn’t see Coley scheming players open. I didn’t see Coley do anything different with routes run. I didn’t see Coley attack the middle of the field. I saw one supremely talented player dominate against a Big-12 defense. That isn’t creative. Or different.
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I thought the flea-flicker was a great call. And I think the quick outside pitch play to the side the RB lines up on was a valuable new play for us not only in the Sugar Bowl (when it was clear early that our inside runs were getting stuffed) but during the entire last part of the season.
But certainly, much more needs to be done to overhaul the offense. Hopefully the new hire will bring in new ideas that will contribute to a substantial change. We will see.
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Bruh, we get it, we’re fully aware of your stance. My main point is, let’s see who actually fills out the staff before we grab the pitchforks.
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It’s almost like you want us to lose games as a route to win more games. Interesting. There isn’t anyone that doesn’t think the offense needs work. But I just cannot fathom the idea of being this mad when the team went 12-2, considering the whole object of having a great…offense….defense…anything is the winning of the games. Which we’re largely doing.
We’re 12-1 against our 4 biggest rivals over the last 3 years and have been in the SECCG 3 years in a row. We have an SEC Championship and were the first SEC team to win the Rose Bowl since 1946.
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…. oh, and we beat Notre Dame 2 times while doing all of the aforementioned, once at their place while taking over more than half their stadium. Man, it could be so so so much worse. You gotta loosen up brother.
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After reading this thread, I had to go look and see if maybe the sun didn’t come up this morning..but it did. (It would be a good day to go fishing…warming trend, big front moving in tomorrow, no football on TV).
Kirby Smart does know that you need an offense to win a football game.
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Considering his very very disappointing womp womp year I assumed Fromm would definitely return for his senior year IF he was confident things would be better on offense next year.
His decision to declare for the NFL (with no realistic expectation of being a 1st-round pick) speaks louder to me than anything else in this situation.
At this point I do not expect our offense to be any better next year.
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Bingo. Canary in the coal mine.
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I honestly think that the 3 things keeping him from being a first rounder are that he doesn’t have elite arm strength (not saying he has a weak arm, but it’s not elite like Herbert/Eason/Stafford/etc), he’s shorter than what the NFL considers “ideal”, and he’s not overly mobile. None of those three things was gonna change by coming back a year. And I think he realized because of those 3 things he’s gonna be drafted in about the same spot either year that he comes out, so why wait a year? Nothing he can do was gonna make him a high first rounder, I think he’s a round 2-3 guy no matter what. When you’re missing all 3 of those facets, you just aren’t gonna go super high.
And I don’t mean that as a knock on Jake, there have been plenty of very successful around 2/3 guys.
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Thinks he is a late first round to New England..
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How does anyone know what Fromm was thinking? if he returns and has a stellar year, he’s still behind Lawrence and Fields in the draft next year. So, his stock wouldn’t really improve by staying another year. he won’t get faster or stronger either. He probably did the right thing for himself; i don’t think it had anything to do with offensive philosophy next year.
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What are you trying to do Lutz? Corch Irvin Meyers knows everything that is wrong with Kirby – that is why he is employed as a head coach and banking millions – oh wait – nope he is simply a keyboard football genius.
You can go anywhere – on any Dawg blog and find these same assholes that know more than Kirby – it is really tiresome to read the same shit over and over.
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Fans are fascinating really…everyone is mad about something. Not saying the frustration is unwarranted mind, but definitely wasteful in that most have no measure of influence or control (and frankly base it on conjecture, guesses, and speculation.). It is a terrible waste of emotional energy.
I thought Staples opinion was measured and realistic. My personal experience with highly successful people is that have a deep well of self belief (which is internally validated by their past/current successes) and it usually requires significant adversity to bring radical change. And while the general internet consensus is that is where we are with the offense, I think Staples may be right in that Kirby will look at mitigating circumstances first before radical change. The 17 and 18 offenses weren’t train wrecks and it would be consistent for him to try and fix with it recruiting first. So at a minimum, I will wait to see who he hires before lighting myself on fire (it is not like there will be full transparency on what he is planning anyway.). We all may be wanting him to react like coach O but his and Kirby’s life experiences are dramatically different (not to mention basic personality.)
My 18 yr old reacts like the typical internet fire breather…hang em high! Or poor Georgia …always has bad luck (and he didn’t even live through the 90s and barely remembers the OOs.) It is all about the three big losses to Bama for him. I though do remember those decades and the real despair of just wishing to beat Florida 1/3. So the 3 straight over them means a lot to me.
Life experiences matter.
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Potential reasons for Fromm to go vs stay
The whole starting OL except Hill appears gone. There will be more sacks and more pressure next year.
Start over again with another batch of receivers. Yes there appears to be insane talent, but does he want to start over again. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Pickens is the only returning starter next season)
Sexton is willing to take him on. I think this says more about his NFL potential than anything else.
Kirby/Coley/scheme – small changes ahead, not a transformation
NFL money, fame, challenge. Guarantee that he is picked.
Potential reasons for Fromm to stay
perhaps improve draft position
loves the Dawgs so much he can’t bear to leave them
college life in Athens – hard to beat
more time to hunt and fish than he’ll find in the NFL
break all time UGA passing records
beat FL, AUB, TN, GT again
win SEC east again
perhaps win SEC and Championship
I’m sure there are others, but if I’m weighing these against each other, it’s going to come down to comfort vs new challenge and the risks/benefits of each. Scheme is certainly a factor in all of this, but I don’t see it as being the overriding reason. Fromm does not appear to fear a challenge.
If I’m Fromm, what is truly the difference in these two things, as it fits into the whole pie of his rationing?
New OL (4 of 5) plus New Starting RB + New Set of WR and same scheme
vs
New OL (4 of 5) plus New Starting RB + New Set of WR + New scheme and new OC/QB Coach/Playcaller
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Georgia Football is like the weather. You can’t do anything about it, so you might as well relax and enjoy it.
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This needs to be the QOTD for the off season. I’d do well to repeat it daily.
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No shit. I’ve been out of the loop a bit but after reading the comments over the last day or so? Some of us need a nap…..
Geez. It’s a bunch of kids playing with a ball.
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Everyone on the team watched this offense practice all year long. Everyone on the team knew that the offense wasnt going to be great. The offense that was out there on Saturday probably looked even worse mon-fri cause most weeks even our 2’s on defense were better than the other team.
The worry is that the same folks that drove our offense into the wall are now being asked to build us a brand new offense from scratch.
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To me, this is the money quote from Staples’ article:
“The question remains as to whether Smart will make any major philosophical changes on offense. That can be done without making huge staff changes and without any sort of grand pronouncement. Smart is not the type who likes to give away a lot of schematic information. If the Bulldogs are going to spread the field more and play faster — which the Sugar Bowl suggests — Smart doesn’t have to come straight out and say that. We’ll know when the team takes the field what he’s chosen to do.”
Staples doesn’t seem to be saying, as many have assumed, that Kirby has decided that no changes are necessary.
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I find it amazing how much better Pickens looks than the rest of the receivers. Why is he the only one getting coached, schemed or “introspected?”
If you’re going to say its coaches not players this gap in production should be easily addressed.
Second, if you had your choice, would you add 2 George Pickens to the offense or a dude with a chalkboard promising “introspection?”
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Don’t you know? Pickens is the only guy the coaches work to “scheme” open. The other guys are left on their own to run playground routes and get themselves open. The other times where we see a play design that leaves a player wide open, Fromm was instructed to ignore him and either checkdown or try to force a throw somewhere else.
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Derek stop it. You are starting to make sense. Where is the old Derek that made my hair (what little I have left) stand straight up?
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He’s limited to Wednesday’s playpen.
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I’m thinking Kirby is convinced he can win 10 with that d. He’s probably right. And we’ll probably be satisfied with that. There won’t be any Natty with that offense though.
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Someone explain to me how our offense puts defenders into conflict. The plays where a defender is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Show me the routes where the receivers mesh and force a switch or a collision. And don’t tell me our receivers were too stupid to do it. Every college team does it. Unless Kirby found the 5 elite guys with IQs to match their star ratings.
Someone explain to me the personnel deficiencies requiring that we shelve play action and pace, two operating modes where our QB seemed to excel.
Someone please explain the advantages gained from avoiding these offensive principles. What was the risk-reward calculus?
None of these require a “fling it all over the field” Leach approach to offense. They can all be done from pro sets because – drumroll – those are all staples in the pro game now.
Derek, we know already that you consider our WRs and QB physically and cognitively incapable of executing any of these concepts. Consider your response already noted.
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I won’t but thank you.
The roll out to 16 was just that wasn’t it?
Once again for those who missed it:
That’s all the scheme and introspection you need ain’t it?
But was it “executed?”
I note that you didn’t take my challenge above. I’ll put you down as “incapable.”
No need to respond. I already know.
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One play and you think that’s a definitive film study?
Got it, the players stink. Kirby was stuck with incompetents. A 3 year bust at QB. You’ve proven it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Let me find a replay of Tua or Burrow missing a wide open target. Those guys suck.
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It is what you asked for.
Who has time to sit and do full game/season film study with you? You can watch it as well as I can.
This is what I know: The brain trust around here said Schotty can’t coach. I said Lambert couldn’t play.
Schotty is coaching this weekend. Lambert ain’t playing.
Who was right?
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So we’ll just wait until Kirby recruits 4 Pickens and a Cam. Guys who would make any offense dominant. Easy peezy.
Were there no future Cams to be had in this recruiting cycle? When is the next one coming down the pike?
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Or a burrow a jefferson, a moss and a chase.
Or a lawrence a higgins and a ross.
A little qb mobility, a strong arm, multiple targets with a legit running game plus a strong defense.
I think we can muster it. I really do. Don’t think we’re far off.
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The last time I checked Kirby was the recruiting Dawg. Is he just not recruiting offensive players? Is he not as good evaluating offensive talent as he is defensive talent. Help me out here.
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We’ve been unlucky at qb due to timing and our recruiting at TE and WR has not been at the level of the other spots. Nauta and Pickens are clearly big prizes. Blaylock will be fine eventually. He missed Robertson the first time through. Missed Gilbert this time.
Don’t disagree that he needs to recruit those spots better than we have. Its a jimmies and joes game.
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Settle down people. The offense was bad ass in 2017-2018, and we’ve played for the SEC the last three years. Won one of those and then went on to nearly win the national title. Barely lost another SEC title. Then we so shamefully had a down 2019 when we only won 12 games while simultaneously racking up yet another top 3 class.
We’ve just cycled through the first round of the three year players Kirby recruited who, if they’re as good as advertised, usually leave for the NFL at this point. They were, they’re gone.
Good chance 2020 ain’t the year because those losses were so heavily on one side of the ball, but we’ll still be damned good.
But this hasn’t been some missed flash in the pan opportunity, unlike past near misses. This is a rock solid program showing zero signs of going away any time soon. The offense has been great before (literally just over 13 months ago), and it’ll be great again soon.
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I think it will help a lot that our biggest road blocks to the playoffs (Bama and LSU) will also be breaking in new qbs and both will take a big hit at receiver.
Florida is still way out manned.
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Congrats you two. This is what we need to be talking about.
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Color me shocked that some here would protest that the sky is indeed purple (LSU purple or Clemson purple, take your pick) and that Kirby is somehow wed to a philosophy that will never win the big one. Let’s look at some offensive stats shall we?!
My opinion is that there are two overwhelmingly important, simple statistics to describe the effectiveness of an offense. Points Per Game and Yards Per Play. Ignore the deep metrics (although they’re super helpful) and focus on those two.
Georgia Offense
Season: PPG (national rank) YPP (National rank)
2017: 35.4 (20th) 6.7 (12th)
2018: 37.9 (14th) 7.1 (6th!)
2019: 30.8 (49th) 6.1 (46th)
(An aside and interestingly, in offensive plays run per game, it goes 2017-65.2, 2018-65.9, 2019-66.8. How much does plays run per game not matter? Georgia and Oklahoma in 2018 both had top 15 offenses. They both ran exactly 65.9 plays per game. Oklahoma just managed 8.7YPP vs Georgia’s 7.1YPP and a whole 10.5 pts per game better. My guess is Kirby don’t give two figs about pace and plays per game based on this comparison, among others. I digress.)
What was different from 2018 to 2019? The obvious answer is Chaney. Genius he wasn’t, but he did come a play from winning it all with a freshman QB. Turns out having two elite NFL backs and some solid receivers can make a kid look good. Turns out, running routes and getting open is pretty advantageous. It’s an incredibly misguided statement to say that Georgia’s recruiting should’ve been able to immediately account for the pass catchers lost from 2018 to 2019. Blaylock and Pickens were freshman, Cager was very talented (and if 2017 and 2018 showed us anything it’s that Jake NEEDS a tall go-to guy) but hurt a lot, and Robertson had never caught a pass at Georgia until this season. And let’s not let Jake off the hook. How many passes did he horribly miss this season? Bottom line, you show me five scheme issues and I’ll show you ten personnel/execution issues from the ‘18 season to the ‘19 season.
To finish this little diatribe, I need to be clear. No, I don’t think Coley is a genius. But I also don’t think running 75 plays a game and putting an elite defense at risk of getting tired is the answer either. Several great teams over the past few seasons ran just as slow an offense as Georgia did to great effect. And Georgia itself did pretty darn well last season on offense in a season that—objectively—wasn’t as good as the 2019 season. All that to say this…chill out Dawg fans. Your team went 12-2 beating every ranked team they played save for one with a historically bad offense. Things are looking up.
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Yes and no on the plays per game point. Yes, OU runs far less tempo than people expect, but I think it’s a mistake to say running 72-75 plays a game puts a defense at risk when it’s deep with 4 and 5 star players. Both Clemson and Ohio St were in that range, and also top 5 in defensive stats too. It’s better leveraging your talent advantage I think: if you’re getting 7 ypp, 75 vs 60 plays is adding 105 yards, which should be more points.
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Yep, when we play 22-24 players on defense regularly, the “getting tired” excuse is a little weak. Maybe they get tired running on and off the field after every play?
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Russ,
In this era of explosive offenses, I don’t think it’s a bad practice to try and make sure your defense is fresh as an ancillary benefit to having lots of situationally dependent rotations of players. Maybe I’m wrong. My guess is that Kirby likes protecting late leads with a fast and rangy defense. He’s really stinking good at it by the way. Running more offensive plays at a faster clip is a sure fire way to make it more difficult on the defense. Cheers.
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I agree. Just seems like the offense had more success when they snapped the ball a little quicker. I’m not calling for Gus-style HUNH run to the line and snap it, but milking the play clock seemed to get our team out of rhythm. Plus, I think there are times to speed up, like after a first down or big play when you have the other team on their heels.
I will say I just looked at our number of plays per game for the past three years and they were essentially the same, so that supports the view that it was just execution. Whatever it is, fix it for next year. I love beating our rivals. I want to see what it’s like beating Bama.
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Russ,
Just for reference, I ran some numbers on seconds per play. It’s a simple but not 100% accurate way of telling how fast an offense is going, essentially, time of possession divided by total plays ran. Of our four best wins ND and UF were 32-35sec per play. AU and Baylor were much lower, between 25-27sec per play. Our fastest offensive operation of the year? By far SC and LSU with, against SC, 89 plays ran (not including the 6 in OT) with 36 minutes of possession (24 sec per play) and against LSU 68 plays in 26:22 of possession (23!sec per play).
All that to say this, I’ll agree offensive success was greatly tied to a faster tempo for Georgia on some drives. But definitely not all. And as a game long metric, it was fastest in the two games where our offense was dreadfully ineffective.
So here’s where I’ll diverge from the treehouse sky is falling angle. What’s the real reason?!? Pre-snap motion and reads. Well, that and trying to ice games late. Both of those things greatly affect the metric. But look at Jake’s pre-snap reads in 2017 when he had both a great defense to lean on AND great talent on offense. The calls were much simpler, the snaps came faster, and the offense executed. Same in 2018 to a large degree.
Jake isn’t a transcendent talent. But he is a more than serviceable QB. And with the number 2 graded out O-line in football and first round RB, what happened? Here’s what, poor situational play calling, an overly complex pre-snap read and adjust philosophy, and historically awful WR play.
Here’s guessing we WONT see that in 2020. The biggest blessing we may have as UGA fans may be not having a cerebral, ball protective QB. Re,ever hoe the offense looked from 2004 to 2005? Look for that change again. Cheers!
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Will,
I don’t think Georgia substitutes on defense as a matter of principle. Rather, it’s situational. The added affect is a fresher defense late in games, sure. I’ll acknowledge that. But I think it’s more about a specific scheme that they’re trying to accomplish rather than just being fresh.
Which is why I argue that plays per game isn’t in and of itself a goal. My guess is Kirby plays with analytics far more than us casual fans are willing to admit. Schematically, what was wrong with the 2017 and 2018 offense? That’s the better question. Cheers.
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I wish all of these negative Nellie’s would stay off this site. You need to stay in your rooms and not wear your UGA stuff out in public, your an embarrassment! What did Kirby do with a freshman QB and 1 amazing linebacker and 2 great RB’s? One play away from a natty! We have a ton more talent than that team did. He has 9 months to build this team and we haven’t even concluded the signing class yet. So shit up!
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Umm….
Isaiah Wynn, Deandre Baker, Bellamy, Riley Ridley, Mecole, Lorenzo Carter, TG5.
That team was stacked.
CKS blew the title by going into a shell.
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Shh, she’ll tell her mommy.
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The wheels have basically come off.
Kirby Hayes and his three yards and a puddle of shit offense can’t win a title.
I hope ADGM is making either retirement or contingency plans.
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All is lost…
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Based on the LSU game it would seem the key to defeating our defense is go fast and don’t substitute. LSU did and they destroyed us. You think Kirby’s not hard headed, see if he can control his need to match his defense to every play an offense is going to run. We can all just relax this off season, the Alabama game next season will tell the tale of Kirby Smart, win and he’s in the groove, lose and we’re never going to win the big one. In this day and time he can’t keep recruiting the same caliber of player if he can’t get to the playoffs. Much like Mark he may just hit that wall.
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LSU certainly did hurt us with that (Kirby acknowledged it). But having a better offense like 2017/2018 would have mitigated it somewhat. Not sure anyone is beating LSU this year, though.
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