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SEC expert: âFlawedâ Georgia football in precarious position after Alabama loss

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SEC expert: âFlawedâ Georgia football in precarious position after Alabama loss

âThe loss to Alabama leaves Georgia in a very precarious position, not a whole lot of room for error when you look at the schedule over the next month,â Doering told DawgNation, noting UGAâs upcoming games at Auburn and against Ole Miss, Florida, Mississippi State, Texas and Georgia Tech.

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JBMDawg46

Chris is right. We could very easily be 0-2 in conference. The weird thing I’d we should have lost to TN and should have beaten Bama. Unless something happens to enable us to pressure the QB, we are in big trouble.

JimWallace

https://forum.dawgnation.com/discussion/comment/806270#Comment_806270

I agree - somewhat agree - with you and Chris, but also believe the big problem on defense is we're not good enough in the soft zone defensive secondary.

We'll know more as the season progresses. I'm expecting Kirby to do what he usually does and have the team in position to improve as the season goes on. Of course, this is the likely to be a year of chaos; who knows what's going to happen across the college football landscape.

According to me, we learned last year that a team which shouldn't have been in the playoffs could win all the marbles.

I expect Alabama to lose to Vanderbilt. I hope we beat the hapless Kentucky.

Go, Dawgs!

reddawg1

Predicting Vandy beats Bama, perfect trap game. Vandy has seveal 5 th years players(grown men) from what I m hearing.

YankeeDawg64

He's right. The D line looks horrible. It all starts there (for stopping the opposing team). NONE of those remaining games are a given with this team. Good Lord is it possible a 3+ lose reg season? or am I too cynical 😐️

mitch_earl

@JimWallace As for "I expect Alabama to lose to Vanderbilt" the game is in Tuscaloosa this year. Bama's last loss in Tuscaloosa was in early September 2023 to a loaded Texas team who went to the playoff (where they lost to the loaded Washington team that lost to an even more loaded Michigan team).

Right now instead of rooting for Bama to lose, you should root for UGA to play better. Otherwise, UGA will just make the SECCG only to lose as they did in 2018, 2019, 2021 (note they didn't make it to Atlanta in 2020) and 2023. And also lose in the playoff like 2024.

On offense, UGA should get back to what they were doing in 2017 and 2018. Despite the "he's the next Tom Brady" stuff from UGA fans back then until the bottom fell out in 2019, the truth is that UGA did their best in his era when Jake Fromm didn't have to do much more than hand off to a pair of 1000 yard rushers. UGA can have a running game almost as dominant as the 2018 edition if they abandon the Monken philosophy, and allow it to. (For people who insist on forgetting that Monken was the coordinator for the miserable 2020 season, Monken's offense requires much better players at OT and TE than UGA has now. Example: 2021 Monken had 2 future NFL TEs who could block in Darnell Washington and John FitzPatrick in addition to Brock Bowers.)

On defense, it depends on whether Smart and Schumann are willing to modify their scheme from one that requires at least 2 future high NFL draft picks at pass rusher to work to one that can still be successful without needing to be an NFL minor league. Keep in mind: Ohio State won the national title last season and was one shot to the head AND no-call against Marvin Harrison Jr from winning it in 2022 without having anywhere near that type of talent on defense. There is precedent: UGA nearly won the 2017 title, and honestly played defense well enough to, because back then Smart and Mel Tucker didn't play a pure 3-4 defense. Instead, their gameplan was to let Roquan Smith and DeAndre Baker wreak havoc while letting Lorenzo Carter, D'Andre Walker, John Atkins and Davin Bellamy support them. While there is no one player as good as Smith in Athens right now, they actually do have way more overall talent on defense than they did in 2017 and 2018. They just need to be as effective at using it as they were back then.

Georgia67

The Bama QB had time to make a sandwich, call his mom, and still make his throws without distress.

Is the Bama OL that good or is our DL that bad?

MontanaDawg

Yep, Chris is stating the obvious, but it's only one of MANY issues on defense and offense that we have to somehow fix if we are going to improve and still make the playoffs.

I am beginning to think this is a seriously pivotal season for the assistant coaches and the program. We've either got to right the ship with the current coaching staff or go in a completely different direction and clean house. I don't think Kirby is going to stand for another season like last year. Sure, we made the playoffs, but we were eliminated quickly. I'm worried we may not even make the playoffs this year just looking at what's gone on thus far. We'll probably get a good idea of what's ahead over the next few weeks. How the Dawgs respond, not just against KY, but going forward in every single game will be key. Better never rests.

I posted this earlier on another article about how many freshman we are playing…

Georgia is currently 57th nationally in offense (6.1 yards per play) and 59th nationally in defense (5.2 YPP). That does not bode well for the rest of the season. We were in a similar unenviable position last season.

I will say this - since Lanning left at the end of 2021 and Monken in 2022, the Georgia program and its dominance has regressed overall. Of course, that was also about the same time that the transfer portal and NIL was just kicking in.

Coincidence?

I dunno.

I will say this for certain: Some teams have figured things out in this new landscape much better and quicker than we have.

The time for us to figure it out is NOW.

JimWallace

@mitch_earl, I still think Vanderbilt will win on Saturday.

Why you would think expecting the 'Dores to beat Alabama is somehow a sign that I should be more focused on the Dawgs and their need for improvement is beyond me. One has nothing to do with the other.

I enjoyed the rest of your thoughtful post analyzing what's wrong in Athens. You made numerous good points with which I agree.

I believe I understand Kirby's offensive philosophies and strategies pretty well. I'm fine with them as long as they are working as defined by domination of opponents which by definition includes winning most every game. However, there are other ways to win, ways other than smash mouth, run it up the gut over and over football. Football is a very physical game; it is very often true that the most physically dominant team wins, but it's not guaranteed. Sometimes the smart team beats the physical team. I want Georgia to be both the physical team and the smart team, but more than that, I want Georgia to be the winning team.

I suspect we're on the same page for the most part, as are most all Georgia fans including Kirby Smart. He ain't perfect, but who is.

Go, Dawgs!

dawgfromduluth

We continue to feel that loss of Lanning and Monken. We have not replaced that talent. Players come ang go but coaching and play calling need to be somewhat sustained.

1SICemDAWGS1

Wonder how Doering feels about his beyond flawed gators? Lol

DallasDawg

@mitch_earl, UGA actually has run an offense closer to the Jake Fromm years that you mentioned rather than how they operated under Monken. Although we never led at any point against Bama (the first time that has happened in years, I understand), we still only threw the ball 20 times. The offensive game plan seemed designed to do just as you suggested, lean on our running backs and keep mistakes to a minimum. And to be fair, it worked. We ran for 227 yards, had one (key) turnover, hit on one deep shot, missed on another and managed to keep the game close despite not throwing the ball all over the yard. And, I believe, that is a recipe for success for us this year — IF our D-Line can wake up. If we can figure out a way to affect the QB (doesn't have to just be sacks, just get them to move off their spots) we can win. Time will tell. Go Dawgs!

unknown

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osmosiphobe

https://forum.dawgnation.com/discussion/comment/806298#Comment_806298

Red and Jim are not “rooting” for the Bummers to lose. He’s considering the way they and Vandy are playing, and making a prediction. It’s not the same.
“No-call” in the Harrison case? There was no call because there was no foul. Why would that even be a thing to mention?
UGA’s last loss before this one was a fluke against a piss-poor Carolina team on an early Saturday afternoon in 2019. Home losses happen. Even against poor teams. Even with hyped crowds.

osmosiphobe

https://forum.dawgnation.com/discussion/comment/806351#Comment_806351

lol. Maybe worry more about south Florida…

D1Athlete1987

https://forum.dawgnation.com/discussion/comment/806351#Comment_806351

Mediocre? We have lost one game this year with an extremely young team. We finally turned over a roster after year after year of sending 10 to 15 players to the nfl every year. What is UF excuse? You havent even.been mediocre. Our last season was plagued with too many injuries. In fact no other team that had even remotely close to the amount of injuries as uga did or had ever made the playoffs or NC. We lost one game by 3 and morons get to yapping. Yeah they have work to do, but the season is not over and we are still in better shape than most the country after playing more difficult opponents than pretty much everyone. People love to come out and speak on what they do not know or over exaggerate. We like everyone else still have over half a season to go.