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Decoding why Georgia coach Kirby Smart would play Stetson Bennett ahead of a healthy JT Daniels
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Decoding why Georgia coach Kirby Smart would play Stetson Bennett ahead of a healthy JT Daniels
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —The Georgia-Florida rivalry game has a unique twist to it this year with both teams dealing with quarterback situations.
Comments
It's only a controversy because the media loves to paint that picture, and add fuel to the fire.
As usual, Mike, you don’t give Bennett enough credit, and you give Daniels too much. However, I believe Georgia can win the national title with either QB, and has an excellent chance of doing so using both. I trust Smart to make the decisions that will give our team the best chance to win.
Bennett has said you don't get to play football forever, so you need to play when you can. If it looks like he doesn't have a shot at the NFL, I could see him coming back for more next year, assuming he has eligibility. If JT feels he needs another year to establish the kind of resume he wants, he could come back, too. That's going to make for an incredibly crowded QB room. I'm not complaining about it; just contemplating the possibilities.
I'm not at all shocked that Bennett's getting the start. He's the recent starter and has played well. Daniels has been out 3-4 games.
It's a big game and like the article stated Bennett has looked much better starting games than he has coming in off the bench.
The big picture plan calls for Daniels being at 100%. Georgia needs two starter capable QB's. You're always one play away from an injury. If we don't see Daniels in this game, it will likely mean he's not quite 100%, or Bennett has the Dawgs rolling.
Mike,
There is no “decoding” necessary. They just said it best on College Game Day when they all agreed to the statement, “WHY WOULD YOU CHANGE QBs AT UGA WHEN YOU ARE ON A ROLL AGAINST TOP RANKED TEAMS?” So why is there debate when Stetson is doing everything right? Please quit creating controversy when there is nothing controversial going on. Go Dawgs!
My gut tells me it's mostly your reason #4 along with a bit of #1. Letting JT get his first start in a long time at home against an easier opponent like Missouri might be the thinking as well...easing him back into the game next weekend. The rest of your reasons for starting Bennett over Daniels do make some sense and could certainly be part of the equation as well. In any case, I expect Bennett to keep the DAWGS rolling forward and winning.
GO DAWGS!! Beat them pesky Gators!!
The main problem I have is listening to Kirby about how he "trusts" Bennett, yet averages 17 passes per game and only 61 plays a game. Sorry, that is not going to work against 4 teams that UGA will and may play. UT, Ala, OSU, and OK. All of them are averaging over 75 plays per game. If we fall behind, running the ball to come from behind is going to be hard to do. UGA still hasn't proved they can score at will in the 4th qtr. I know they have scored, but usually are just playing prevent offense and defense. If he trusts Bennett, air it out. "Take what the defense gives us", really? So 8 men in the box, then why are you still running it?
I just hope he doesn't alternate qb's. The last time he did that, it took almost a full qtr to get the flow back on offense. If he is going to play both, 1 half each. But this could be bad news. Could you imagine if he brought JT in for the 2nd half, and UGA hopefully has a big lead, and just had him hand the ball off like he always does for the back ups? That could be SO BAD. The other issue is, what if Bennett struggles and UGA is losing and brings JT off the bench and doesn't get the rust off fast enough? Heads will explode over who he started. If he is playing both, IMO, I would rather start JT, and if he struggles, let Bennett come in and just save the day. I would rather have the hot hand in the 2nd half then the rusty hand, just in case. Just my opinion, I know not a popular one. The offense has to hold the ball, drive it and always punch it in. In every game, excluding UAB and Vandy, UGA went basically a full qtr of game time without scoring, can't happen to be a championship caliber team.
Let's crush those "lousy stinkin' gators" and stay healthy.
GO DAWGS!!!!!!
I am on the edge of losing trust that Kirby Smart will make the right QB decision. It is laughable starting Stetson Bennett over a healthy JT Daniels. All I have to say Coach Kirby is beware of the decision you make at who starts at QB against the gators-the elite QB recruits are watching closely to see how you manage/mismanage this.
Go Dawgs!
I like to think Kirby is saying, “We’re so good, we’ll beat you like a rented mule with the QB y’all call the midget! To be the man, you have to beat the man, so come take it!”
Monken has really been awesome with his play calling and I believe Kirby trusts him if he thinks Stet is good enough to run his offense.
I think Kirby has the guys ready for an epic beat down!
It's called "Why change with what's working." All SB has done is win the last how many games? Against top 20 teams. I have promoted and sung JT's praises even before he got his first start last year. But he has been injured and UGA has been rolling merrily along with SB. SB has put up as many points and thrown as many passes as he has been allowed to by Monken and CKS. No doubt he could have added on to some of the leads but we had decent leads and it was obvoius those teams weren't going to beat us unless we turned the ball over a couple of times late and Kirby said,AH-AH-AH. Not going to do it!
THe question today is can SB be effective early on and get us a lead and let the defense do it's thing or if we have to play from behind how confident and poised will SB be and how long will CKS remain confident in him? We shall see.
If it ain't broke...don't fix it. Bennett it is. JT understands this. JT will support Bennett and give him advice and support as he has been doing on the sidelines. Bennett gets hurt or loses his grip on the game, JT is there to step in. This is how it should be. We make controversy where there is none. Kirby says Stetson is a "very good quarterback." Has Stetson proved him wrong yet? Every coach of the teams UGA has beaten so far with Stetson agrees with Kirby. Let's get busy Dawgs and take down Mullen. Bring it!
I'm guessing it'll be something very similar to the start of the season, when when one quarterback played a couple of series and then the other came in. It'd be great if Stet, JT, Carson and Brock each get to play a quarter.