Georgia’s red-zone issues are largely traced to the running game struggles all over the field. And despite the popularity of Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter being a nearly 700-pound wrecking crew, Georgia’s offense near the goal line needs an upgrade.

The Bulldogs rank 81st in the country in red-zone touchdown percentage. Only 57% of Georgia’s 42 trips into the red zone have ended in touchdowns this season. Georgia’s 13 red-zone field goals rank 4th in the country. It is the mole-on-the-supermodel of blemishes for the No. 1 team in the land, but something the Bulldogs are aware of and working to fix. The famously ultra-disciplined team simply doesn’t translate to production to that area of the game consistently.

At times it is inexplicable. Take last week’s game against Missouri and a first-half possession with 6:33 remaining in the half from the Missouri 2-yard line:

1st down: Zamir White lost a yard
2nd down: James Cook gained a yard
3rd down: Stetson Bennett’s pass to Brock Bowers fell incomplete

It’s perplexing because of White’s prowess overall when it comes to yards after contact, a valuable stat when the area is condensed for the defense.

It’s not just starters, either. Some of last week’s issues later in the game could be blamed on some rust by JT Daniels, but that doesn’t explain the running game.

Another example came late in the fourth quarter from the Mizzou 13-yard line:

1st down: Sevaughn Clark 3-yard run
2nd down: Daniels pass to Brett Seither for 3 yards
3rd down: Daniels pass incomplete

A tonic for those ills comes this week at Tennessee, where the Vols are just 127th in the country, allowing 80% of possessions result in touchdowns.

Coach Kirby Smart offered some solutions to this quandary on Monday.

“Converting 3rd downs, scoring from further out, being able to run the ball better,” Smart said. “If you had to pick one thing it would be execution, so you could say that one guy kept us from doing this, whether it was a penalty, a mental error, a decision by the quarterback.”

Could it be play-calling, and not being too creative?

“Usually in the red area when you can run the ball stubbornly, you can score touchdowns,” Smart said. “When you can’t run the ball stubbornly, meaning there’s people in the box, not much depth on the field and people aren’t worried about the ball being thrown over their heads, so you’ve got one extra hat, in some cases, two extra hats in the red area. So, you need to be really well executed to do that.”

It is cute to consider, and fans may love to see it, but Smart did not exactly jump on board with the idea of Davis or Carter getting a carry near the goal line, a la William “Refrigerator” Perry. It is a tantalizing proposition, but somehow also puts the historic defense into an impressive context. Davis and Carter have been on the field for as many touchdowns on offense (3) as they have been on defense this year. They’ve become such a well-known addition that why not use them as decoys in the SEC Championship Game or College Football Playoff?

“I defer to coach Monken and coach Dell (McGee), they do a good job game planning goal line and finding the best place for us. Sometimes simpler is better in terms of power and moving people,” Smart said. “We’ve got a lot of weapons on the line of scrimmage and those guys are weapons in terms of moving folks. But they enjoy doing it. They enjoy doing it because they get out of a couple of defensive plays and go down and hang with the offense. I think that’s their enjoyment more than anything else.”

Enjoyment isn’t something a lot of Georgia fans say about the red zone offense, even though it’s somewhat of a blip at this point. But cashing in on those opportunities will be essential in the upcoming hardware games.