It has not been the season many expected from this Georgia defense.
Though they’ve held up well against the run, it’s been a different story through the air. Through seven games, the Bulldogs have allowed the fifth-most passing yards in the SEC. The pass rush has also struggled mightily as they have the fewest sacks in the SEC with eight. Georgia has also allowed an opening drive touchdown in four of their five SEC games this season as well.
The Bulldogs were gashed for 41 points by Tennessee and allowed five touchdowns to Ole Miss on the Rebels’ first five drives before ultimately holding them in the fourth quarter. It’s been a frustrating year at times for this group, with the pass rush struggling to get home and the secondary having costly lapses in coverage.
And entering their annual rivalry game against Florida in Jacksonville, the Bulldogs have adopted a new mantra on defense.
Georgia defense has a new mantra
“Do simple better,” defensive lineman Jordan Hall said via dawgnation.com. “I know that’s for our room. Over the bye week we just did like a little self scout. Just look and see what you do wrong, try to get better at that, and really try to attack the parts of our game that we feel like is weak.”
Linebacker C.J. Allen echoed the sentiment when asked about what Georgia accomplished during the bye week.
“Just striking the block, getting off the block… making the tackle,” Allen said. “Simple stuff like that. Just doing simple better. So just playing football simple.”
Kirby Smart has often emphasized that football comes down to blocking and tackling above all else. So it’s no surprise that that’s where he pointed first when asked about ways the defense can improve.
“At the end of the day, that’s what defense is about,” Smart said via 247sports.com. “Good defenses have few missed tackles. When you look at the two of our lesser performances, there were a lot of missed tackles. The first thing you start with is that. You’ve got to tackle well. That starts with being in position to make the tackle, not being out of position. But tackling well is key.”
One play that embodied that tackling problem came on the Rebels first touchdown drive, where on 3rd and goal linebacker Chris Cole had what appeared to be an unblocked, wide open shot at Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss in the backfield. But Chambliss slipped away and then also got past a diving Raylen Wilson for the touchdown.
It’s a textbook example of a “simple” play that the Bulldogs have to do better on. They don’t get those opportunities to make explosive plays on defense too often in the SEC. Not only does Georgia have the fewest sacks in the SEC, but their 27 tackles for loss are fewer than anyone in the entire country aside from UCLA and Army.
What does Georgia need to do to make a run at a National Championship?
The havoc has just not been there in 2025. Hall knows it has to get better for the Bulldogs to have a fighting chance in the national title race.
“Get some sacks, get some sacks,” he said about the defense’s goals for the week. “Make some splash plays and give our team a little bit more juice and just be that group that the team leans on when times are needed.”
Edge rusher Damon Wilson II, who transferred to Missouri this offseason, has been a wrecking ball for the Tigers and a big part of one of the SEC’s better pass rushing units with 6.5 sacks on the season. So far this year for Georgia, no one has stepped up like that off the edge.
And maybe at this point it’s safe to say Georgia does not have the talent it usually does off the edge, and there’s no magical midseason fix for that. But when they do have opportunities to make plays, they cannot afford to miss out on them with poor execution.
“It definitely comes down to execution,” Allen said. “It’s executing the right call, having eye discipline and being in the right spot.”
Florida has some talented playmakers that are tough to bring down. Freshman wideouts Vernell Brown and Dallas Wilson have been studs, and running back Jadan Baugh is a tough runner. Gator quarterback DJ Lagway stands at 6-foot-3, 247 pounds and has plenty of athleticism to boot as well.
“If you do get through on the rush, if you ever get through, now [you] gotta finish,” Smart said of Lagway. “Finishing on a guy that size is harder than you think, in terms of his escapability and ability to lengthen plays and do things.”
The Gators have an air of mystery about them with new interim head coach Billy Gonzales and playcaller Ryan O’Hara. But if Georgia allows yet another quick start and struggles with the simple plays yet again, it would make a concerning season even more frustrating for the Bulldogs’ defense.