Georgia Football: What can be done to finish strong
After going 1-4 in the past six weeks, Georgia Football is 4-4 in 2016 and is on the verge of missing out on a bowl game for the first time since 1996.
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Georgia football hasn’t looked like themselves lately. The early 2010’s were a great time to be a Bulldog fan. They started bad with a 6-7 season in 2010. But quickly picked up going 10-4 in 2011 and 12-2 in 2012. The went 8-5 in an injury riddled season, and 10-3 in 2014 and 2015.
The Bulldogs of 2016 are a far cry from those 2011-15 teams, and I’d even name the 2010 Bulldogs as favorites against this years squad. All is not right in the classic city and with a month left, there doesn’t seem to be a guaranteed win on the schedule. Even Louisiana Lafayette will be a big challenge.
But Kirby Smart and company will still be looking for ways to win and salvage what they can out of 2016. Georgia can still go 7-5 or maybe even 8-4 if they can right the ship, and here’s what each unit needs to do to accomplish that.
Urgency on offense
I said it a couple of nights ago in my criticism of Jim Chaney, Georgia is putting the offense scheme ahead of winning. We’re trying to be something that we just can’t be right now. But why should all the stars and planets need to align in order to have success on offense?
Chaney and the offensive staff needs to know that right now, their vision of the offense needs to take a back seat and Georgia needs to win ball games. Rather that comes from Kirby Smart wanting better production or Greg McGarity not wanting to look dumb for firing Mark Richt.
Lets see some wild dawg formations, quick screens, slants and hitches. Lets get the ball into Isaiah McKenzie’s, Terry Godwin’s, Sony Michel’s, Nick Chubb’s, and Brian Herrien’s hands as fast as possible. Throw stuff at opponents that they haven’t seen on film yet.
More blitzes on defense
Georgia has a very good front seven when it comes to stopping the run. But pass rushing is often times non-existent. I’m like most defensive coaches, I would much rather just rush four and cover with seven guys. But Georgia just can’t pressure the quarterbacks with only four guys.
Even the abysmal 2013 defense could rush the passer and in the early 2000’s when Georgia’s offense wasn’t all that good, pass rushing won games for the Bulldogs. With four must win games left on the schedule, the defense needs to do more.
To this point the defense has played well enough to keep Georgia in ball games late and that’s really all you can ask of a defense normally. But this isn’t a normal situation, the offense needs all the help it can get and some big plays from the defense can do just that.
They have the potential with Dominick Sanders and Quincy Mauger patrolling the middle of the field, but without pressure, quarterbacks are avoiding throwing their direction. Which it is great that Sanders and Mauger are being respected by quarterbacks so much, but we need to force quarterbacks to throw passes in their direction.
So far the defense has been just fine, but we need sacks and momentum killing interceptions now.
More risk taking in special teams
We are very cautious on special teams. That’s fine and dandy when everything else going smoothly, but we need big plays wherever we can get them.
We need to send 10 guys to block punts. Our defense is good enough that risking a roughing the punter penalty will be worth it. We need fake punts and field goals to create excitement. A surprise onsides kick or two would be great as well.
The Bulldogs don’t have much else to play for. Championships are out the window so what is there to lose? It is time to start thinking of next year, but four good games to end 2016 will do wonders for the teams morale heading into 2017.