Georgia football: 4 reasons the sky isn't falling on the Bulldogs
Yes, Georgia’s humbling loss to Florida in the de facto SEC East title game was painful. Yes, the earlier loss to Alabama also was disappointing. But here’s the thing: With little to stop Georgia from completing an 8-2 season, Bulldogs fans need to realize that while 2020 is a disappointment, it’s not a major step back for the UGA program.
In fact, it’s kind of a fluke. Not convinced? Well, here are 4 reasons that the sky is not falling for the Georgia Bulldogs.
1. It’s COVID
It’s an overplayed excuse, sure. But nothing about the 2020 season has been routine. COVID has messed with schedules, with preparation and practices routines, and even with personnel (a little more on that later). Georgia certainly could have benefitted from a couple of games against UMass or Eastern Michigan to figure out some of the finer details of its offense. Not in 2020. Obviously, COVID was an issue for Alabama and Florida, too. (Of course, Florida lost to Texas A&M). But there’s such a one-off element with the pandemic and the unpredictable issues arising from it that on some level, the season is practically begging for a mulligan.
2. The QB situation
Yes, Stetson Bennett finally bogged down and D’Wan Mathis hasn’t been able to carry the offense, either. Weird things happen deep into a team’s QB depth chart.
Virtually any program in the SEC would be in bad shape if they were relying on their preseason 4th QB to run their offense.
We went through an offseason of hearing about how Jamie Newman was going to lead Georgia to the CFP. Only for him to opt out. We heard plenty about JT Daniels. Still waiting to see if any of it is actually true.
Mathis wasn’t ready — or at least, wasn’t ready in this conference-only, COVID-condensed season. Mathis might have been fine with a couple of games against Southeastern College for Typing under his belt. Which leads us to Bennett … who is perfectly serviceable against teams that aren’t Alabama or Florida. The good news is there are none of those left on the schedule. The position where Georgia had the biggest need ended up on option No. 4, and the Bulldogs will still finish in the nation’s top 10-15 teams.
3. Horrible injury luck
Everything else aside, possibly the biggest factor in Georgia’s decline has been all-time level injury issues.
To wit: the current starting QB, the power running back, the preseason No. 1 and 2 players at one receiver spot, about half the 2-deep defensive line, and the team’s leading defensive back are all out for injuries.
And that’s really been pretty typical. Guys like George Pickens and Richard LeCounte are bedrock players for Georgia to do well. Without the beef up front, Georgia couldn’t get together enough impact plays to disrupt the Florida offense. Injuries are a part of the game, sure.
Remember last year? Alabama got hammered with players who were out or hobbled and fell short of all of its preseason goals. The sky cleared up pretty nicely for the Tide this season, though.
Right now, Georgia lists a dozen players (most of them critical) on the injury list, while Alabama lists 5.
4. Consider the big picture
The biggest fear at Georgia, given the 4-decade title drought, isn’t being awful.
It’s being only good.
That was the takeaway of the Mark Richt era.
Richt annually had a good Georgia team, but either never had a great one or found a way to lose a few games with what should have been great ones. Kirby Smart is not Richt.
Part of the reason that Richt couldn’t get Georgia over the hump is that he didn’t stay at the level of the top handful of teams.
For all the "Kirby Smart is Mark Richt 2.0" arguments, here's something that gets lost in the shuffle:
On Saturday, Smart will snap a streak of 45 consecutive games played as a top-10 team.
In Richt's 15 years at UGA, his longest such streak was 14 games.
— Connor O'Gara (@cjogara) November 10, 2020
At the root, the CFP is not at all different from the Final Four in basketball. The challenge is getting there and putting yourself in position to make a run. Once you do that, there’s a lot of luck and happenstance in finishing the deal.
This will be Smart’s worst season at Georgia (unless you count the 8-5 first season that was basically a warm-up) — very possibly a 9-2 season that ends in the lower echelon of the top 10. Those aren’t the seasons that hurt you.
The seasons that hurt you are the 8-5 dropped in the middle of what looked like a promising run that creates a down recruiting year that turns into a 9-4 year the next season.
Smart is not taking Georgia to the Independence or Liberty Bowl this year (two places Richt did take them).
The 2020 season looks more like a bump in the road than a massive detour from Georgia’s road back to that elusive title.
Find a good QB and all is well. Easier said than done, but they thought they were there with the transfers. Losing one to opt out and the other to injury was killer for the season.
The QB situation is puzzling insofar as Stetson Bennett (according to Corch) is a better quarterback than Kyle Trask. Soon as Kirby finds a way to unleash Bennett’s latent talents, sky’s the limit.
LOL, consider the source of that statement (Corch) …sigh. Every fan base has idiots. I can see the vertically challenged Stetson Bennett being much better than Kyle Trask …. in a limbo contest!
Pretty amazing, Corch’s guppies get caught even when he isn’t fishing.
Limbo contest, now that’s funny
Yeah. Maybe next year. 41 years and counting…….
Here’s another take on “The Big Picture”
Since 2 & 27 UGA has taken at least a half step back every season.
2017- 1 regular season lose, SEC Title & OT lose in title game.
2018- 1 regular season lose, close lose in SECCG & no playoff bid.
2019- 1 regular season lose, blown out in SECC & no playoff.
2020- 2 regular season loses & no SECCG.
Circumstances withstanding this is a trend.
Unless you’re Bama or Clemson, it’s hard to be in national title conversation every single year (last year Bama got hit with the injury bug).
For most other normal teams, there is somewhat of a cycle to things as recruits get developed and have/don’t have experience. Fields leaving threw a wrench in the QB recruiting cycle, Mathis having brain surgery hurt it, Fromm leaving for the NFL hurt, and the transfer QB opting out hurt this season.
Kirby is a young HC (only 5th year as a head coach ever). Look at where Dabo was in his 5th season at Clemson.
Of course, more needs to be seen from Smart in hiring/developing the offensive unit, but he’s on his third OC and the first two were no good so maybe give it a second to shake out.
Look at where Richt was in his fifth season at Georgia.
Beat UF once, Kirby has beaten UF 3 times. Get a new take.
You know hbobodraw, you’re comments are usually pretty good. But not this time. Richt won five times against Florida, including three in a row in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
I’d like to think my comment this time around was pretty good too. I was responding to “look at where Richt was in his fifth season at Georgia.”
At that time (5 seasons with richt), he had only won the rivalry once. You can make fun of it, but the UGA-UF rivalry matters to Dawg fans and that was a constant thorn in the side during the Richt years (as was South Carolina later in his tenure).
The rivalry is important to both fan bases. I understand what you were saying now. I don’t think it says much about the relative coaching abilities of Richt and Smart, though.
Richt was going against Spurrier during his first five years. Kirby caught McElwain during his worst year (Mac literally announced to the team before the game that he expected to be fired) and he caught Mullen during his first two years, when Florida was rebuilding from a significant talent drop off.
But hey, they all count.
I’m with you. It took Saban 7-9 years to win an NC.
You’re not smart! Saban was at a lowly Michigan State! Kirby? At Georgia! Easiest place to recruit top talents!
Recall that Richt won the SEC his second season and then UGA entered a very gradual decline for years. See any similarities already?
Nope! Just a decline on doing a good job coaching and the recruiting classes are still top 5 every year!
Well said, tough year but still have a shot at an 8-2 season (would’ve likely been 10-2 in a non-covid season).
I still think it’s a 2 year “rebuild” to get back to elite (top 4/5), but I would rather have this as a down year than what LSU is dealing with (granted getting a national championship was probably well worth it).
Can’t be 8-2! Missouri-Georgia game just got cancelled.
Reason 4 isn’t the sky not falling; it’s groundhog day.
Reasons 1-3 sound more like excuses than reasons the sky isn’t falling. In that vein, there are at least seven more good excuses:
4. English bulldog ate the playbook.
5. Cow on the tracks.
6. Shouldn’t have warmed up in full pads.
7. Mark Richt’s running back and receiver recruits from 2015-2018 are in the NFL.
8. Gary Danielson apparently wrong about depth on Georgia’s defense.
9. Mullen owns Smart when both roster Blue Chip Ratios > 50%.
10. Kyle Pitts was able to play one-and-a-half quarters.
Full of yourself aren’t you? Go ahead. You spent along time wondering in the desert.
Yeah JTF, pretty much. And I do spend a lot of time wondering. But here’s the thing: For Gator fans over the age of maybe 30, this year isn’t some big breakthrough. It’s just the way things are supposed to be.
And for older, wiser fans, not so much.
Mullen is winning with Shark Boy’s QB. Let’s see how Emory Jones pans out before we crown Dan Mullen the savior of college football.
In all seriousness, it’s not a given that Emory Jones will beat out Anthony Richardson next season. I think many Florida program insiders expect Richardson to be the next big-time Florida quarterback.
Fair enough, the irony of “UGA went to the natty with Richt recruits” from UF fans who are having the year they’re having because of a McElwain recruit was little funny to me.
That’s a fair comment, although I don’t think Trask would be anywhere near what he is today without three years playing for Mullen. He’s always had the excellent mechanics, but he was extremely tentative his first three years.
I think there are eight or nine McElwain recruits starting for Florida, plus a couple more playing heavy snaps.
Nash, #7 is the primary reason. That was the best backfield I’ve seen in college.
We’re along way from saying Mullen owns Smart. Reasons 1-3 aren’t excuses but, in concert, are very legitimate. Funny how quickly no spring ball and a shortened and modified offseason are forgotten.
Also, the 90’s and 00’s are well behind us. There is no “normal” or a way “things are supposed to be.” The Georgia-Florida rivalry is and will likely continue to be hotly contested rivalry. A single victory this season doesn’t automatically change things.
Well of course it doesn’t. And of course the way “things are supposed to be” is aspirational.
On the question of who owns whom, nobody owns anybody. Every win in every game Smart and Mullen have been involved in has involved unique circumstances and rosters.
Kirby is a very good recruiter and that’s been a big part of what success he has had to date because there is no enforced parity in college football. Whether he or Mullen can become a great coach remains to be seen.
Vince Dooley won a grand total of 1 national title in 19 years, and they named the field after him (or something). Kirby has the Dawgs in the conversation every year, sooner or later they will win one. Fan expectations everywhere are insane these days. Guys considered legends and heroes would be fired today, it seems.
“Fan expectations everywhere are insane these days. Guys considered legends and heroes would be fired today, it seems.”
That is the absolutely and unmitigated truth. Patience and reason has been completely evaporated from modern CFB.
You can blame Dabo and Saban for that. People still remember the days when different teams (from different conferences!) won championships.
Past 10 years: 6 teams from 3 conferences with championships.
2000-2009: 8 teams from all 5 power 5 conferences with championships.
It was quite an amazing dynasty, 3 straight SEC east titles. Something that I’m sure y’all will reminisce about for the next 20 years.
True. After Newman’s departure a month before the season, Dawgs were in a bit of panic mode, Covid concerns withstanding. Kirby has put quality teams on the field, but is still searching for a silver bullet, to win the big one. CMR has his time, but I would contend our continued great recruiting, and quality coaches will bear better results.