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ESPN says Georgia must ‘revamp’ offense if it wants a deeper College Football Playoff run in 2025
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ESPN says Georgia must ‘revamp’ offense if it wants a deeper College Football Playoff run in 2025
ATHENS — Georgia’s season ended earlier than it would have liked. The Bulldogs lost 23-10 to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff, going one and done in the new 12-team format.
Comments
Yep. Consistency and "Mixed Bag" is totally appropriate and that unfortunately is likely due to coaching and is not likely to be fixed. Bobo switches between Excellent and Pathetic play calling and clearly does not learn from his mistakes nor is able to adapt. WRs were clearly not taught well or maybe taught incorrectly. O line went from "hot" to "cold".
Smart has clearly pushed to get new WRs and I am absolutely ecstatic for it, but I worry that we will have frustrated kids that turn into Transfers and/or underperformers.
While Bobo is certainly not exempt from blame, I’m thinking and Hoping get the WRs problem fixed and just as importantly actually more get the O line fixed.
Get those fixed and Maybe you can have at least decent play Even when he goes into bad play calling mode.
But with all three of those combined it’s really kind of miraculous the Dawgs did as well as they did.
My biggest concern is Searls. If he couldn’t coach UP the O Line with four and five star players, several of which were veteran players. How can we expect him to coach UP allot of new guys ?? We’ll see. All we can do is cheer and Hope !!
Bobo’s play calling makes one think “manic depression.” Often good, often terrible. Sometimes it makes you wonder if the same guy is calling all the plays. Obviously, he’s not Todd Monken.
The offense does need revamping. That’s not news. It’s obvious. The question is whether Bobo is the guy to do that. Opinions vary among Dawg fans. IMO, we need fresh thinking and ideas. Of course, blaming Bobo for every **** decision is wrong. Kirby is paid $13,000,000+ and is provided a headset free of charge. Use it.
Well, duh
The offense doesn't need revamping; the execution has to be better. UGA suffered from a poor running game with spotty blocking and no power back, as well as a poor passing game because of drops and poor decisions by the QB. ND and PSU have anemic offenses that got them to the semi-finals and final. UGA has to be more explosive on offense and have the ability to score from anywhere on the field. The defense will also have to be more dominant and create easy opportunities for the offense. Everyone talked about slow starts this year, usually referencing the offense, but the defense got off to slow starts, allowing other teams to score early and often. I saw a stat where UGA trailed in 9 games last year, more than any other CFP team. That has to change to compete for a championship.
The only legitimacy in blaming Bobo for RBs who don't make people miss and rarely break tackles - a major reason for UGA being 102 in rushing yards is the lack of long runs - and WRs who couldn't get separation, make plays on the ball and frequently drop catchable balls is because Bobo isn't much of a recruiter. In other words, no playcaller exists who can create a great or even good offense out of subpar talent. Bobo's recruiting is why he did not succeed as a head coach at Colorado State. That said, UGA's talent issues long preceded Bobo, who has only been OC for 2 seasons. The guys playing on offense for UGA this season were for the most part recruited 3-5 years ago.
So yes, bring in a better recruiter as OC if the goal is to never again have someone like Arian Smith lead UGA in receiving by 200 yards and never again have Florida's backup tailback from a 5-7 team (and the starter that Etienne couldn't beat out was a 3 star who transferred in from a Sun Belt team) come to Athens to start. But if that happens, don't think that UGA's offenses will be better because of the playcalling. And also, don't think that a much better recruiter with Bobo's playcalling expertise will be in Athens for more than 2 years before some other college hires him.
And here I sit in Scottsdale watching Hines Ward make an instant impact at ASU while UGA receivers can't catch a cold. Frustrating to say the least. You could have had him Kirby. He all but begged to be on the UGA staff.
I've come down from my '22 season high and am entertaining thoughts those days are gone forever. We have depleted O and D lines and spotty skill players on offense. We have an OC and an O-Line coach who prove the Peter Principle, over and over. If those 2 love UGA they'd resign and save Kirby the pain and embarrassment of firing them. Just awful.
"And here I sit in Scottsdale watching Hines Ward make an instant impact at ASU while UGA receivers can't catch a cold. "
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And, with rare exception, couldn't get separation from any but the poorest defensive backs.
Too often we didn't block well. In the run game too many times guys gave up on the block. Rarely got to the second level. In the pass game we set bad angles and got beat or got confused on stunts by the defense. And this is not only on the O-line - the TEs have to block better on the edge and also learn how to block a LB up the gut by not getting bulldozed back into the QB. On the fumble by Trevor against ND, WR Anthony Evans missed his block on the defender, who then knocked the ball out. The running back never had a chance after the handoff. Make the block, different outcome. And as much as Arian Smith has caught grief over his drops, seems the dude was always willing to block. DGD. These things are fixable. These things are coachable.
Yep. (5) games this season we had less than 300 yards of total offense. That's just not good, not if you want to win the Natty. (38) dropped passes - most in the CFB and most were the receivers fault - just think if we got even half those passes as catches how different the season could have ended. I've made that statement time and again, and it just rings SO true.
It all starts with the O-line and either we move forward or get stuffed.
There's lot to fix on the offense but a change in offensive philosophy is paramount. For reasons unknown to most fans, Bobo gave up putting the QB under center with a few exceptions. That drastically reduces the effectiveness of play action. For the most part he abandon tempo which Monken used very well. As I recall on 3rd an 4th down and on the goal line Bobo used a large linemen lead blocker 3 times this season, maybe a few more, all successfully but how many times in the same situations did he have the QB in a pistol with no lead blocker. Did he ever have Etienne and Nate on the field on the same play? If you remember when Monken had Milton, Edwards, or White line up as tailback, many times, Cook or McIntosh were on the field as well giving D's fits. His diversity of sets and plays help the offensive lines look really good.
For whatever reason Bobo either lacks the imagination or is so stuck in his ways that his offense is predictable and archaic. Yes, the O line was very inconsistent but when a D probably knows the play 60 or 70 % of the time it sure makes it difficult to block .
The sad part is that Monken's offense is right there in tape, video, paper and Bobo is either to vain or kacks the confidence to use it or refine it in some fashion. GA us now stuck with Richt's offense with Ritch's coaches.
Bobo and Smart constantly harp on execution or lack thereof but scheme is as important in modern college football. Until Bobo and Smart recognize and own up to these facts, I don't see another NC in the foreseeable future.
@shamymax
If Todd Monken could have gotten more out of Arian Smith this year, why didn't he get more out of Arian Smith in 2020, 2021 and 2022? Not that I am picking on Smith. Quite the contrary: Smith had more yards than any other UGA WR, RB or TE this year and of this bunch is the one with the best shot at getting drafted by a mile.
@shamymax
Have to agree with you a good bit. Monken also had better talent to work with. You mentioned Milton, Edwards, White and Cook. Left out of the conversation was Bowers, McConkey and Washington. Throw in Mims, Jones and McClendon - as an OC you've got a star at just about every skill position on offense. Bowers alone was a defensive nightmare since you could line him up just about anywhere.
@benzone
Why didn't Monken get more out of Arian Smith? He didn't need to. He had plenty to work with. Agree with you on his draft stock. He's got the speed and quickness. Good luck to him.