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?