If you can get past the snark — and granted, there’s a lot (the podcast closes with a “go dwags!”) — it’s worth listening to ten or so minutes of Barrett Sallee explaining why he thinks Georgia will go 10-2 this season, with losses to Alabama and Florida.
It worth listening not because of the logic, but because it gives a good picture of why national pundits are leaning Florida’s way this season to win the SEC East.
Essentially, Georgia is flawed because of its losses on offense: Fromm, Swift and three o-line starters (I know, I know). Add that to a questionable receiving corps and a new offensive scheme and… I’m not sure what, exactly, because Sallee acknowledges that the defense was hell on wheels last season and will likely be as stout in 2020. So, when he asks what Georgia will do when the defense can’t hold up its end of the deal, I have a hard time seeing the leap from last year’s 2019 LSU team to this year’s Florida.
Look, I get one basic thing. Georgia plays ‘Bama during the regular season and Florida doesn’t. That’s an advantage for the Gators, no question. But the Dawgs went 11-1 during the 2019 regular season, with a defense that didn’t yield more than 17 points in regulation. If the defense isn’t worse this season, how much worse does Georgia’s offense have to be from last year’s Coley-directed mediocrity for that to result in another regular season loss?
I’m not asking to be sarcastic in turn. But, including the SECCG, in 2019, Georgia gave up fewer than 14 points a game in conference play. How many teams besides Alabama does Sallee see scoring at a significant enough pace to put the kind of pressure on Georgia’s offense he’s considering?
Get The Picture 
Add to it, that unless the RB transfer from Miami lives up to the hype (he did not last year at Miami) and the line that cannot afford one injury can improve and hold up – then how does UF score on Georgia? They are, in effect, one-dimensional, and Georgia will likely improve it’s pass rush this year. Georgia’s offense doesn’t have to be LSU’S – it just has to be more balanced than last year – and guess what – that appears to be in the cards.
The question isn’t how does Georgia beat Florida. The question is how does Florida beat Georgia? Awful lot of assumptions being made about how good the Gator’s will be this year (especially on defense).
Halloween could be a really great day for Dawg fans… Georgia could whip UF for the 4th consecutive year, and watch Saban turn 69 on the same day..
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And while that one dimension returns its QB and top pass-catching TE, the top WRs are gone…which any UGA fan saw last year can be an issue even with a stout run game (which I’d be shocked if the Gators had one of those.)
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True. Those WRs UF lost were very good ones. (We wanted Van Jefferson as much as anyone.)
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I’ll take Jamie Newman over Kyle Tras[h] right now. Do the Handbags have a receiving threat that’s even close to George Pickens’s ability? Zeus was emerging as a darn good alternative to Swift last year. Matt Luke put together an offensive line with 2 of the 3 missing starters for the bowl game. Will Florida be able to score enough on a Georgia defense that shut them down last year?
Barring injuries, this Georgia team should be 11-1 and in Atlanta in a de facto quarterfinal game.
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Again, true.
Trey Hill at C with 5 star Clay Webb in reserve.
Cade Mays played in Bowl game, but Ben Cleveland, seasoned Sr. didn’t, and is back. So that is a draw.
Shafer and Ericson are very good 4 stars at guard. No issues there.
And if we have to “suffer” with the likes of 5 star Jamaree Salyer at Tackle and Truss (who many were impressed with) plus top 5 OTs, Broderick Jones and Ratledge to fight for time, then I’m not overly worried.
Pittman is a loss, but a former SEC HC like Luke as OL coach, is at the very worst, a draw, IMO.
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They all suffer from the Percy is reality thing. But that’s ok. Kirby will be using this to (uh-hm) ‘inspire’ the troops.
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Let me preface this with any team can have a total brain fart off day like we did last year with the chickens. That out of the way, I can not see where we should not be favored in every game this year other than ‘Bama and I would rate that a toss up due to the defense (maybe a slight lean to ‘Bama due to the loss of Hot Rod and it being on the road). The handbags, lead by the 3 star general Side Show Dan, did not match up talent wise with Dawgs last year. The situation has not improved at all for them this year. When each and every recruiting class is behind your opponent, how can you improve your odds of winning? Our defense will be as good if not better than last year. How can our offense be any worse (and should be better if not drastically better). Our depth across the board is markedly greater than theirs. The handbags are getting all this publicity for no real good reason other than the media needs to make a really cool off the wall pick to stimulate conversation. If the pick comes true they say “see I told you so” and if they don’t, there is always the injury bug to blame. Long term I am more concerned with the Hillbillies to the north than the Handbags to the south (though neither one that much).
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Is Barrett doing college football now? Last I read, him he was expert on Covid Modeling and talking sh*t to an Atlantic Writer about an article he most likely didn’t read.
He’s about to go into Danny Wolken and Kannell file
FTMF
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For me, it’s simple. Can UGA score more than 17 on UF? I think so. Can UF score more than 17 on UGA? I don’t think so (unless it’s garbage time in a blowout win for the Dawgs).
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Agree completely. Where is Mullen going to find points against Kirby’s defense in 2020 that he couldn’t in 2019? Mullen will have even less of a ground game than last year and Trask isn’t a deep ball threat. One dimensional offenses do not fair well against Kirby historically.
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What happens to the pundits when the turds have 2 losses before they even get to the cocktail fiesta at los rios de juan
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I’m really digging this rebranding
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I have to lean towards the pundits who are betting against our offense. We return only one offensive star, Pickens. We have idea if Newman will be a stud or a flop in the SEC. Swift is gone, and sorry but Zeus is no where near his level… not even close. We lost our QB, best two RB’s, both tight ends, both OT’s, a starting guard and our back up OT. Our receiver corps is still a hot mess with our #2 guy recovering from ACL surgery and not a soul from #3 down who would even see the field at other top programs. It’s a complete rebuild. Unless Monken is some kind of wizard, Alabama is going to embarrass us on national TV.
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That’s certainly one way to look at it. The other way to look at it, is that even though the guys on the OL weren’t all starters last year, they have pretty much all played a good bit of football. So while we are technically replacing people, it’s not like these dudes just stepped on to campus. In addition, we may not be ‘frontloaded’ at RB depth with Swift, but I’d say across the board we are more talented. I can’t too much disagree with the WR take, but honestly not sure how we could be as bad this year as last year. Also, the odds are that at least one of those depth pieces, maybe a Freshman, steps up.
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Another way to look at it is that the OL looked pretty good against Baylor without the that went to the NFL. Cade Mayes is the only player that played against Baylor that will be missing. Hardly a total rebuild project.
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I re-watched the Sugar Bowl this past weekend – Mays didn’t impress at all.
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Mays had already made up his mind to leave Georgia before and just mailed it in that game.
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“Swift is gone, and sorry but Zeus is no where near his level… not even close.”
Zeus outgained all returning fu RBs as our #3 RB. Lingard last ran for 136 in 2018, which is less than Cook or McIntosh in 2019. Both teams have opportunities at WR, but Pickens gives us a big advantage. Our spectacular OL recruiting has allowed us to amass talent and depth that is unequaled in cfb. We have some problems, but a challenge from fu ain’t one of em.
Playing away early in the season against a saban-coached bama is a tough game, no doubt. But if a team QB’d by Bo Nix can beat them, we certainly have a shot.
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Although I dont agree with all this, this is definitely a Georgia fan take. Which is very different than a gator fan annual we beat everyone take
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Meh.
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Go Grators!!
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Because, uh, they’re “grating”…like on your nerves. Aw forget it.
This is why it’s good policy to call in sick after a three-day weekend. And most regular Mondays. Sad thing is, this is the most coherent thought I’ve put together all day.
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This time last year, we were supposed to lose to UF because of the loss of WRs. 2 years ago it was because of the loss of Chubb and Michel. Problem for UF: that recruiting gap.
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Pesky things, facts. They’re always messing up the narratives.
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My man.
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Well, for the lazy analysts, I can see their point. Florida looks “stable” while Georgia lost a lot of parts. The problem for the analysts is that our replacement parts are still much better than Florida’s stability. And it’s not like our offense was all that great last season anyway. So, offense is probably a wash at worst (though I think Monken will get better results) and our defense will be even better (if that’s possible). Add that up and I can see us losing to Bama in the first round, then beating their ass in Atlanta. Florida will win 10 games again (the 10th will be a bowl game against a middlin’ BigTeleven team) but won’t really challenge for anything.
But I love hearing the pundits pump up the Gators. Will make the beat down we give them that much more fun.
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I just don’t get the logic here. Do these pundits really expect Georgia’s offense to be WORSE this year than it was season? I suppose that’s possible, but that would be a pretty low damn bar to fail to reach.
I still like us over the Gators because we’re more dynamic at QB and have a better defense. Both teams have big questions on the offensive line, but we’ve outrecruited them there by a significant margin the last few cycles. I will give Florida an edge for having an easier schedule, but as long as we take care of business in Jacksonville, we should have enough of a cushion to be OK.
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I will say that in 2019 UGA was close to losing to ND, A&M, Auburn, and Florida – all one possession games with only the Florida game ending with UGA in control with the ball each time the game was within reach. If the defense stays the same and offense regresses, UGA could lose 5 or so games. Now, I actually think the defense will be slightly better this year while the offense will be just as good or also slightly better. So, Third and Grantham is more of a safety net than a necessity.
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Alabama game up 25+ per conference game?
Hello….
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Florida should worry about beating Kentucky, SC and TN…all of them have a good shot at knocking off the MFs.
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My man
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Before reading the comments, the answer is simple. Georgia will win 3-0 if everything in these far stretched scenarios against Florida are true. But still a win.
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What I find fascinating is that no one is pointing out the fact of what they lost in Gainesville. Who is going to block for Trask? Who is going to open holes?
Their All world DE’s didn’t touch Fromm and now they are gone. They lose their best CB their best DLman oh but they have Cox which should be interesting. Overall their losses on both sides of the ball which the talent level wasn’t elite is being replaced by talent that well isn’t as talented.
Lastly Granthams worst defenses tend to be the one after he loses a lot on defense then the next year he is gone…that is his mo.
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