Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Over at Saturday Down South, Connor O’Gara wrote something about the five SEC offenses he believes are bound to improve in 2022.  Putting aside my homer-tinted glasses, I thought there was some logic to thinking Georgia’s might be one of the five — continuity at both offensive coordinator and quarterback, insane talent at the tight end position, just to make a couple of points — but no.

Which is not to say he didn’t consider it.  Instead, though, he came up with this:

I don’t think Alabama or Georgia regress on offense. But let’s not forget that the Tide finished No. 6 in FBS while UGA came in only a few spots behind at No. 9. While I’m extremely high on the Tide’s skill-player additions via the transfer portal, I still have concerns about that offensive line. I wonder if that coupled with my belief that Alabama’s defense will be lights out prevents any significant improvement. Alabama might not need to keep its foot on the gas so late in games like last year, when it was in a 1-score game in 6 of 8 4th quarters in SEC play.

I’ll be honest. When I started this, I assumed I’d have UGA as 1 of the 5 teams. Returning Stetson Bennett matters, as does the fact that UGA should have the top tight end room in the nation. Todd Monken will create mismatches galore with Brock Bowers, Arik Gilbert, Darnell Washington and even true freshman Oscar Delp. On top of that, Kendall Milton and Kenny McIntosh have all sorts of potential to lead one of the SEC’s top backfields.

So what’s the holdup? I wonder how much last year’s group was boosted statistically by having that elite defense. In addition to the defensive scores, think about all the short fields that all-generation group created. UGA could actually become more explosive offensively and still end up finishing right around where it did last year.

If I understand that correctly, he believes Alabama’s offense won’t improve because Alabama’s defense will be so stout, it will choose to run the clock out late in games more than before, while Georgia’s offense won’t improve because Georgia’s defense won’t be as stout as it was last season.  Am I missing something here?  Does that make sense to anyone?

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