Injuries or not, Georgia has a long-term issue with elite offenses
I know.
The injuries. The quarterback play. The 2nd-half adjustments.
I know.
There are reasons Georgia lost to Florida in Jacksonville for the first time since 2016. You can point to any of them. If you want to sit here and say that Justin Fields would have won that game, well, that’s your right to do that, too.
While those reasons are understandable, there was something else that should have raised some eyebrows by day’s end. Yeah, it had something to do with the 44 points that Florida scored against what was supposed to be Kirby Smart’s best defense yet (I know, I know. The injuries.)
But for the 3rd time in as many games against an elite offense, Georgia’s defense was anything but elite.
It didn’t matter that the Dawgs had a 14-0 head start, or that they appeared to have the ground game rolling early with Zamir White. Somewhere between that opening play and the final seconds ticking off, a trend was carried out. Kyle Trask threw for more yards (474) than any player in Florida history.
Trask followed in the footsteps of Mac Jones and Joe Burrow. That is, throw for a whole mess of yards, mix in 4 touchdown passes and roll to a multi-possession victory against the Dawgs.
Since the start of 2019, those were the only 3 offenses it faced that averaged 40 points per game (the Gators came into Saturday averaging 42 points per contest and nearly hit that in the 1st half). Here’s how each of those losses turned out:
Again, those offenses doing what they did weren’t even outliers. That’s what those groups usually did against everyone else. Troubling was the fact that once again, Kirby Smart’s defense couldn’t prevent that from happening.
I’ll spare you the well-documented quarterback issue rant and how that certainly played a part in that. I get it.
But bad quarterback play has nothing to do with stopping a wheel route, which Georgia did maybe … once? How many times did Smart’s unit have to get schemed into mismatches for that adjustment to be made?
Great defenses impose their will. Georgia hasn’t imposed its will on a great offense since the start of 2019. That’s the way the game is played now. Even Smart’s former boss, Nick Saban, shared this little gem a few days after his team’s win against Georgia (via ESPN):
“It used to be that good defense beats good offense. Good defense doesn’t beat good offense anymore,” Saban told ESPN on Friday. “It’s just like last week. Georgia has as good a defense as we do an offense, and we scored 41 points on them [in a 41-24 Alabama win]. That’s not the way it used to be. It used to be if you had a good defense, other people weren’t going to score. You were always going to be in the game.
“I’m telling you. It ain’t that way anymore.”
It’s not that Smart has yet to figure it out. Granted, it took him a bit too long to abandon the 20th century offense that his team ran. That’s why when he went out and brought in Todd Monken, the plan was supposed to be to air it out more. You know, to keep up with these high-powered offenses. There was nothing high-powered about a Georgia offense who completed 9-of-29 passes for 3.9 yards per attempt.
Still, though. How is it that Georgia looks up at halftime and sees that its vaunted defense allowed 341 first half passing yards? That’s not just Richard LeCounte, and it’s not just Jordan Davis. For what it’s worth, Georgia was actually fine defending the run. The Gators, even without having to face the run-stuffing Davis, were held to 97 rushing yards. Saturday actually ended a streak of 14 straight Florida-Georgia matchups in which the winning team held the rushing advantage.
Times have changed. I wonder if Georgia has.
What’s the common denominator between 2019 LSU, 2020 Alabama and 2020 Florida? All of them had several pass-catching weapons who know how to get separation and veteran quarterbacks who know how to read coverages and buy time in the pocket. Georgia hasn’t really had an answer for that yet.
Find an elite team who doesn’t have an offense run like that. Clemson? Ohio State? They’re all doing it now.
Georgia feels like a team who would’ve been dominating 10 years ago. It would’ve been able to do Alabama-like things to teams and get away with not needing to score 40 in these games against elite competition. But, as Saban said, it ain’t that way anymore.
I mean, look at the final scores of the College Football Playoff National Championships during the Playoff era:
- 2014 — Ohio State 42, Oregon 20
- 2015 — Alabama 45, Clemson 40
- 2016 — Clemson 35, Alabama 31
- 2017 — Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (OT)
- 2018 — Clemson 44, Alabama 16
- 2019 — LSU 42, Clemson 25
The winning team hit 42 points in 4 of those 6 games, and in the only title game of the Playoff era in which the winner didn’t hit 35 points, Georgia saw in the 2nd half what happened when it faced a quarterback who could truly stretch out the defense.
Rare it is now that you can win at an elite level just with a defense that imposes its will. Clemson had the No. 1 scoring defense in America until it ran into the LSU buzzsaw last year. Georgia can relate to that.
The Dawgs should no longer go into these games assuming that it’s going to hold an elite offense to half its season average. That might work against the Kentuckys and Tennessees of the world, but it sure as heck won’t work against teams offenses like Florida or Alabama. It just won’t.
Well, Georgia probably would’ve stood more of a chance if after White’s 75-yard run, he actually got the ball after that. But hey, I won’t get caught up in how his 5th carry came in the middle of the 3rd quarter. By that time, Trask already had over 400 passing yards against a Georgia defense that was on its heels for most of the day.
This year has told us that even if you have depth galore on the defensive side, it’s probably only a matter of time before you get gashed against an elite offense. Georgia didn’t match up well against Alabama or Florida. Not this year. Not when the backbone of the team is suddenly a liability.
I don’t know what Georgia does to fix this other than hope and pray it can finally get a quarterback who can win a shootout. Or rather, keep* a quarterback who can win a shootout. Sorry. Didn’t mean to make a second Fields reference.
Georgia’s best defensive core of the Smart era didn’t stand much of a chance in the 3rd consecutive game against an elite offense. It’s time to change. Whether that’s not being so married to the single-high safety system that Smart relies on or daring teams to run the ball more, adjustments need to be made.
Until Smart acknowledges that, all the 5-stars in the world aren’t gonna make a difference in Athens.
44-28. Loved that Uga defense…held us to a field goal a couple of times. If only Mullen wasn’t such a bad coach as so many dawgs have been pointing out.
Kirby had no clue what was happening. He and his sad defense are going the way of the dinosaur. Mullen made him look like a fool and a fat clown.
Bama, LSU, and 2017 Auburn also made his defense look inept. Kirby’s always struggled against elite offenses, though, even at Bama. The real problem at UGA is the lack of a good offense.
Good point, but I think that also goes back to Kirby and his backward outdated philosophies.
Also think a bad ole miss team beat Georgia in 2016 45-0. He seems to struggle with fast paced play
They did not shut out Georgia. Georgia hasn’t been shut out since the Ray Goff years. That was a brilliant Ole Miss offense that no longer had the defense to keep up. They should’ve won more games than they did that year.
Your point stands. Georgia got smoked, but it wasn’t a shutout.
No Mullet is the fool and the a$$ clown. The UF president called him on the carpet and told him so face to face on Monday.
Only you could believe that after the beating your team took. Pure delusion.
Mark Richt is LHAO right about now.
So Connor, do you think the Floriduh offense, which you know is not as good as Bama’s offense, would’ve scored this much at Lecount, Cine, Davis, and Rochester played and if all-SEC LB Monty Rice wasn’t playing on one foot.
They might have still won the game, but last year’s Floriduh offense scored a bunch against everyone they played EXCEPT Georgia.
There’s depth of talent and there’s depth of experience. Kirby’s been able to have both the last three years at Georgia. What we saw tonight was a talented defense lacking in experience because of injury. At one point we were playing two freshman safeties!!!
This is weak sauce, Connor. Congrats to the ‘turds, and I hope all those blind squirrels enjoy their nut, but this was weak, Connor.
Good lord quit with the excuses
These are the same Bullpuppies that we’re telling us how they were going to run up and down the field, that Smart has Mullen’s number, that the streak was safe, blah, blah, blah. Yes, GA had injuries. But the recruiting Kirby has done was supposed to cover that.
Oh, and those starters were playing against Bama and still couldn’t stop one of these offenses Connor talks about.
Right on cue, the injuries..
I just dont get why you think anyone on here would listen to your excuses. Especially considering youve been on here beating your chest about how far the talent gap is and how UGA has championship level depth.
That’s all we heard out the Gator fans last year was Gators would have won if they had their two defensive linemen that were out.
Dude, your team is absolutely loaded with talent and you still lost to a coach you have been dogging all year long. Just eat it and move on, you are just an ass clown. Go away…
Dude your entire program is a complete dumpster fire and you’re out here posting like your king $hit? Get out of here.
Corch,
Depth of talent and depth of experience? I experienced several times today watching the talented and experienced Tyson Campbell get beat for TDs.
Just quit with all the excuses about those players being out. Plain and simple, Florida outplayed and out coached UGA today. UGA QB play is flat out embarrassing and that is all on Kirby.
Great game by you Gators today, enjoy it.
Go Dawgs
Weak sauce indeed. You got ran over by Florida because of injuries. You got rolled over by Bama with all those players healthy. We’re you starting 2 freshman safeties last year against LSU? Weak sauce is when you gather cheap stats against inferior offenses but get ran all over the field when you play a good offense.
Today I think they would have. Trask was on his game, and I think Mullen was 2 steps ahead of Kirby. I don’t have a dog in the fight ,just my observation.
Corch is the Wolfman of Georgia…..
That QB play was downright Kentucky like.
Ahh the vaunted 5 star 5 deep wasn’t good enough. It won’t be until Kirby can find and keep a good QB.
Not too long ago some media fools had named Jamie Newman first team SEC QB, then he got outplayed in practice by Mathis and decided to opt out. Mathis. LOL
Kirby can take a 5 star player and turn him into a one star better than any coach in America. He is a talent destroyer.
Demonstrably false
Quarterbacks? Did you see those 5* and 4* quarterback not get the job done? That is called coaching!
Why do mizzou trolls keeping sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong?
Joe Brady exposed Kirby’s defense last year. Bama took advantage of a very similar gameplan. UF was wide open passing, but the wrinkle of the passes to the RB was the game changer.
That was a great part of the scheme. Very smart move by Mullen
But i thought ga had the top defense in the SEC!?!?!? LOL!!
Right?! At least I have the realization that Tennessee will probably lose to a lesser team and still give Arkansas credit where it’s due. They have fight and drive.
Only problem was half the defense was on the field and the other half was a MASH unit
The game has passed Kirby by. He looked like a lost old man, confused and scared by the modern offense. It looked to me like he started crying at one point as Mullen outschemed his sad, Jurassic defense time and again.
Very good points in the article. Florida had much better position players, skill players and variety. Georgia seems to be stuck in some type of Time Warp
Unfortunately a poor offense contributes to Defensive woes. If the Offense can’t put together drives, the Defense is going to get gassed like UGA did tonight. The best Defense vs FL was to keep Trask on the side line. That didn’t happen. Shanked punt just before half put UGA D on a short field.
This loss can not be solely put on the Defense. Same as the Bama game. INT’s in the 2nd half was the difference. As pointed out why did Monken wait so long to get White more runs. What happened to run the ball, play defense? Keep Trask off the field?
As for Bennett I think he’s done about as well as he’s able. Mathis on the other hand looks lost. No fire in his eyes. Ran out of bounds prior to the 1st down marker again just like he did in the Arky game. Missed wide open TE down the middle. Ran out of bounds for a loss on a 2nd down and 4 instead of throwing it away. Turned 3rd and 4 into 3rd and 8 for no reason. Threw the ball up for grabs in-bounds.
Congrats to Florida. They played better plain and simple. They made the plays when they needed to unlike UGA which missed several chances to keep it closer.
Next week @ Mizzou isn’t going to be easy. Defense is still banged up. Offense isn’t going to grow that much better in a week especially losing Rosemy, Milton (really hope it isn’t an ACL tear). Hopefully Mathis or whomever is next up at QB gets some meaningful snaps in practice.
Realistically this season has become what most UGA fans thought it would be when Fromm left early. Very good Defense, run only Offense. Add in a shortened Spring, no Summer practices etc and all those young players look lost.
Win out and take care of a Bowl game. UGA either starts getting better or keeps getting worse. CKS needs to look in the mirror….
Kirby is done. He is a backward fool who chokes in big games.
You have the smell of certain other trolls that wander SDS comment sections
No, I believe the smell is coming directly from your old lady….
Kirby is Mark Richt II.
Hur, you’re a child.
Tony, youre a tired, pathetic troll.
Kirby does choke in big games (minus Oklahoma), but he’s an undeniably good coach. UGA can’t get better than Kirby, who will likely get better the longer he coaches. Remember, it took Saban decades to win his first title, and Kirby is like, what, in his fourth year?
They did beat Auburn in the SECCG. I would call that a big win.
Was waiting on someone to comment this, and sure, that’s a big win. But losing to Bama three times afterwards, LSU twice, Florida today, Texas a few years back, etc. pretty much shows Kirby struggles against really good teams (and especially against good offenses). Don’t forget he also got blown out in a big game against a healthier Auburn team that year. He’s not a very good big games coach, unless I’m overlooking something…
I think it’s incorrect to say that cks chokes in big games. did his teams lose big in the last three big games….absolutely.
cks did win the previous two top 10 match ups against uf, but uf won the most important one….the latest one. cks also beat a top 10 nd team just last year.
do i wish his teams had better showings in the last 3 big games….of course. those teams won and overall they were definitely better.
also, don’t bring up tx. that was deflated bowl game for the uga team. same as the bama/ut game after the 2008 sec champ. same as the uf/louis game after the 2012 season……and even same as the aub/okla sugar bowl after the 2017 season. remember that game?
I didn’t realize that there were two other UF-UGA games where the teams were both ranked in the top 10. That is pretty important. Notre Dame is a big game, I guess, as well, though it’s hard to say because they aren’t really THAT good (or haven’t been, anyway). I think it’s fair to bring up Texas because it is a big game.
Auburn played Oklahoma after the 2016 season and lost (as you’d expect 2016 Auburn to). 2017 followed up with the even more embarrassing loss to UCF. Deflated or not, I still put that loss on the coach because it’s his job to get the guys motivated.
At the end of the day, Kirby struggles to win versus the really good teams. For all the talk about the 11-win seasons, I’d love to see how UGA would shake out in the West playing Bama and LSU (and even a tough Auburn team) every year. Based off Kirby’s track record, that would be almost a guaranteed two losses… lol I think Kirby is a great coach, don’t get me wrong, but I think even honest UGA fans would say they are disappointed with Smart’s performance in big games, at least relative to the expectations put on the team by recruiting rankings and media coverage.
Congrats to Florida. No excuses, we lost fair and square.
I would say good luck against Bama in the SECCG. But I just can’t bring myself to say it. It’s pretty much impossible to root for either team in that game though. If only there were some way for them to both lose, lol.
Congrats to Florida. Very big win.
Again congrats to Florida. Franks and the Hawgs come calling in Gainesville next week. How weird would that be??
Thanks, Boxster. Physical game. Best wishes to all the players who were injured and got injured in this game. Glad we got the W. All focus on Arkansas now.
…and thanks Jax Dawg. This is a tough Conference that has more than one decent team. Tough to get through an all-SEC schedule unscathed.
Before I read the comments I would like to thank O’Gara. Nice article that makes logical & legitimate points. Now to read the Gators crow and the dogs make excuses.
I think most Dawgs fans aren’t making excuses (excluding Corch, but you gotta ignore him.)
We lost fair and square.
Seems like most UGA fans aren’t making excuses.
UGA’s defense struggles against elite offenses because horrible quarterback play forces the defense to be on the field all the time and they get gassed.
Good article but it isn’t just Georgia. It’s any defense against an offense with an elite weapon at every skill position.
Georgia’s defense actually played their butts off in the second half and caught some luck with Pitts, Reese and Delance all getting injured on Florida’s offense. Otherwise they would have scored over 50.
Saban is right (of course). Great offense today just beats great defense.
Georgia’s problem isn’t defense. It’s quarterback.
had pitts not gotten knocked out of the game…i believe uf absolutely would have scored over 50.
that injury noted, i wonder if it was more mullen playing it safe (trying to avoid the opportunity of more critical injuries) or if uf’s offense minus pitts is that much less. no question that there were a number of uf players who made impact plays on offense, but it’s a serious question. minus pitts, would uf be able to break 35 against the elite teams it wants to match itself up against? bama? clemson? osu? should i mention nd too?
Looks like It was Florida that actually made the State of GA blue.
Lots of injuries for UGA, the Gap is narrowing…. So glad Fromm left, wanted no part of him after the last 3 years.
Stiltson Bennett played better early no tipped passes. Got no clue why Zeus had so few touches after the Big run.
Huge loss of Pitts for 2nd half or I believe Gators hang half a hundred.
Missed opportunities for UGA would have made it closer, Trask had the pick6 after his freshman WR led the db to the throw.
Trask and UF in the Heisman and SEC contender driver seat now. Gotta keep it going and we might just have the offense to compete w Bama.
Kirby smart was still a DC at Alabama at the end of the era of game manager QBs still worked. He has effectively installed the 2009-2014 Alabama team at Georgia. He hasn’t realized that kinda of team was already obsolete. He never saw Saban change his offensive mindset. Saban is willing to change, Kirby isn’t because he has years of seeing it work when it did. He is too entrenched in his ways(that he knows works) to go into the deepwater and forge ahead with a new system.
I hear you but also, I kinda disagree. This year our QB situation and execution is horrible but I see our new OC continue to run his offensive schemes. The deep shots were there against Bama and they were there against Florida, but when your QBs combine for 9-of-29 completions for a pathetic 112 yard and 1/4th of your receptions were to the other team and your wide open TEs drop 4 game changing passes, it’s difficult to see the change. Thru all this misery I do see some very creative playcalling, we just need to get our QB situation resolved, imho.
Also doesn’t help when your offense controls the ball for 1/3 of the time the last 3 games
Fair point. I never counted the missed throws, they were a lot and a ton of missed reads. The overthrows are one thing the missed reads by stetson are mind boggling. Hes been there for awhile he should be able to go through his progression. His mind and game awareness should be his strength but it isnt.
I couldn’t agree more. I was one of the first humper fans to say give Stetson a shot when Jamie left and JT wasn’t cleared but obviously I was wrong…again. Guess that’s why no P5 teams are offering me contracts! Well good luck to your Warbuzzards moving forward and if y’all have any medical staff available please send them Kirby’s way! 12 injured players in 2 weeks. Unbelievable…
Connor for once in his dreadful journalistic career has made a solid point. Smart’s Georgia would’ve put together a couple of national titles had this been the beginning of the 2010s or late 2000s. But it isn’t. Elite defense no longer carries the day, and even Nick Saban’s grumpy old behind realizes that. Until Kirby does the same, we will be stuck in this rut of dominating the little teams in our conference and enjoying the occasional upset. Otherwise, this will continue. Georgia hasn’t displayed that they can continually win against the West (Smart has never done better than a split against the West since he got to Georgia) nor can the defense reliably cover when the offense makes errors.
Once Bennett IV was injured and Smart decided Mathis should go in during the first half, I knew Florida would win. It’s boneheaded decisions like that that’ll continue to kill them. Florida is not a great defense and we should’ve stacked some yards on them, at least enough to keep it closer than 16 points. The defense was responsible for 7 of those points, and 7 more came on a busted Florida play. The offense was by and large, crap and we had no business being in the East conversation, let alone the national title conversation.
Holy crap! No wonder Kirby kept starting Stetson. As barely mediocre as Stetson has been this year, poor Mathis is a mile from being ready to play in a game, any game. Oh, and if Daniels is so far off that he’s not even pushing Mathis for second string (he only got scout team reps this week), our QB room is a royal cluster fudge.
Daniels had his helmet on, but obviously didn’t get into the game. We have seen him play before and it must still be health because we have seen him sling it around at USC. There was talk before the season that UGA had the best QB room in the conference. The reality is, it’s the worst.
yeah, i’ve seen daniels play and i’ve seen mathis and bennett play. daniels is better. there’s an injury setback that he hasn’t cleared yet.
unfortunately, your last two sentences appear to be a harsh reality to dawg fans.
LeCounte is the guy who is primarily responsible for aligning the defense and getting everyone into position.
Davis and Rochester are the guys who get push up the middle to disrupt the timing and comfort of opposing QB’s.
It was nice to be told for a week that “injuries are no excuse”, and then hear Gary Danielsen repeatedly talk about how much more dangerous UF’s offense would be with Pitts.
It’s just one game. Georgia will be back.
For Florida, it wasn’t just Pitts. Two starting offensive linemen (Reese and Delance) were also injured and missed most of the second half.
You’re certainly somewhat right about Davis, but I think he’s more of a factor freeing up linebackers against the run. LeCounte calling coverages wouldn’t have changed much, especially on the wheel routes. Nakobe Dean, Eric Stokes, Tyson Campbell and Tyrique Stevenson are all starters and they all got pasted, save for one play where a true freshmen wide receiver was kind enough to run Stokes into a pick six on another Gator receiver’s route. Campbell in particular had excellent coverage but the throws and catches were just too good.
Georgia will win the rest of their games.
Nashy, that’s an excellent take. As long as Trask was going to make absolutely perfect throws, Lecounte couldn’t have done much more. But, we would have played more single safety formations, giving our other DB’s a tighter coverage box, or an extra blitzer. That may have slowed the slashing. Doubtfully enough to meaningfully change the game though. Your boys earned that one.