Prior to the season, I made a list of 10 predictions about this 2023 Georgia football team, and I’ve got to hand it to myself.

They weren’t half bad.

With just 2 regular season games left on Georgia’s schedule, an SEC title game on deck after that and then, perhaps, a College Football Playoff berth on the horizon, it feels like a perfect time to revisit the predictions and see just where they stack up.

Let’s take a look and see what’s still on the horizon for some of these prognostications.

Carson Beck breaks Stetson Bennett’s single-season passing mark

Coming into the year, I was pretty bullish on the new Georgia starting quarterback. His performance in mop-up duty last year and in spring ball had done enough to convince me that he was poised for a strong season.

After what may be termed by some as a “slow” start, Beck has absolutely settled into a groove and is, indeed, on pace to surpass Bennett’s passing mark from a year ago. With 3,022 passing yards through the first 10 games of the season, he’s on pace for in the neighborhood of 4,200 yards in a 14-game season and 4,500 if the Bulldogs make it back to the CFP final. Bennett’s 4,128 in 2022 were a program record.

Prediction grade: On the mark

Bulldogs tally 4th straight season with no 1,000-yard rushers

This wasn’t a lack of faith in Georgia’s runners, though there was some trepidation. It was more about the fact that the Bulldogs just don’t have the one go-to guy who will get 20-plus carries per game.

Daijun Edwards has grown into the role of the bell cow back, but Kendall Milton has become a bigger factor the healthier he’s gotten. Edwards has tallied 692 yards on 123 carries this year, Milton 422 on 67.

Let’s put one minor caveat on this: Edwards missed 2 games, which means he’s averaging north of 80 yards per game. With 4-5 games left to play, 1,000 yards is definitely within that pace. And if he had played the first 2 games, it would be a no-brainer.

Prediction grade: Still to be determined. Let’s re-predict then: I say Milton’s emergence will hold Edwards just shy of 1,000, especially with the return of Roderick Robinson II as the No. 3 guy.

Brock Bowers sets program record for career TD receptions

Our thought at the start of the year was that Bowers would be able to catch the 10 touchdown passes necessary to reach Terrence Edwards’ mark of 30, but would fall just short on total receptions and yards.

Without the injury, Bowers may have taken down all three. With the injury, all three numbers are up in the air. Bowers has 44 receptions for 601 yards and 5 touchdowns this year. He needs 5 more for the touchdown mark but needs to double both receptions and yards to have a chance at the other two.

Prediction grade: Pretty good, we say. We still think Bowers sets the touchdown mark but fails on the others.

Offense sets team record for total offense …

“Eat your heart out, Mike Bobo detractors. Prior to 2022, Bobo had engineered the team’s top offensive season in 2014. Todd Monken’s crew set a new mark, 501.2 yards per game, last season. Bobo retakes the crown this year.”

Those were the words in the original predictions. And this was on the money.

Oh, we heard all the calls for Bobo’s job in the first 2-3 weeks of the season. We didn’t see it, though. Bobo was right on schedule as he worked a new quarterback into the mix. Now, with 4-5 games remaining, this Georgia offense is playing at a 504-yards-per-game clip, pacing ahead of Monken’s record-setting 2022 offense.

It’ll be the SEC Championship against a talented Alabama defense and potential matchups against teams like Ohio State and/or Michigan in the College Football Playoff that determines whether this holds up or not.

Prediction grade: For now, an A+.

… But falls just short of season scoring mark

We had faith in the total offense but thought the scoring would fall just shy of the 41.3 points per game set by Bobo’s offense in 2014. The prediction was that these 2023 Bulldogs would average over 40 but just under that number. At 40.6 through 10 games, this one is right on target.

Prediction grade: Excuse me while I pat myself on the back.

5 players tally at least 500 receiving yards

Like the running game, we expected the passing to be distributed pretty evenly amongst Georgia’s deep receiving corps. Bowers, understandably, would get the most, but some combination of Dominic Lovett, Ladd McConkey, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, Rara Thomas and, we figured at the time, Arian Smith would share the rest.

As of right now, Bowers stands at 601, Lovett at 475, McConkey at 418, Rosemy-Jacksaint at 381 and Thomas at 365. I’d be shocked if all five didn’t finish above 500 yards.

Prediction grade: On the mark

Jamon Dumas-Johnson records 9 sacks, among SEC’s best

This one isn’t going to happen. And it probably wasn’t going to happen even if Dumas-Johnson hadn’t suffered a significant injury that is likely to keep him out through at least a potential College Football Playoff matchup.

Before the injury against Missouri, he had recorded 3.5 sacks — respectable, but not enough to put him on a 9-sack pace and certainly not among the conference leaders.

Prediction grade: Miss

Bulldogs run D tops nation for 4th time in 5 seasons

You may be shocked to learn that Georgia still has a top-20 rushing defense nationally. The eye test would indicate, at least to me, that this has been a glaring weakness on an otherwise great football team.

So, I’ll give the Bulldogs a little more credit than I have been in that regard. With that said, yeah, not even close. The Bulldogs allow 107.9 rushing yards per game, which is not even in the neighborhood of the 78 and 77 they allowed in 2021-22.

Prediction grade: Miss

Ole Miss — not Tennessee — gives Georgia its biggest scare

Well, it remains to be seen what kind of scare Tennessee will give Georgia this Saturday when the two meet in Knoxville for Georgia’s regular season finale, but the Rebels definitely didn’t give the Bulldogs their biggest scare.

Ole Miss kept it close early, but Georgia rolled to a 52-17 win in that one. So far, the biggest scares of the season have come against Auburn and Missouri, with South Carolina causing the slightest bit of second-half discomfort.

Prediction grade: Another (Ole) miss

The Bulldogs do the unthinkable — finish 15-0 and win a 3rd straight title

So far, so good.

At 10-0, Georgia is 2 wins from its 3rd straight perfect regular season. It has a date (again) with Alabama in the SEC Championship and then potential playoff games against currently undefeated teams like Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State or Washington, or one of the 1-loss potential conference champions like Oregon or Texas.

Prediction grade: We’ll find out soon