Georgia Football: Does it Really Matter Who Wins QB Battle?

The Georgia football program is in the midst of it’s first real position battle at quarterback in quite a long time, but will it matter who wins the job in the end?

More from Georgia Football

On the outside, fans and analysts see Brice Ramsey, Jacob Park and Faton Bauta in a heated battle to become Georgia’s next starting quarterback. The coaches aren’t giving any hint of who might be the frontrunner, and all three guys are playing well enough to win the job. Perhaps that tight-lipped approach is some insight in to what’s going on behind the scenes.

247Sport’s UGA recruiting analyst Rusty Mansell recently observed that Mark Richt looked uncharacteristically calm and filled with positive energy in his recent interviews, and perhaps that observation is a window to the soul of this team.

What Richt, Brian Schottenheimer and all the other coaches on the inside may be feeling and experiencing is this –

Does it really matter who wins this quarterback battle? Because Georgia is going to beat the tar out of people no matter which way you slice it and who whose arm you are slicing it.

This isn’t to take anything away from Ramsey, Park or Bauta — who are all fine athletes and very good quarterbacks — it’s more to say that Georgia’s offense no longer needs a quarterback who can put the team on his shoulders and lead the Bulldogs to a score on practically every drive.

There was a similar sentiment expressed by Atlanta radio host and college football expert, Chuck Oliver, who made the unlikely (but fairly accurate) comparison of last year’s quarterback play from Hutson Mason as a benchmark for this season. If the Bulldogs get someone who can be just as efficient, calm and mistake-free as Mason, it’s hard to see Georgia losing many (if any) games this year.

Now obviously all of this is predicated upon the health of certain players in skill positions and depth on the offensive line holding up, but that can be said true of practically any team in any season.

Nov 1, 2014; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Faton Bauta (10) works out prior to the game against the Florida Gators at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Whether or not a clear-cut winner emerges from this 3-man battle may be immaterial. If it turns into a two or three man quarterback system, I’m not sure that Georgia fans would object, so long as the running backs keep running over people, the defense keeps laying slobberknockers, and the Bulldogs keep winning games.

Would it be great to have another gunslinger who can peel the top off a defense at the drop of a dime behind center? Of course (and that maybe arriving in 2016), but for the foreseeable future the Bulldogs’ main concern is winning, regardless of how it’s done.

Georgia’s defense looks to be even better than last season (and they were pretty darned good last year), and the running game shows no signs of slowing. The days of the Georgia quick-strike long bomb offense appear to be in the past. The Bulldogs are back to a physical, grinding team who eat up tons of clock and beat up lots of guys in the other jerseys.

Sure, keep watching the practices and trying to read anything into Richt’s deadpan statements about his quarterback “controversy” (how many coaches would love to have his problem though?), but my guess is that Richt is thinking it doesn’t matter, not this year anyway.

Next: Ranking the Best UGA Football/Basketball Coaching Duos

Home/Georgia Football