Why Jake Fromm is more prepared for a shootout than he was last year against Alabama
Facing pressure from the Alabama front, Jake Fromm dropped back and delivered one of the best throws we saw from him all year. It was a perfect ball in stride, roughly 48 yards downfield to an open Mecole Hardman. It was the type of throw that you see from an All-American or a future first-round draft pick.
It was the height of Fromm’s national championship. That was the problem.
After Fromm’s bomb to Hardman made it a 20-7 game, the legend of Tua Tagovailoa was born. Fromm stepped aside and let another true freshman — the same quarterback who Lane Kiffin decided he wanted more than Fromm at Alabama — steal his moment. That sequence, which was preceded by Tagovailoa’s first of 3 touchdown passes that night, was the only time the two really went back and forth.
Fromm’s post-touchdown pass stat line was ugly (2-for-6 for 20 yards with 2 sacks taken and an interception). As a result, the Dawgs’ only points the rest of the way came via a 51-yard field goal in overtime.
Quite simply, Georgia wasn’t ready to put that game in Fromm’s hands. And in reality, he didn’t show that he was ready to handle it. Trying to go blow for blow with Tagovailoa wasn’t a game that Fromm could play. It was different than a week earlier when he faced a porous Oklahoma defense and Fromm helped fuel a Georgia comeback in the Rose Bowl.
Now, with Fromm set for a rematch against Alabama in the same place he watched Georgia’s national title dream fade away, times have changed. He’s now better prepared to go 60 minutes with Alabama than he was in last year’s national championship.
What suggests that? How about Fromm’s past 5 games?
- 73 percent accuracy
- 9.7 yards per attempt
- 11-1 TD-INT ratio
- 41.6 PPG
- 5-0 (4 wins by +3 scores against Power 5 teams w/ winning records)
That last part is key, and it’s at the root of why Georgia fans should feel more confident in Fromm right now than at this time last year.
Last year in the regular season, Georgia faced 3 Power 5 teams that had winning records in conference play (that includes Notre Dame, which was 6-3 in regular season Power 5 games). Those happened to be Georgia’s 3 worst offensive outputs of the regular season. Fromm averaged just 6.6 yards per attempt on 56 percent accuracy in those games.
This year in that 5-game stretch alone that Fromm put up those numbers, here’s where those 4 Power 5 teams rank in scoring defense:
- Florida — No. 23
- Kentucky — No. 7
- Auburn — No. 19
- Georgia Tech — No. 78
So even if you want to throw away the Georgia Tech game and just focus on his final 3 SEC games against a trio of top 25 scoring defenses, Fromm had 69 percent accuracy, 8.5 yards per attempt and a 6-1 touchdown-interception ratio.
Any notion that Fromm is just a game manager should be all but gone.
It’s not just the numbers, either. It’s the throws that he continues to make that suggests he’s made a noticeable Year 2 jump:
https://twitter.com/SECNetwork/status/1066397834285641729
The questions surrounding Fromm have since faded from that LSU game, when he saw a season-high in pressure percentage (35.7%). Last year against Alabama, Fromm was pressured a season-high 19 times. Obviously, Alabama wants to repeat that, though outside of LSU, Fromm has been rock solid against the blitz/pressure this year.
Maybe that’s just a product of experience. The guy does have 26 career starts, 11 of which were against Top 25 teams. Fromm does look more comfortable than ever, and that’s not just based on his increased post-snap ball-flipping ways (at least it feels increased).
In a perfect world for Georgia, Fromm doesn’t need to get into a shootout with Tagovailoa because game flow still allows for the Dawgs to be balanced. That’s obviously easier said than done. We’re talking about an Alabama team that just went 12-0 without winning a game by less than 22 points. Georgia is a double-digit underdog for a reason, and it’s the same reason that Alabama prevailed in last year’s title game. Tagovailoa can take an opposing team out of its bread and butter in a hurry.
Tagovailoa is easily the best quarterback that Georgia faced this year. The same could be said about Fromm for Alabama (yes, Fromm is better against quality opponents than Drew Lock). Both defenses will face quarterbacks who can fit balls into windows unlike anyone they’ve seen this year.
That’s why this game has much more shootout potential than last year’s contest (the over/under is in the low 60s). Georgia players admitted that they didn’t prepare to face someone who could stretch the field Tagovailoa, and that they couldn’t adjust after he replaced Jalen Hurts in the second half.
This year, you get the feeling that both of these teams will want to air it out with their prolific quarterbacks. Why wouldn’t they? Tagovailoa and Fromm rank No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in quarterback rating. More important, they’ve shown throughout 2018 that the moment won’t be too big for them.
Maybe the moment was too big for Fromm last year. Perhaps Saturday is his chance to avenge that frustrating second-half performance and shock the world. The SEC Championship can be a new height for Fromm.
Now would be the perfect time to soar.
The receiver Corp is much better this season, and, getting more production out of the TE’s.
There are a lot of factors can point to tat UGA needs to execute to win the game, and in reality they’ll need a combination of many of those factors. But one I don’t hear much that you alluded to is the TE. I know Alabama has a beat of a TE but Nauta is a stud himself who can and should be utilized in this game. Matchup nightmare type player. I would love to see him have a career game Saturday
There is a reason Saban does not like comparisons. You can’t really do it and get meaningful data. Saying Fromm is better than Lock against quality opponents ignores the likely fact that those opponents dis not play the same vs. UGA and Mizzou. He will be pressured and Tua will not based on season long stats of each defense. UGA will try of course but their history this season says they are not very good at getting into the backfield. I think Alabama will be more successful getting UGA to be 1 dimensional than vice versa.
But of course this is why the games are played.
Good point.
that’s my biggest fear. We really don’t have a dominant pass rusher. Much is made of the quarterbacks but I think our pass rush is what will determine the game. Tua makes it look easy without pressure. We’ve generally had at least 1 elite pass rusher so I’m hoping that Walker will bring his A game.
If you go back a few years when we had Jarvis Jones he was a nightmare, virtually unblockable. I’m just hoping their 92 isn’t that against us.
One pass rusher can make a huge difference in a game. I’ll never forget 2012, I was in Savannah at a bar watching Clowney destroy our O line and chase Murray all over the place. You take him out the game and we probably still would of lost, but we might have made it a closer game. I’m just hoping UGA hasn’t showed all of their packages and have been waiting for the right time to really give it their all at going after the qb. I hope we can win, but if we can make it a good game that would be nice to.
Once again, the writer can’t help but make the adolescent “Jake vs Tua” misrepresentation. It wasn’t “Jake vs Tua” in the last game. It was Jake vs the Alabama defense, which was prepared to stop him and Tua vs the Georgia defense, which, admittedly, was NOT prepared to stop him. So the ADULT question to ask is this: Is the Georgia DEFENSE more prepared for Tua and Alabama this time? I think it is. And certainly the coaching staff and players are now fully aware of what Alabama can do when Tua is slinging it around. It may not matter. Alabama seems invincible. But we’ll see.
Georgia just went undefeated in CFB’s toughest division, winning every game by at least 17 points.
Yes, I’m talking about the SEC Eastern division, the one that just went 9-5 against the SEC West.
Alabama has looked more dominant, but against a weaker schedule. I really think we’ll see the two best teams in CFB facing off in the SEC championship game. I may be wrong, but I don’t think Alabama will dominate Georgia, like they have the rest. This one could get very interesting. GOOODAWGS!
Toughest division? Once in the last 30 years. lol UGA is not a top 2 team. Top 5 at best. That LSU loss is horrible.
Notice how no sports journalists seem to care when the East has a significantly better record vs the West, yet when the results are flipped they don’t shut up about it. Smh
Yet they lost to LSU by 20 points…
Clemson is better than us right now. Notre Dame? I would very much like to debate that. OSU and OU don’t have an argument.
I don’t care about Clemson or ND. My point was the SOS comment… UGA went undefeated in the east, great… They still got romped by a west team.
Still doesn’t change what he stated, which was a fact. The East went 9-5 against the mighty West. Yet yall lost to Auburn last year and still won the natty, so UGA could do the same. But it’s always different when it comes to Bama, disregard the losses and just talk about the wins.
There is NO WAY Fromm and his mediocre skills and average skill players around him hang with Elite Tua and Elite Skill Players.
Say no to drugs, son. It will only hurt you more if you continually to abuse your body and mind with drugs. Just say no.
Slow day at the truck stop?
Lmao
Ever heard of the DARE program?
Georgia’s gonna get curbed stomped just like every other team who played Bama.
Fromm is not mediocre …I hope Alabama comes out as arrogant as you are.
Jawja, remember, no matter, Bama is in playoffs.
Now all the ones saying UGA has won every game by 17 or more in the “stronger” SEC east, Lest you not forget, Bama pounded the SEC West team that pounded jawja, on the same field, but in a tougher environment.
Bama by 28
I thought it was 29?
Sorry for the nitpicking.
Now, IF for some crazy, strange, unusual, unthinkable, unimaginable scenario that Alabama loses to UGA by 3 or more touchdowns, would there still be a chance that Alabama does not make the playoffs?
I don’t see bammer getting in the playoffs period if they lose to UGA. Not over Ohio State, if they win their conference championship.
SO clever!!! Jawja! Hilarious! Greatest thing I have ever read in my entire life!!!! You sir….are….HILARIOUS!!!!
But for real, I am concerned that maybe you don’t actually know how to spell Georgia. It seems like you are spelling it by sounding it out. But for real, hilarious.
Tennessee 12, Georgia 38….
Tennessee 21, Alabama 58
Auburn 10, Georgia 27.
Auburn 21, Alabama 52
LSU 36, Georgia 16
LSU 00, Alabama 29
Missouri 29, Georgia 43
Missouri 10, Alabama 39
Georgia has a low probability of scoring more points, but they can play better defense 50% of the time.
The sample is small to medium for football seasons, but these are common opponents.
Two most important variables are weeks they met these teams and injuries. One variable a lot bigger than other.
Class, this Sat. has a minimum of 88 unique match ups left to consider, ‘most’ are not strategy changers.
This article just seems so wrong. The Dawgs went up and Chaney and Smart played not to lose. We stopped running the ball effectively and were making boring runs up the middle. We still haven’t gotten an answer as to why Michel only carried the ball a few times in the 2nd half. Was he hurt? Still no answer.
Dawgs are a year away from having an experienced team and depth of the greatest team ever that can never be beat or ever ever have a bad game. Their kicking game is perfect and Tua never make a mistake or ever get hurt. Okay that should jinx em’. I guess we might as well stayi in Athens.