Dawn of the Dawg
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Georgia Football: Bulldogs need to dominate in 2020

By Eric Taylor

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 01: Head coach Kirby Smart of the Georgia Bulldogs looks on during the game against the Baylor Bears during the Allstate Sugar Bowl at Mercedes Benz Superdome on January 01, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 01: Head coach Kirby Smart of the Georgia Bulldogs looks on during the game against the Baylor Bears during the Allstate Sugar Bowl at Mercedes Benz Superdome on January 01, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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Winning won’t be enough to reach the heights Georgia Football is aiming to reach in 2020. The Bulldogs need to put up points and dominate their opponents.

Georgia Football has had the reputation of playing in tough close games. However, according to the Sports Reference Simple Rating System (SRS), this is not how you win a championship. Their rating system is based on average point differential and strength of schedule.

In the last twenty years, only three teams have won a National Championship with an SRS rating below 20. They are the 2002 Ohio State Buckeyes, the 2006 Florida Gators, and the 2007 LSU Tigers. All three were in the BCS era, not a single team has won the College Football Playoffs without an SRS of over 20.

What this tells us is in order to win a National Championship in today’s college football you need a point differential of at least 20. The days of running the ball and playing defense are done. You have to dominate your opponent, whoever they are. This past season LSU had an SRS rating of 25.80, pure dominance.

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So let’s take a look at how Georgia Football has done in SRS over Kirby Smart’s tenure. In 2016, Smart’s first year, his Bulldogs got a 3.64. In 2017 he turned that into a 22.47 and continued that trend in 2018 with a 20.69. Smart is the only coach at Georgia to ever have back to back seasons with a 20+ SRS rating. He would not make it three in a row seeing his team’s SRS fall to 17.64 in 2019.

The college landscape is changing and Smart is aware of this. That is why James Coley is no longer the offensive coordinator at Georgia and why Todd Monken was brought in as his replacement. It is why Smart and staff went all out to bring in four of the top 100 wide receivers in this recruiting cycle. Georgia is looking to finally spread out its offense and attack through the air.

Speaking of recruiting, Georgia has pulled in three straight No. 1 recruiting classes according to Rivals.com. Georgia has as much talent as anyone in the country. In fact, Dabo Swinney has won two National Championships and been to four National Championship Games without a single top-five recruiting class. Swinney has also had SRS ratings of 20+ the last four seasons in a row.

So, why hasn’t Smart seen similar results with what should be more talent? That is simple, it is because of offensive philosophy. Again, in today’s college football you have to be willing to open up your offense and put points on the board in bunches. Conservative offenses do not win championships anymore. You cannot simply run the ball and play defense anymore, it doesn’t work.

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Smart has made the moves needed to reinvent his offense. The only thing left to see is if he will take his hands off the offense and let Monken and company operate the way they see fit. If he does that then Georgia could see a big change in their point differential and a big spike in their SRS, but more importantly, they could see another trip to the CFP and a shot at a National Title.

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