Georgia Football: Report Cards for week 4

Georgia football played UAB last Saturday, and by the reaction on social media, you would have thought Georgia lost. No, the Dawgs did not lose; they won 49-21. Georgia did not cover the spread, so that could be why people are upset. But today is Monday, and we have to give out report cards. We give grades to all three phases of a football game: offense, defense, and special teams. We did not give out D’s. You either pass or fail—shoutout to Fulton County Schools for taking a stand against the big letter grade complex. Alright, let’s get into the report card.

Offense: A

Shocking, I know. Just stare at that A next to offense. It has been a while since the offense had an A. The last time we gave out an A for offense was against Ball State. The offense played about its best game of the year so far. After the game, the offense is starting to figure itself out. Re-watching the game, Mike Bobo called it a great game. Nothing goes wrong when you feed Brock Bowers. 

The offense nearly had 600 yards total against the Blazers. I do not care who the opponent is; that is exceptional. Speaking of Bowers, he had nine receptions for 121 yards and two touchdowns. I would argue that Bowers is probably Georgia’s best football player since Herschel Walker and might be better. But I do not want to get in the hot take business yet.

Carson Beck threw for a career-high 337 yards, completed 22 of 32 passing attempts, and threw three touchdowns. I know many people are still concerned with Beck as a passer. Beck is starting to come into his own. I know the two dropped deep balls and had those upset. But I saw it as Beck starting to trust his arm more. I do not hate it. Hey, it is better than going sideways every play!

Saturday’s game showed us that Georgia’s offense can be really good. It will get more dangerous when we get some players back from injury. So do not be surprised to see Georgia’s offense get some more A’s down the road.

Defense: B

While the offense had one of its better days of the season, Georgia’s defense had probably had its oddest. The defense was not terrible, but it was not great either. UAB got yards when it wanted to in the first half. I guess the same could be said about South Carolina two weeks ago. Whatever happens at halftime for the defense should be studied because they came out and dominated the game. I would just like the defense to control the game from the jump. It looks like it takes the defense a quarter to get adjusted. Hopefully, that changes.

Smart talked about it in his post-game press conference, but the defense had a lot of mental mistakes. Watching from the stands, I could tell the coaches were getting very animated after plays. I have never seen Glenn Schumann get mad on the sideline, but I did on Saturday. So, the entire coaching staff was upset with the defense and the mental mistakes.

The defense only gave up 300 yards in the game, which in today’s game is pretty good. I have said this on multiple blogs and podcasts, but I will not worry about a Kirby Smart defense. I’m just not all that worried. Sure, there are weaknesses to this team, but I am not worried. Plus, Georgia has Auburn this week. Have you seen Auburn’s offense? Just terrible. So, do not panic; Georgia is going to be A-okay. But for their performance against the Blazers, the Georgia defense gets a B.

Special teams: F

For the past two weeks, there has been nothing special about the special teams. Last week, it was the kicking game; this week, it’s the return game. Wonder what next week will be? Georgia fumbled a punt and kickoff return. That is almost impossible to do, but they did it. Nothing happened other than that. Georgia did not kick any field goals, and Thorson was pretty good, as always. Special teams did nothing exciting against UAB, so they had a C-. But given that two turnovers happened on special teams, I threw them down to an F. Back-to-back weeks, the special teams get an F. I do wonder why we did not attempt a field goal. I was pulling for a kick. That is the only thing that makes me nervous about going to Auburn this week. But maybe Kirby knows something I don’t (He does).

Final notes: 

Overall, the Dawgs got a B. Not terrible; it could have been better, but that is okay. Many people are judging this team on the 2021 and 2022 scale. But this team is not those teams. Sorry. But this team can do what the other teams did as well. This team can win a national title. There is no team out there that I, as a Georgia fan, am afraid of. There is not a dominant team out there. So, just calm down.

On that note, the Player of The Game is Brock Bowers. What more do I have to say? I love that guy. Can Bobo just feed the guy the ball? I just like to see him play football. Bowers makes it look so easy. Anyway, I’ll stop gushing over him. Georgia is going to be okay, folks. Just one game at a time. We should all know this: the CFB season is a marathon. You don’t win a marathon in the first 6 miles, and you don’t win a national title in September. Just chill out.