Greg McElroy explains how Kirby Smart must resist what he likes to do on defense
By Keith Farner
Published:
Dan Mullen, Greg McElroy and Sam Acho addressed one of the keys in Monday’s national championship: How will Georgia’s defense make adjustments after 2 straight games where the Bulldogs’ opponent hit plenty of big plays and exposed some holes.
What will Georgia do differently this time? The ESPN analysts weighed in.
“They’re going to have to come in and look at containing the big play,” Mullen said. “If you look at TCU’s success against Michigan in that game, Michigan played them well, but all of a sudden there was explosive play after explosive play and that’s what we’ve seen from Georgia the last couple of weeks of giving up these explosive plays in the pass game. We know they’re going to stop the run. If they can make TCU earn it down the field, they’ll be successful.”
McElroy added that Georgia and Kirby Smart have to resist the urge to attack and blitz as much as he wants against TCU.
“The thing that’s going to kill you in this game is getting too aggressive and getting burned down field,” he said. “I think they’re going to play it more conservatively early, and then adjust as the game goes along.”
Acho said Georgia could be most vulnerable to the off-schedule plays, such as when a QB scrambles against the Georgia defense. Acho said both Ohio State and LSU scored on scramble drills.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
