One of the biggest reasons why the Georgia Bulldogs have been so consistently dominant under head coach Kirby Smart has been the overall prowess with its defense. While strengths of this unit come and go, now would be a fantastic time for the pass rush to show up. Through Georgia's first three games of the season, Georgia has amassed only four sacks. There are reasons for this low total.
Smart addressed this during a press conference after Tuesday night's practice. He attributed part of it to playing on the road in a hostile environment vs. Tennessee, one where the Dawgs were down pretty much the entire game. As for their two home games, they were against lesser competition in Marshall and Austin Peay. Plus, it was not like Smart was going to show any SEC opponents anything.
Here is what Smart had to say about the Georgia pass rush heading into the big game vs. Alabama.
Kirby Smart expects for the Georgia pass rush to take flight vs. Alabama
Smart finished Tuesday's press conference by saying playing at home will be a huge part in all this.
“Obviously, pass rush is a big thing at home in a game like this. What have you seen out of that group going into this? They’re hungry. They’re ready to get after it. They want to challenge. It was tough at Tennessee. We didn’t have many third downs. We didn’t get many passing situations playing from behind most of the game. They did a good job picking things up."
Smart finished with wreaking havoc in the Alabama backfield will be a challenge, but could be fun, too.
“I’m excited to see these guys go play. They want an opportunity to go play and get after it. It’s going to be a fun game. They’ve got a really big physical offensive line. They can maul you and bully you. They’re big and they’re physical. They’ve got big, good backs. It’s going to be a great challenge for our front against their line.”
Here is everything that Smart had to say about his team after Georgia's practice on Tuesday evening.
Smart mentioned earlier in the week that the team with the best offensive line is going to win the SEC.
What else could help the Georgia Bulldogs factor in the pass rush more?
Besides having the crowd noise in the team's favor, Georgia does have a few other things working for them. The first is they have a clean bill of health on that side of the ball, meaning a deep pass-rushing rotation is to the team's overall benefit. The second is they have not had to empty the chamber yet, as in this unit has not really been put to work. And third, Alabama should be the more desperate team.
Just because Alabama has largely owned Georgia over the last two decades does not guarantee that will continue. Alabama already has one loss on the season on the road to Florida State and cannot really afford another one to Georgia. Keep in mind that the Bulldogs holds the longest active home winning streak in the country at 33 games dating back to 2019. Also Kalen DeBoer is not Nick Saban.
Overall, as long as Georgia takes care of the football and does not give up the big play over the top, the Dawgs stand a great chance to keep their home winning streak alive. Streaks are meant to end, just like records are meant to be broken. That being said, this is the last mental block the Georgia program needs to fully get over. Alabama is a good team, but it is not a great team yet, so just go win.
If Georgia can put pressure on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, he is going to turn the football over.