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Georgia football podcast: UGA fans’ QB concerns briefly overshadow Playoff excitement
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Georgia football podcast: UGA fans’ QB concerns briefly overshadow Playoff excitement
Georgia football is the No. 1 topic every day on DawgNation Daily — the daily podcast for Georgia Bulldogs fans. Catch up on everything happening with UGA athletics with host Brandon Adams and the DawgNation experts as they break down the latest Georgia football recruiting news and discuss coach Kirby Smart’s quest to return the Bulldogs to the top of the SEC. On episode No. 1,583 (Dec. 6, 2021) of the podcast, Georgia fans can hear a discussion about the aftermath of Georgia’s loss to Alabama in the SEC championship -- including the debate about whether Stetson Bennett or JT Daniels should be the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback.
Comments
Has there been any excitement really? With the expectation of playing Mich with Bennett at qb. And if the somehow find a miracle to win that, then Bama. Sorry, just not that exciting of another loss.
So, if CKS' baseline for dynamic offense includes McCarron, McElroy and Coker, while the trend since leaving Bama includes Burrow, Mac Jones, Tua, Watson, Lawrence, Fields…
What about practice with JTD versus our first team defense to flesh out the necessary adjustments needed for success against elite QB play?
I can answer your second question to Stinch, NO, we can’t win a rematch IF we get there. To me, that was one of the worst losses in Georgia football history and definitely Kirby’s worst defeat. I’m afraid we’ll let that game beat us twice. I hope I’m wrong.
Hey BA - enjoyed seeing you at Marlow’s last week and before the game on Saturday. Boy I had really bought into the “false positive” of an injured AL offense coming off their Iron Bowl performance.
I knew going into the game that Brini was probably the weakest link in the defense and I was surprised to see Poole starting the game. That didn’t work out so well.
I agree with your assessment that Stetson has been making bad decisions on the field. The two INTs (and dropped 3rd) were only the start. He made bad decisions in the running game that really hurt. He had a terrible game with the read-option play that had been his big advantage over JTD. He pulled the ball when he should have handed off and vice versa. Mostly it felt like he was trying too hard and pressing. Hopefully they can coach him up before the Michigan game.
Wow. It's truly astounding the extent to which Brandon and Stinch go to avoid saying anything even slightly irreverent in the Church of Kirby. John got close, when he said the UGA offense is built a certain way, which fits Stetson's skill set (even if that's entirely true - which I could debate) and that it wasn't set up to come back from 2-3 scores.
Well, yeah. So, the question remains, which they REFUSE to answer: When you are in a position to need to spread the field and take shots in the passing game - because you're in a scoring contest and LOSING the game - why does a head coach refuse to go to the guy who DOES fit that scenario?
Since when is going down with the ship a winning theme for a football coach? It's a necessity for an honorable captain whose ship is sinking, but football coaches are supposed to try to win the **** game.
That is the SINGLE issue that's fueling all of this QB "controversy." It's not about Stetson or JT. They're both great DAWGS and not up for criticism. It's about the decision-making of the coaching staff. How do you take advantage of every weapon at your disposal, based on the game on the field, in order to prevail in the contest at hand? That's the ONLY issue.
And that is something that Nick Saban has mastered, along with Bill Belichick, and something Kirby Smart has not yet figured out. If he doesn't (and I'm not convinced that he can, honestly), this will be a recurring theme for a very long time.
A final note: Kirby has an achillies heel - his love of the underdog (especially if they're from a small town in S. GA). Think about it. If Kirby Smart was graduating H.S. today, would UGA recruit him? Not in his fondest dream.
So, I get loving The Mailman, the scrapper, the walk-on. We ALL love him. But let's put the best talent on the field, at every position. That's Kirby's mantra. He needs to start listening to it.
IMO, that was one of the worst UGA loses ever and by far the worst loss of Smart's program. Perhaps of his career. All of Kirby's worst tendencies were on display and I expect to see the same in three weeks. He has not shown the ability to change despite his slogans. Michigan is a dangerous team right now and could certainly beat Kirbys team. And against Alabama again, we could see the slightly different version of the same score. So there is no joy at the prospect of UGA playing again this year.
"engage in debate about whether JT Daniels should replace Stetson Bennett as UGA’s starting quarterback...." ????
Say what you will about Saban once again outscheming Kirby's defense, we scored 24 points two times with Stetson. Only difference is this time he wan't playing hurt. Keeping in mind I read that 24 points would have won exactly ONE of the last 21 SECCG, that's right - ONE SECCG since the turn of the century, add in that the average points scored by the winning teams in the SECCG in the last 11 years have been around 43.5 points, and if CKS can't see that Bama's Bryce Young ( 485 career passes - 44 TDs - ONLY 4 INTS) is rarely if ever going to turn the ball over...24 points by Stetson Bennet will never win, as validated by the last two Bama encounters. Coach, I know you get the big bucks because you are a very good coach. A very good coach should realize we are going to have to outscore them to beat them. 5 yards dinks and 10 yard dunks is not going to do it. There should be no debate, you have QBs with arms to take the top off the defense and an offensive line that did a pretty darn good job containing Will Anderson and company, time to bring in the big gun. Stubbornness can be an admirable trait in a HBC, don't let it turn into stupidity .
Ok, I'm done with my one and only rant. Thank you Stetson for getting us to the party, there wasn't a single Dawg fan that didn't hope you would pull the Cinderella story and I am so very thankful for you effort and perseverance, but there is a reason Coach Nick Saban has never won a Natty with a walk on. High QB ratings are usually given to QBs with big arms and great "see the field" acumen, not so great QB ratings are given to QBs with one or none of thsoe traits, just saying.
Say what you Stetson haters want, but in both of his games against Bama he performed better than the magnificent Justin Fields did last year for Ohio State or Ian Book for Notre Dame. Fields was light years worse and the Buckeyes lost by a much larger margin. Please quit blaming the loss Saturday on Bennett because he only deserves a small amount of credit as discussed by Stinchcomb in the podcast. Some of you guys live in a fantasy world where you think JT would have won that game. My guess is he would have possibly completed several more passes, but would have been sacked numerous times and scored less. And yes, he has demonstrated a huge propensity to throw interceptions (much higher than Stetson) so he would have likely had several more than Bennett.
Did you negative guys listen to the podcast? I certainly didn’t hear Brandon Adams or Jon Stinchcomb blame that loss on Bennett. In fact, I heard there is a mystery around JT which I totally agree with. The information regarding JT, his parents and California coach all being in Knoxville before the game a few weeks ago clearly tells me something is amiss…..and Kirby may be limited in what he can divulge. We need to quit bashing Stetson because he’s giving 110% effort and we need to quit arguing about Kirby’s decision making. I sincerely believe this is not a Bennett vs Daniels issue……it’s strictly a JT issue, but can’t be discussed for whatever the reason. You guys can give me a “thumbs down” on my thoughts, but it’s clear to me, especially with the Ooooops comments by the sidelines TV reporters, that we don’t know squat about what is taking place.
The quarterback issue is tricky for me because I find myself on both sides. I firmly believe that Daniels is the better option, and am going to have to see it to believe that we can beat Bama with Bennett regardless of how the defense plays - i.e. both the defense and the quarterback play must significantly improve.
But I'm also reluctant to just throw my hands up and declare Smart the new Nero, fiddling while the Bulldog Nation burns. The explanation that Smart is flat-out playing favorites or that he is too stubborn to play Daniels quite simply makes no sense. Even putting aside how ridiculously reckless and irresponsible that would be, it doesn't align with Smart's own previous decision on the matter. If he was determined to put the CFB world in its place and win it all with the scrappy walk-on from South Georgia, Daniels never would have been named the starter to begin with.
The situation overall makes no sense, so of course we can't rule anything out. But this is starting to feel a lot like last year when we kept wondering why we weren't seeing Daniels, and found out after the season ended that he wasn't as far along in his recovery as it had been made to seem. Maybe that's it, maybe it isn't. But it's simple, plausible, and would explain everything. Whether it's true or not, it's the most rational assumption we can make at this time. If there were to surface some actual evidence that Smart is just making this program his trivial plaything, then I will join all of you lambasting him. But just as with Bennett being Bama, I'm going to have to see it to believe it.
E_Roc,
I agree with most of your thoughts, but I don’t think JT is the answer because he seems “unavailable”……and we will find out more about his story at the end of the season. I also agree that Smart playing favorites is total malarkey. Why would he start Mathis over Bennett last year if Stetson was his boy? Why would he play JT over Stetson in the last 4 games of 2020 after JT was cleared? Why did he start JT in 3 out of the first 4 games this year when JT was well? You’d have to be a totally blind knucklehead to buy into the “favorite son” narrative. As far as winning it all with Stetson (or anyone else including JT), stay tuned.
I agree with a lot that is said here but, the thing that's bothers me the most here is Kirby just being Kirby, keeping everyone in the dark. I'm also tired of hearing him say that you can't put any blame on Stetson for this loss, and talk about how good he did and the great throws he made, well I don't know what game he was watching but the one I watched I saw receivers making a lot better catches than he made throws, if not for great catches I hate to think about how few completions he would have had. At this point if he's not going to give JT a shot at this, knowing he's the better QB then at least please be honest and give us fans a clue as to what's going on
We don’t KNOW that JT is the better QB. Look at his resume against winning teams… Clemson and Cincinnati… no evidence there that he is the better QB. However, I do wish we had seen more of JT this season, especially late third and the forth quarter against Bama…
This is pretty simple. Georgia lost to Alabama because the defense had a bad game. The defense was going to have to limit Bama to no more than 28 points and likely less. When they failed to sack and pressure Young, that wasn't going to happen.
I love Stetson but he has a vital limitation as a QB. Bennett is 13 of 44 - 29 Percent - on 3rd - 4th down passing attempts.
Daniels is 10 of 11 passing on 3rd downs for 133 yards. Daniels is also 7-0 as a starter at Georgia.
If Daniels is healthy, why not give him the first team reps from here on out. See what he does against Michigan and get him ready for a possible NCG.