Georgia Football: Jake Fromm-Justin Fields Is The Song That Never Ends

For the first six games of the 2018 season, Georgia football picked up right where they left off in 2017, racing out to a 6-0 start and the No. 2 spot in the rankings.

Heading in to Death Valley for a SEC on CBS game of the week against LSU, Jake Fromm’s second-year growth was evident. He was completing 73% of his passes and had a TD-to-INT ratio of 5-to-1 for a Dawgs offense hitting on all cylinders and averaging 43 points per game.

Justin Fields was seeing action as well, but it was not what Dawg fans had expected. Instead of dedicated packages or series for Fields, taking advantage of his ability to beat teams with his arm and his legs, his game time consisted of running Jim Chaney’s offense.

LSU’s defense made Fromm and the offense look pedestrian and the Tigers walked out of Death Valley with a convincing 36-16 victory.

Heading in to the bye week before the SEC East showdown with Florida in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, the fanbase was clamoring to see what Justin Fields could do with more snaps.

Kirby Smart stuck with Fromm, and his faith was rewarded. The Dawgs ripped off five straight wins to close out the season, wrapped up a second consecutive berth in the SEC Championship Game, and Fromm operated with the same accuracy and proficiency that he exhibited the first six games of the season.

Georgia entered the SECCG against Alabama a two-touchdown underdog. Prohibitive Heisman favorite Tua Tagovailoa led a No. 1 ranked Alabama team that most analysts tabbed the greatest team of all-time.

Fromm and Georgia came out like men possessed, establishing a commanding 28-14 3rd quarter lead. Fromm was nearly flawless, throwing for over 300 yards and 3 TDs, but for the second time in less than a year, Georgia couldn’t make a second half lead against the Tide stand.

The loss also produced the play most fans remember from Justin Fields’ Georgia career. With the game tied in the 4th quarter, the Dawgs called a fake punt. 

Fields took a direct snap, looked to throw, and then, under pressure, tucked and ran the ball. The Alabama punt return team sniffed out the fake, and stuffed Fields well short of the line to gain.

The play illustrated a disconnect that had been lurking all season. Georgia football had a dynamic weapon that offensive coordinator Jim Chaney wasn’t quite sure how to use.

Instead of developing pieces of the offense around Fields’ explosive talents – vertical throws off read options, quarterback runs out of the gun with single-back sets, etc, – Chaney tried to dim a firework and constrain him in an offense designed around methodical ball control.

It became apparent throughout the season that Fields was frustrated. That sentiment was confirmed when a postgame video clip emerged of him talking to a teammate after Georgia football drubbed South Carolina in Columbia 41-17.

Justin Fields and Georgia was a marriage made with the best of intentions, but the honeymoon was over.