Ruthlessly efficient

I don’t think Brian Fremeau intended Dawg porn when he posted this:

The Georgia Bulldogs opened their game against Arkansas with a 75-yard touchdown drive to take an early 7-0 lead. Based on how dominant their defense has been playing this season, that drive alone might have been enough to secure a victory. The Razorbacks offense went 14 yards backward on its first drive, then picked up only 1 yard on its second. Arkansas punted from inside its own 10-yard line twice in the first quarter. The second punt was blocked by the Bulldogs and recovered for a touchdown and a 21-0 lead before Arkansas had even gained positive yardage for the game. Georgia never relented on defense against Arkansas, recording its second consecutive shutout victory and its third non-garbage shutout of the season, securing its place alongside Alabama as clear frontrunners in the national championship race.

Georgia has been exceptional to date on the defensive side of the ball, smothering and gang-tackling helpless opposing offenses into submission. They have the most ferocious, talented, and deep front seven in the game, and their defensive performance metrics are currently on pace to shatter most if not all of the best efficiency marks I have tracked since 2007.

Head coach Kirby Smart was the defensive coordinator for Nick Saban’s teams in Alabama from 2008 to 2015, a stretch in which the Crimson Tide won four national titles and led the nation in defensive points per drive allowed three times (2011, 2012, 2015). The gold standard defense of the Nick Saban era was the 2011 unit that allowed a paltry 0.51 points per drive on non-garbage possessions against FBS opponents and owns all-time (since 2007) performance records in seven key defensive drive efficiency metrics. Georgia is currently allowing only 0.16 points per drive in 2021 and is outpacing 2011 Alabama in six of those seven metrics.

Best Defensive Efficiency Metrics Since 2007
Metric	2011 Alabama	2021 Georgia*
Points Per Drive	0.51	0.16
Available Yards %	18.5%	16.2%
Yards Per Play	2.91	2.82
Drive Efficiency	1.83	2.06
Touchdown %	4.8%	0.0%
Value Drive %	10.5%	6.7%
First Down %	41.9%	44.4%
*through Week 5 games

It is still a little too early to make sweeping claims about the best defense ever, but the numbers are almost mind-boggling through five weeks. The Bulldogs have not allowed a non-garbage touchdown drive through five games. Only four opponent non-garbage drives (out of 45) have finished inside the Georgia 30-yard line. More than half of opponent drives have not even crossed the offense’s own 30-yard line. Only four drives against Georgia this season have bested the national average of 5.75 yards per play.

It just came out that way.  Wowser.

Brian does point out the quality level of opposing offenses will rise over the remainder of the regular season, but Georgia’s defensive efficiency won’t really be tested until they face off against the Alabama offense.