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Tim Tebow and the rest of the college football production from ESPN are in Athens this weekend for a top-25 showdown between Georgia and Tennessee. The stakes are high for Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs, who enter the game with 2 losses already on the schedule and the knowledge that, if the College Football Playoffs began tomorrow, they would be on the outside of the 12-team field.
Even still, Tebow told reporters on Friday he believes the Bulldogs are still one of the best teams in college football this season.
“I think, if you’re trying to look at the 12 best teams in college football, Georgia is one of those to me,” Tebow said. When asked why, he started to laugh. “Look at their roster. I know that they haven’t played the way they’re capable of, but when they do, it’s a team that you don’t want to play. Especially when they’re motivated and frustrated.
“They’ve got a lot of things to fix offensively. … It’s still a team that went to Texas when everyone thought they were No. 1 and dominated.”
The Bulldogs are coming off a 28-10 loss to Ole Miss last Saturday in Oxford. It was the worst loss a Georgia team has suffered since Dec. 7, 2019. And it ensured the Dawgs would finish the regular season with multiple SEC losses for the first time in a full year since 2016. (Georgia lost twice in 2020, but it played 9 league games that year.)
For Georgia, the struggles of quarterback Carson Beck have been the most publicized. But Tebow said the Bulldogs’ issues aren’t confined to the quarterback spot. He said the blocking needs to be better, the run game needs to be better, the pass-catchers need to be better, and the gameplan needs to be better.
Beck has been heavily criticized, and Tebow acknowledged he sees a quarterback who “trusts his arm too much” and is trying to force plays, but others deserve criticism.
Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has been erratic, at best. Beck was sacked a season-high 5 times by Ole Miss. Georgia ranks 41st in rushing success rate. And the receiving corps leads the nation in drops.
“I think he (Beck) probably feels the pressure of trying to fit it in and make a play. You can’t score on every play. You can’t have that mindset,” Tebow said. “I always want to start by backing it up and saying, ‘Well, how is everything unfolding around him?’ There were a lot of the plays last week where if you pause it and say, ‘Where is he supposed to go? What is he supposed to do?’
“It’s easy for us to just look at the quarterback, but he did not have a lot of time, they did not run the ball very well, and he does not have a lot of places to go. On top of that, he also has to play better.”
It is do or die on Saturday against Tennessee. If Georgia is to stay alive in the CFP discussion, it has to win. Otherwise it might not matter how talented the roster is.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
