The regular season has come to a close, and for the 2nd year in a row Georgia is 12-0.
The Dawgs haven’t lost a regular season game since playing Florida on Nov. 7, 2020. That’s 27 wins. Counting postseason games, the Dawgs are 30-1 in their past 31 contests.
From the moment Georgia hammered Oregon in the opener to the dominant win against Tennessee, it’s been clear this team has a chance to do something special.
Now, after a perfect start, the Dawgs are 3 wins from back-to-back national titles.
There are a number of reasons they’re in this position:
Georgia might be the new Bama
Alabama is the team everyone has been chasing for years. Clemson was on par with 2 championship seasons. But all roads have come back to Tuscaloosa.
Georgia may have caught up.
One national title and a 12-0 regular season doesn’t get you all the way there. This job is unfinished. But it feels like the hierarchy of college football shifted after the Bulldogs beat the Tide to win it all last season.
The Dawgs are a near-unanimous No. 1. They’re the betting favorites to win it all again. They have won 27 consecutive regular season games. They have dominated every big game they’ve played this year. With 3 more wins, the familiar phrase for title contenders also will adjust.
It’ll be: “We want Georgia.”
A new standard in Athens
For the better part of 2 decades the question was always: “When will Georgia get over the hump?” There always was talent, there always was recruiting, there usually was coaching. But that next level remained elusive; 10 wins and a New Year’s Day bowl game generally were the targets.
Not anymore. Not after last season.
With coach Kirby Smart came higher expectations. Recruiting has skyrocketed. On-field performance has followed. The Dawgs have played in 2 national title games and won 1. Now, just winning isn’t good enough. They’ve got to be dominant.
For the most part, they have been. In the few games they haven’t, the reaction has been disappointment. There is a new standard at Georgia, and the only thing that matters is hardware at the end of the season.
Right now Kirby Smart is college football’s best coach
Look, it’s not a point about all-time recognition. No one can take away or should understate what Nick Saban has done at Alabama. He’s arguably the greatest coach in college football history, and has the rings to prove it.
But right now? Right now, the best coach in America resides in Athens, Ga.
Think about what’s been seen from Smart and his coaching staff this year:
Georgia lost 15 players to the NFL draft after its championship season last year. That is the most players taken in a single draft. Five of those – all on defense – went in the 1st round. There was no way the Dawgs would simply reload and come back with an elite team in 2022.
Right?
Except they did. After fielding last year’s all-time great defense, Georgia once again ranks No. 1 nationally with fewest points allowed.
Whether it’s recruiting, performance or the development of unheralded recruits like Ladd McConkey and Stetson Bennett, Smart has his program getting the best returns of any in the country.
Stetson Bennett is a Georgia Hall of Famer, maybe its best QB
Expectations of Stetson Bennett were hard to pin down for his super-senior season. But he’s surpassed most realistic projections. He’s among the nation’s leaders in passing yardage, even with a couple of low passing games to close out the season, and he’s got this offense playing at a top-tier level.
The knocks on Bennett are well known: his size and his arm strength. But not once this season have fans clamored for his job like they did in 2021. He has played like one of the nation’s best and has risen up the all-time Georgia passing ranks.
If he can lead the team to another national title he might have a claim to the title of top Dawg, all-time, under center.
Sure, Matthew Stafford has gone on to a great NFL careers. Yes, Aaron Murray has all the team records (and quite a few in the SEC). But considering Bennett’s origins, a second ring definitely puts him in the conversation.
Dawgs’ defense remains the nation’s best …
It’s already been said but bears repeating: Georgia is still the best defense in America.
It isn’t perfect. It’s not nearly as dominant as it was a year ago. It has shortcomings in its pass rush. But overall, from a consistency standpoint, no other unit compares.
The emergence of Jalen Carter, Jamon Dumas-Johnson, Christopher Smith and Malaki Starks, among others, has powered this group. It’s a big reason Georgia will be favored to win the rest of its games.
… but they’re more than just a defensive powerhouse
But that’s not the only reason. Georgia isn’t a team that simply suffocates its opponents. The offense is an equal partner.
Heading into yesterday’s game, Georgia was ranked No. 11 in scoring, No. 27 in rushing, No. 12 in passing and No. 6 in total offense. In the absence of a true possession wide receiver the Dawgs have been creative in how they get explosive plays. They’ve used Kenny McIntosh in the passing game. They’ve used Brock Bowers in the running game. They’ve let Bennett use his legs, and they’ve expanded the role of McConkey.
It’s safe to say that Georgia has built a team that can win a low-scoring grinder or an up-tempo barnburner.
SEC East improving but Georgia still clearly tops
It’s probably not yet accurate to say any team has “closed the gap” on Georgia in the Southeastern Conference’s East division. That said, there certainly has been enough improvement to make this a more competitive division in the next few years.
Tennessee has had a fantastic season. It will look less spectacular than it could have by season’s end, but what the Vols did for 10 weeks established them as a contender in the coming years.
How about South Carolina? Wins against top-10 teams in its final 2 regular season games. Missouri isn’t great – or even good – but it is improved, and gave Georgia a difficult time. Even Vanderbilt looked more competitive at times than it has in recent years.
That the division looks like it’s on the upswing. But no team is close to Georgia right now. At this moment, it looks like the Dawgs have the same kind of stranglehold on the East that Alabama has had on the West for the past decade.
Dawgs’ record is perfect, but the team is not
There’s been lots of praise for this team but in truth the Dawgs do have issues. They could keep them from winning back-to-back titles.
Despite a perfect record, there have been times when Georgia would harm itself with turnovers. The minus-2 margin ranks 85th in the country and is something to monitor in the remaining games.
The Dawgs have just 18 sacks – only 1.5 a game – and rank No. 99 in the category nationally. Yes it’s true that not all pressure results in sacks, but this is still an imperfection for an otherwise stellar defense.
On offense Georgia is No. 1 nationally in red-zone conversions, scoring on nearly 97 percent of drives that get inside the 20-yard line. But on touchdown percentage in the red zone, though, the Dawgs convert at about 65 percent, No. 51 nationally.
So, as good as this team is, there are some areas of concern.
Kenny McIntosh more than just 3rd guy
Back to the praise …
McIntosh has had a fantastic year. After his 86 yards and 1 touchdown rushing against Georgia Tech on Saturday, he now has 654 yards and 8 scores on the ground. But his contributions in the passing game have been most impressive.
He began the season by leading the team in receiving yards in each of the first two games. Against the Yellow Jackets, he had a reception that went for 83 yards. In total he has 437 receiving yards, giving him by far the most all-purpose yards on the team.
After years of seeing McIntosh has the running back who would spell Zamir White and James Cook, it’s been fun to see him enter the spotlight and show why he’s such a dangerous player for opposing defenses.
Is “dynasty” next “D” word associated with Georgia
The last takeaway is the biggest. And it’s still a bit of a “what if.”
There are games to be played, plays to made, trophies to pursue. But if – if – Georgia can finish the job in the course of 3 postseason games, the other “D” word discussion can begin.
The last team to win back-to-back national championships was Alabama in 2011 and 2012, and it helped launch one of the greatest dynasties college sports has known. Georgia has a chance to put itself in that exclusive group. A second consecutive title would offer a chance to be the first team in the modern era to go back-to-back-to-back – it’s all on the table right now for the Dawgs.
Stay tuned.
