Georgia football: 3 simple keys for the Dawgs’ defense in Miami

We are a few days away from Georgia football and Michigan squaring off in the historic Orange Bowl for a shot at playing in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.

Excitement and nerves are at an all-time high as the No. 3 ranked Bulldogs embark on a quest to end the “1980” jokes and put a 41-year-old drought to rest.

It doesn’t take too much film study to realize that the strength of this 12-1 Georgia team has been their defense. Despite their disappointing showing against Alabama earlier this month, the Dawgs still rank in the top five in several defensive categories.

Georgia football has one of the best defenses in the country, and Michigan is their next victim.

This success helped defensive coordinator Dan Lanning land the head coaching job at Oregon. Lanning, however, will remain with Georgia throughout the CFP and continue to call plays.

The collection of talent on this defense is genuinely astonishing. Guys like Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Travon Walker, Quay Walker, Nakobe Dean, Nolan Smith, Channing Tindall, Kelee Ringo, Derion Kendrick, and others have made impacts in some sort of way this season.

The Junkyard Dawgs have their work cut out for them against a very physical Michigan offense. Like Georgia’s offense, they are a ground-and-pound team built around a stable of great running backs and a talented offensive line. Quarterback Cade McNamara has also had a solid season, as well as freshman JJ McCarthy, who rotates with McNamara.

Looking ahead, here are three things the Georgia defense must do to walk out of Miami with a victory.

Georgia football must stop the Michigan run game

As mentioned earlier, Michigan is a run-heavy offense. They average 223.8 yards on the ground and have scored 39 rushing touchdowns. Their rushing yards per game rank No.10 in the country.

Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum are their top backs, and you will be seeing both of these men often on Friday. This duo is Michigan’s version of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel for comparison.

Haskins leads the team with 261 carries,1,288 yards, and 20 touchdowns. Corum has 939 yards and 11 rushing scores on 141 carries. Corum was dealing with an ankle injury towards the end of the season, but both he and Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis says he is back at 100%.

Both Haskins and Corum are two different types of runners. Haskins is more of a power-back who can run well between the tackles. He is the type of running back that can get five-six yards per play and wear out defenses as the game goes on.

Corum is most dangerous when he gets to the outside. He has tremendous breakaway speed and will leave defenders in the dust if he gets just a few steps ahead of them.

Luckily for Georgia, stopping the run has been the defense’s best skill this season. The Dawgs allow an average of 81.7 rushing yards a game. Only three rushing touchdowns have been scored against Georgia all season.

Running the football against the Georgia front seven has not been easy for any team, and Georgia is going to have to continue that dominance to take away Michigan’s greatest strength.

Georgia football needs to get more pressure on Michigan’s quarterback

In the first game of the season, Georgia sacked Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei seven times. Perhaps the most impressive thing about that stat was that six different players had at least one sack, proving how much depth the Georgia defense has.

Fast forward to the SEC Championship Game, and the Georgia pass rush was virtually non-existent. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young wasn’t sacked once and often had plenty of time to make a play. He went on to carve up the already banged-up Georgia secondary for over 400 yards passing.

Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara doesn’t throw the ball often because of the dominant Wolverine run game, but he is efficient when he does pass. He has completed 64.6% of his passes, throwing for 2,470 yards, 15 touchdowns, and has only four interceptions on the year.

Unlike Georgia starting quarterback Stetson Bennett, McNamara is not much of a runner, which bodes well for the speedy Georgia edge rushers and linebackers.

This assessment is a lot easier said than done, though. Michigan’s offensive line won the 2021 Joe Moore award, an award given to the nation’s best offensive line. They rank in the top five and ten in almost every o-line category.

Getting to McNamara often will be necessary for the Georgia defense. Even though he likely won’t pass the ball 40-50 times in this game, the Dawgs need to bring the heat and force him into making a mistake whenever he does drop back to pass.

Georgia football need to prepare for trick plays

Coach Jim Harbaugh and his Wolverines are not afraid to do whatever it takes to win, even if it means pulling out a few trick plays on offense. They have proven to be very effective at it.

According to Pro Football Focus, Michigan leads all college football with +28.8 expected points added from trick plays. In the Big 10 Championship against Iowa, the Wolverines pulled off a brilliant double pass for a 75-yard touchdown.

Earlier in the year, Michigan pulled another rabbit out of Harbaugh’s khakis on a kickoff return, leading to an 80-yard touchdown.

Trick plays are hard to defend because, well, it’s a trick. You don’t often see them coming, and they can take a defense by surprise.

This game has a lot of stakes for both teams. We talk about Georgia’s long national championship drought, but Michigan is currently facing one of their own. The Wolverines have not won it all since 1997.

If there is a program just as hungry for a national title as Georgia is, it’s Michigan. You better believe they will get creative to score points to ensure a victory in this game.

Studying the film and preparing in practice for a potential trick play will help the Georgia defense as it prepares for Michigan.

If everything plays out as expected, this could go down as a classic CFP semifinal game between two blue-blood college football programs. The Georgia defense will look to add their stamp in this 2021 finale.