Georgia football: Best, worst and most likely scenarios for the 2020 season

Georgia football is coming off a 12-2 season where it won the SEC East for the third year in a row. The Bulldogs return a fantastic defense but are making wholesale changes on offense.

For the first time in decades, Georgia football enters a season without a spring practice session. Fortunately, no team in the nation is practicing right now so no one is at a disadvantage because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

But the outbreak could hurt Georgia in the long run. The Bulldogs have a new offensive coordinator in Todd Monken and he’s tasked with bringing radical changes to the offense. Rebuilding the offensive line, breaking in new starters at running back and choosing a new starting quarterback doesn’t help matters either.

The defense will continue to dominate as the unit doesn’t face many changes. Even the spots opened by players graduating are filled by backups with plenty of experience. Georgia’s success or failure in 20202 hinges on how quickly the players on offense mature and adapt to Monken’s offense.

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Best case scenario: Undefeated regular season

Georgia surprises no one by bringing a dominant defense into 2020, but the nation is stunned by a much-improved offense led by coordinator Todd Monken and quarterback Jamie Newman. Despite the tumultuous transition from Wake Forest to Georgia, Newman is a quick learner of Monken’s playbook, as is the rest of the offense.

Sophomore wide receiver George Pickens has an All-American season, while Dominick Blaylock and Demetris Robertson have great years as well. The biggest boost to the passing game is true freshmen Marcus Rosemy, Arian Smith and Jermaine Burton. Their presence keeps defenses from double-teaming Pickens and makes Georgia’s passing attack one of the hardest to stop.

Add in a great running game led by Zamir White and James Cook and Georgia has one of the nation’s elite offenses. Coupled with a suffocating defense, the Bulldogs put the nation on notice with early-season wins over Alabama and Auburn. Georgia rolls through the rest of the regular season, finishing 12-0 and holding a No. 1 ranking going into the SEC Championship Game.

Worst case scenario: Third or Fourth place in the SEC East

Georgia’s defense is still solid, but the offense regresses because it didn’t have a spring season to learn the new system. Jamie Newman struggles the most as he’s learning a new playbook and building chemistry at a faster-than-ideal pace.

The Bulldogs have just enough stars on offense to enter the mid-season bye week with a 5-2 record, but a gauntlet including games against Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee is too much and Georgia loses two of those games. Georgia finishes the regular season with wins over Kentucky and Georgia Tech to salvage an 8-4 record.

Most likely scenario: One-loss regular season, SEC East Champions

The condensed timeline forces Georgia’s offense to struggle early in the season and it costs them in week three at Alabama. Jamie Newman isn’t living up to the hype. George Pickens is having a sophomore slump and the running game isn’t opening up because of Newman’s struggles.

Georgia’s offense improves every week leading to somewhat of an upset over Auburn in week six. After a convincing win over Missouri on the road, Georgia enters its bye week 6-1. Georgia’s offense comes out of the off week firing on all cylinders and plows through the rest of the schedule, finishing 11-1 while running away with the SEC East Championship

Newman is playing exceptionally well by now and has become a game-changer because of his arm strength and running ability. The entire offense from the receivers to the running backs benefit from Newman’s improvements and Georgia climbs up the offensive statistic charts week-by-week.