Georgia football fans may need to reevaluate expectations for the program.
For Georgia football fans, 2020 hasn’t gone quite as expected (welcome to the club, right?). From a tumultuous offseason of quarterback turnover and questions to now staring down the barrel of at least a two-loss season, the Bulldog Nation needs to adjust their expectations.
The fact is, this isn’t a great Georgia football team. Sure, they look great against the mediocre squads thrown against them from Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Yeah, they looked solid against an Auburn team who seems to have more ups and downs than a presidential vote count.
But pitted against true quality teams like Alabama and Florida, the Bulldogs looked outmanned — because they were.
It all boils down to one main problem. The Dawgs lack playmakers on offense, particularly at the quarterback position. Once again, Kirby Smart has taken what should be an embarrassment of riches at quarterback and somehow managed to turn it into deep-fried gruel.
Stetson Bennett – as good a story as he may be – is no match for quarterbacks such as Mac Jones and Kyle Trask. If the Bulldogs manage to wangle their way into a favorable postseason matchup, he’ll be overshadowed by guys like Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, or even Michael Penix Jr.
Georgia’s receivers are even more of a letdown. George Pickens has been MIA for a myriad of reasons (including stupidity), and the rest of the receiving corps has picked up where they left off in 2019 with Jake Fromm, dropping some pretty solid passes from Bennett.
And herein lies the problem.
The remainder of Georgia’s schedule should be quite easily navigated, even with this putrid offense. To think that Missouri, Mississippi State, South Carolina, or Vanderbilt will even slightly challenge the Bulldogs is to think that this team has given up (which isn’t likely at all).
However, that leaves Georgia sitting at 8-2, with losses to arguably the two best teams in the SEC. Even if Florida loses another game (which is unlikely given their remaining schedule) they’ll still own the tiebreaker over Georgia and should advance to the SEC Championship game.
Georgia will be shut out of the conference title game, the College Football Playoff, and probably even a New Year’s Six bowl.
To put it in different terms, Georgia football is regressing.
From a National Championship Game appearance, on to two straight SEC title game losses — one close, the next a blowout — down to not even making the cut, the Bulldogs are heading in the wrong direction.
And to right the ship, Kirby Smart will need to make the right choice at quarterback – not just for the future – but for the rest of this season. As much as fans may want him to be, Stetson Bennett IV is not the right choice.
Nor is D’Wan Mathis. He’s just not ready.
Nor is JT Daniels. He’s just not healthy.
No, the right choice for Kirby Smart right now going up against token resistance to close out the season will be to hand the ball to true freshman Carson Beck and see what he can do. Give him a handful of starts to take into next season, when he’ll be competing with Daniels and (hopefully) with incoming superstar recruit Brock Vandagriff.
Even if Beck blows a game against one of the four remaining opponents, it won’t make much of a difference to the postseason outlook for the Bulldogs. Let the kid put together some stuff against some in-conference competition.
The other right choice for the Georgia head coach? Go find yourself a quarterback whisperer, because you ain’t it, Kirby, and neither is Todd Monken.
This isn’t to say it’s time to bail on Monken as the offensive coordinator just yet, but Kirby Smart does need to go out and grab himself a quarterbacks coach who can really spend time developing talent at the position and planning out an effective passing game.
The last four national champions – LSU, Clemson (twice), and Alabama – all had dedicated passing game/quarterbacks coaches.
For those keeping score, the Bulldogs haven’t had a “guy” at quarterback since Aaron Murray left in 2014 – coincidentally, the same year Mike Bobo scooted off to Colorado State. Since then, it’s been a revolving door of injury-riddled hopefuls and game managers, and one sure-fire Heisman finalist who should have never felt as if he needed to leave Athens.
This is a new era of college football, and high-powered, quick-strike offenses can now trump even the best defense. Smart needs to move with the times, much like his mentor Nick Saban had to uncomfortably do, and abandon the thought that ground-and-pound offense and a fast, opportunistic defense will win a championship.
Because it won’t anymore, and that’s a truth Georgia football fans may not be ready to embrace.