Life is more than a tweet, sometimes.
“We’ve got to play our brand of football and help Stetson with the people around him,” coach Kirby Smart said last week. “That’s probably the No. 1 thing.”
So what exactly, Smart was asked Monday, is that “brand of football,” these days?
“What the defense gives you,” Smart said. “If they’re playing man-to-man, we’ve got to be able to take shots and make plays. If they’re playing off coverage and giving us RPOs, we’ve got to be able to take it. If they’re taking chances on the run then we’ve got to play-action them to get on top, you’ve got to be able to do it. It never changes. I think you guys want a perfect answer. It’s really a lot more about what are you good at and what can we do better than they do.”
Anodyne, sure, but that makes sense.
“Balance is always important, but balance is not 50-50,” Smart said. “When you look across the league, teams that are able to run the ball and play-action pass and do those things are the ones that are most successful regardless of the total number of points and the total number of yards and all the different statistics. Don’t turn it over. You’ve got to have an ability to run the ball and you really need to be able to run the ball when you’ve got a quarterback who is still developing and still young and doesn’t have the experience of a guy that maybe has.”
Not sure that Bennett qualifies as “still young”, but what I read there is what I read in the Cliff’s Notes version earlier: he doesn’t trust Bennett enough in the passing game to let him carry the offense. So I guess Smart’s current offensive philosophy is take what the defense gives you, but you really need to be able to run the ball… even if it’s not what the defense gives you?
There are times when I really wish he’d change his stance on coordinators speaking to the media.
And, yes, I have no idea what “balance is not 50-50” means, either in the Bobo sense or the Leach one. Other than that, carry on, fellas.
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UPDATE: Seth Emerson’s one-sentence summary ($$) is better than what I just wrote: “Georgia is somewhere between old school and new school, not really sure what it wants to be.”
Sure, some of that you can blame on turnover at the quarterback position the coaches weren’t expecting. But some of that sounds like a head coach who’s not completely sold on what he bought with the new offensive coordinator.
Get The Picture 
Well, to me it’s a little better than the original statement sounded. Taking what the defense gives us has to mean he will throw when the defense puts 8 or 9 in the box. That certainly wasn’t the case last year.
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I don’t read any of this as if to say he’s having buyer’s remorse on the OC. I think he’s trying to balance winning games today with the QB room he has with the direction I’m sure he knows the offense needs to move.
I also read everything he says through a recruiting lens … it’s letting players know there’s opportunity here.
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How does 2019 LSU do with Cory Phillips at QB?
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Nice!
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I think you’re reading way too much into these quotes about Smart’s view of offense in general. I don’t think it is a revelation that Bennett can’t carry the offense – certainly not right now and probably not ever. The rest of his quotes come from that reality. So yes, if Georgia’s going to beat a really good team, they need to run the ball. If they can’t, they won’t win without some favorable turnover luck.
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I think you misunderstand. I’m not reading too much into it, because I don’t know what he means. You seem to find more clarity in what he says than I do, although I don’t know how you reconcile “if Georgia’s going to beat a really good team, they need to run the ball” with taking what a defense gives you.
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Don’t think he is gonna tell you or anyone else outside of the team what he indeed means.
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Ha! Nor do I expect him to.
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The problem is that we can’t get what he mans from watching the games either. (Or, maybe we can, and if we so, it’s even worse.)
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I don’t think asking Bennett to throw against a loaded box is the same as asking him to carry the team. If they aren’t loading the box, and I don’t think Alabama did very often, you should take the run, though.
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Kirby said the offense needs to help Bennett. Why doesn’t the offense need to help the running backs or the wide receivers?
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Well, I’m not a mind reader, but nobody heaps tons of blame on the receiving corps when the offense sputters. They do on QBs.
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You must not have been reading the blog last season. 😉
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Heh. Touche.
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Dunno why, but the more I read Kirby’s answers to questions on the offense and his QBs, the more I think we’re headed towards Stetson Bennett starting the first game of 2021, and losing a couple QBs along the way.
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JT Daniels will be the starter against Clemson in Charlotte … or he’ll be off to somewhere else.
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I saw the body language of Mathis in mop-up duty for the Auburn game and immediately thought “transfer”. Daniels may be even more likely, especially if he never sees the field this season and I don’t think he will. Kirby seems locked in on his game manager. I guess we’re probably a little too far into the season to experiment, unless there is a serious collapse.
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Seems clear Kirby’s sense of “balance” is the ability to run, RPO, PA and throw in reaction to what the D is giving you. No D would stay the same throughout, so the offense needs better “balance” and reaction to what they’re giving. If anything, it’s a bit of a shot at Monken and Bennett to RTDB or RPO if it’s there. YMMV.
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Why does Smart feel he needs to take a shot at Monken?
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“You’ve got to….” “Our brand…” Sure, that’s coachspeak, but if he’s going to own the problems and corrections, I expect him to use “we” more. My belief is Kirby stays focused on the D and wants an OC who fits his philosophy of “do what it takes to not stress my defense…don’t put us in bad situations”. I’m not suggesting Kirby is crass enough like other coaches to callout his OC in the press, but he does seem to be (perhaps unintentionally) reflecting this “it’s on Monken and Bennett to work this out” attitude. Again, YMMV.
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During the resume/interview process with the current UGA “OC”, if CKS didn’t/doesn’t know what was being brought to the table then, expecting something totally different now might fall into the “insanity” category…
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IMO, if Kirby wanted to keep playing simple manball, then he would’ve hired Bobo instead of Monken. He realizes that the offense needs an overhaul; we just didn’t have a spring practice and the summer workouts to implement the needed changes.
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Oh, good grief. LSU is lighting people up now with a true freshman at QB. They just can’t play defense.
The spring and summer excise is old. The problem is Jamie Newman, who was getting the voluntary summer reps and the 1st team reps in camp, opted out 2 weeks before the season started.
The only reason Daniels isn’t the starter right now is that he wasn’t the guy available to come off the bench in Fayetteville.
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I agree as shown by my comment below, but I think it’s best thought of as balance in ability and not necessarily in results.
I don’t see it as a “shot” at Monken, necessarily. He’s just saying what he thinks we need to improve on.
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I think “balance is not 50-50” means that you have to be balanced in the sense that you’re able to run effectively and also to pass effectively. The results may not end up being equal, but a defense has to be ready for both.
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everybody needs to quit playing with their manginas and overreacting to every sound bite. all of our goals are still in front of us.
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Uh hunh… so you think the starting lineup we watched in Tuscaloosa will beat ‘Bama in the rematch?
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The answer is how many ankles will it take to derail Bama?
I think we need to give the next best QB a shot. Start Stetson – give him some time then go with QB # 2 and scripted plays much like we start any game.
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Gonna say…..YASE!
*Not the same fear factor without Waddle in there, that changes the dynamics and focus of a defense.
Will be tougher on Bama to do what they did the first time on ‘O. Thinks our defense has as many good athletes as Bama’s offense. It will be tougher for them to duplicate a second time around.
A bunch of 50/50 balls where Bama came out on top, they will not be as lucky next time around.
Thinks our offense is still a work in progress, they will get better. There were plenty of missed opportunities. They get better as the season goes.
Dawgs are a prideful bunch, will be eager to prove they can match up & even beat them…..if we are lucky enough to get there that is.
I BELIEVE!!!
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will ? Maybe
can ? Absolutely
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I think the big problem is: a lot of us (myself included) want to hear about a new starting QB, because we don’t think the ex-4th string walk-on is a championship-winning starter at QB, and Kirby fundamentally will not announce a QB change before a game
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It seems to me, at this point, there are a few people trying too hard to read the very few tea leaves we have. The situation of this season (new OC, lack of time to develop chemistry/understanding between coaches and players, and healthy/available QBs) is unlike anything we’ve experienced in some time. And while I know a lot of folks are scarred by “manball,” it seems premature to believe Kirby is already panicking about offensive philosophies. All that to say, just be patient. We’ll know a lot more after this week. It’s not exciting or sexy, but it’s true. Also, I have a very hard time believing someone as experienced and well thought of as Monken would have come to Athens just to be dictated to — at least in philosophy. He may indeed be dictated to by the limits of our current roster.
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She seems nice/gif
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One way or another the QB situation definitely hamstrings the new OC’s plan. What to do in reaction to that is beyond me but it looks like we’re going to be pretty conservative until that plan/player materializes. That’ll at least get us to Atlanta and hopefully someone either steps up or Stetson figures it out a little better by then.
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I think somewhere between old school and new school IS where Kirby wants to be. Clearly, we need to execute better. But I don’t think we have to sell our souls to throw for 400 yards and 50 points a game. An EFFECTIVE (Top 10) balanced offense, complimented by an EFFECTIVE (Top 10) defense can win it all still. I’d simply argue that a team with both hasn’t really won it since 2017 or 2018….but maybe a team with both really hasn’t existed. We are too far into the season for our “Total” offense numbers to be in the Top 10, even if Stetson balls out like Joe Burrough. But if our offense as a whole can consistently play at an effective level by Game 8 or 9, I like the way it sets up for us.
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In two or three games when Bennett has more D1 experience and all of the offense has more experience in this system, things will be different
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That is what I’m hoping.
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starting to seem like Kirby is seizing up a almost like after USC loss last year. Hope uga offense doesnt become history repeating itself.
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Screw it! Kirby is right and he’s really not holding back the offense, imo. Or he hasn’t to this point. They definitely have to help Bennett be it through WRs catching passes, even if they aren’t always accurate, and by coaching him up. I don’t think he’s controlling Monken too much if we consider the plays and opportunities that have been out there.
I’ve been hard on him about having the same coach speak but I haven’t seen the same play calling and philosophy of the last couple seasons. Sure there has been some run, run, pass but that’s how you keep balance when you actually do something different the next series. I think we’re really that limited at QB, at least right now, and Kirby is actually doing a good job spreading responsibility.
I’m just having a hard to accepting that an SEC title and playoff appearance may not be in the cards this season.
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