Georgia football: Kirby Smart and dumb questions about the offense

Georgia football is coming off a staggering blowout loss to Auburn in which the Bulldogs didn’t play how fans have grown accustomed to.

After a big loss like the one Georgia football suffered Saturday to Auburn, of course a lot of people have questions. And most questions asked about the Georgia football team this week have been about the offense which was stagnant for the first time this season.

Those questions revolve around play calling and what offensive coördinator Jim Cheney maybe should have done differently. Specifically, many fans and reporters asked about Georgia’s lack of screen passes. Especially with how effective Auburn’s pass rush was.

Those questions circulated to Kirby Smart this week and his response was predictable. He said it’s “hard to do” when opposing defenses tend to be focused so hard on the tailbacks.

"“We don’t see traditional coverages. People don’t play us the way we play people. The way people play us a lot of times is to take the run away. A lot of times it’s like that. It’s not as simple as calling a screen play. There’s more to it than that. We’re trying to find ways to get the backs the ball because we’ve got a lot of backs. But they cover our backs out of the backfield last week, and they cover our backs out of the slot. So you’re always trying to find a way to get them the ball. There’s no easy way against really good defenses.”Kirby Smart"

But that’s not the right question to ask Smart and not the question Smart should have to answer. Because what is Smart supposed to say to that? Tell fans what they want to hear. That Cheney didn’t think of it and thought it would be best to just keep pounding the ball up the middle?

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No, that would create a rift in the team. And would probably lead to Cheney quitting on the spot. Of course Smart’s answer wasn’t going to be genuine and it never was. He knows that he and Cheney should have tried something different, especially after watching tape.

But he’s the head coach and he doesn’t let assistant coaches talk to the media. Obviously he is going to shoulder the blame and deflect criticism of one of his assistants from the media.