Georgia Football: Week 2 expectations and predictions for the Dawgs

It’s time once again for the Georgia football to tee it up between the hedges. This time, the Dawgs will take on the Ball State Cardinals. Georgia is a 42-point favorite for this match-up at high noon Saturday.

I don’t know what to expect in this game, but I feel the pressure is on the offense to execute. Last week, the offense was not perfect, but they also were not awful. I guess you would describe the offense as clunky. Because that is what it looked like.

At times with Stetson and Monken last year, the offense could score whenever and however they wanted. So far, after one game, it was a struggle to move the ball down the field. Is that something Smart and Bobo created, or is the offense legitimately struggling?

Smart has been known to tinker with a typical game plan, especially in these games. Smart makes it harder for the team to perform at a high level. Smart said they limited touches to Bowers on purpose against UT-Martin. This fuels my conspiracy theory that Smart tries to create struggle when they play lesser opponents. I am sure Smart uses it as a motivation tactic and tells the team the following week that they are not as good as they think.

The offensive line needs to improve this week in run blocking. Last week, it was toughing sledding up-front. Smart said that the coaches failed the o-line because they did not adjust to what UT-Martin was doing.

That may be true, but if Georgia can run the ball effectively on Saturday, it will at least make me feel better about the offense as a whole. The offensive line struggled in fall camp. The group will improve with more practice and in-game experience.

Speaking of the run game, it looks like Edwards will be back this week. Even if Edwards carries the ball under ten times, it creates depth at a position that drastically needs it. The running back room for Georgia is still banged up, and the more able bodies they have, the better off the offense is. I liked what I saw out of Roderick Robison last week.

There were areas where he could improve upon, for example, hitting the hole harder. But Robison was playing in his first game in college football. So I am sure he will only improve.

Overall, the offense just needs to be more efficient. I do not want to see the Dawgs face so many third downs as they did last week. It felt like on every drive; they faced multiple third downs. You cannot win doing that.

I would also like to see Beck be sharper and to see if his timing improved. If the running game, third downs, and Beck look improved from last week, we should all exhale. If not, I’ll keep worrying about Georgia losing to South Carolina all next week on the blog.

Defensively, I want to see the front seven stopping the run. For most of last week’s game, the Dawgs front was not creating havoc in the run game. At times, the D-line was pushed back. That is not what Georgia fans are used to seeing out of our defense.

The D-line needs to do a better job getting a push and creating havoc up-front to stop the run. Honestly, it is unacceptable that UT-Martin had over 4.4 yards rushing per attempt. So, this week, I would like the Dawgs to stymie the run.

Furthermore, the defense needs to stop over-pursuing the ball. UT-Martin was able to get extra yards last Saturday because our Defense over-pursued the ball several times. That cannot happen this Saturday. Outside of those two things, the defense should keep the main thing the main thing. This defense could be as good, if not better, than last year’s defense. Just go out there and dominate a lesser opponent. That is all we, as fans, can ask for.

The Dawgs are heavy favorites in this game, and they should roll over in this game. I would not be shocked if Ball State is in this game in the second quarter. Watching their game against Kentucky, my biggest takeaway was that the Cardinals are tough. So do not be surprised if they punch the Dawgs a little. But again, this is a cupcake game. So, the Dawgs should have control by the half. If they don’t, some fans will have a meltdown on Twitter, which is always fun to see.

This game is one of the last anti-anxiety games of the season. These types of games are the games where you know Georgia is going to win; you just want them to look good doing it. That is why there was an outcry last week during the first half of the game. So, let’s hope the offense is improved and the Dawgs win pretty. The last thing we need before SEC play starts is a civil war between the fan base over Mike Bobo.

I like the Dawgs to cover in this game and the offense to look much improved. Dawgs win 55-10.