Georgia football has entered their bye week sitting at 3-0 and feeling very good about themselves. The Bulldogs have a tough road ahead, but there are a lot of things they showed against Tennessee this weekend that proves they are a team that can contend for an SEC Championship and a National Championship.
One of those things was a dominant run game that was able to pick up yards at will against the Volunteers. And it's that elite run game that Kirby Smart said is the most important thing for Georgia if they want to be a good team this year.
"Well, that's who we are. If we're going to be good this year, we're going to have to run the ball," Smart shared via 247sports.com. "We're not going to drop back 35, 40 times a game with Gunner and be a drop-back past him. We can't play behind in games. We can't do that. We have to be able to play action, run, let our quarterback make some designed runs, which he did. It worked to perfection, other than the fact that we couldn't stop them defensively."
Kirby Smart needs 1 thing from his team the rest of this season
Georgia flexed the depth of their running back room against Tennessee as they had five Bulldogs contribute in a big way. Nate Frazier led the way as the featured back, but Chauncey Bowens wasn't too far behind with 12 big carries of his own. Dwight Phillips added 29 yards on just five carries and transfer Josh McCray scored two touchdowns which included the game-winner.
Then it's impossible to not mention Cash Jones who was impactful in the run game and pass game, and Gunner Stockton who found a lot of success with his legs as well.
This depth helped carry Georgia against Tennessee as their success on the ground made life a lot easier for Stockton in the passing game. Their success is why Stockton was able to complete a lot of deep balls and throw for over 300 yards, which is something he failed to do in the first two weeks of the season.
Smart knows that Georgia's offense will take a big step back if their run game becomes less effective, so that is why UGA's run game continuing to operate at a high level is the most important thing to Smart the rest of this season.