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ESPN reveals Georgiaâs biggest question mark entering the College Football Playoff
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ESPN reveals Georgiaâs biggest question mark entering the College Football Playoff
ATHENS â Georgia does plenty of things well. Itâs a big reason the Bulldogs are in the College Football Playoff after a 12-1 season that saw Georgia win the SEC.
Comments
Does anyone know when the first availability report for the Sugar Bowl will be released? Eager to see where Bobo is on that. Frankly, I think Toliver can handle things, so hope we don't get a fall back in performance due to lack of decisiveness on who will start...
There are a lot of teams in the playoffs that would take the "flaws" UGA has right now. I think we saw enough from Toliver vs Alabama's defense to get the feeling that he isn't as big of a drop off as we were concerned about going into the SECCG. Throw in the extra preparation time since then, and it seems like the OL is in good shape overall. Hopefully, Glover's off field troubles haven't been a huge distraction.
yep - read that 3 days ago.
Another outstanding ESPN article. Keep up the good work - scouring the internet for quality articles/materiel ain’t easy, that’s thinking outside of the box.
"In last year’s Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame, Georgia’s offensive line struggled mightily. The Bulldogs had just 62 rushing yards in the 23-10 loss, while Gunner Stockton was sacked 4.0 times."
Not buying it. Last year's OL produced 3 rookie NFL starters (Wilson for the Patriots, Fairchild for the Bengals, Ratledge for the Lions) plus a guy who made the Saints rotation (played in the last 6 games in a row, though at OG as he didn't work out as 2nd string OT) in Xavier Truss. While not as good as the 2017, 2021, 2022 and 2023 OLs, clearly it was not a weakness. How many playoff teams had 3 rookie NFL starters and 1 backup as upperclassmen last year? Plus guys like Bobo, Freeling, Morris, Toliver, Greene etc. who were mostly backups last year. Meaning they would have started most anywhere else.
UGA's problem last year was Arian Smith (did almost nothing for the Jets this year), Dom Lovett (did even less with the Lions) and Dillon Bell (will not get drafted as they did) as the starting WRs. Defenses were able to go single coverage against them or even cover them with nickel DBs and safeties, and either put everyone else in the box or blitz them every down. Why? Because against ND, for example, Smith had 1 catch for 67 yards (on a drive that ended with a field goal) and was invisible the other 60 plays on offense. Bell and Lovett combined for 9 catches for 69 yards, under 8 yards a catch. And those were the 10 plays that Smith, Lovett and Bell actually managed to get open and didn't drop the ball. The sacks were because of either the QB holding onto the ball until a WR got open or defenses that blitzed with impunity because of WRs who were no threat to get open.
This year? Zachariah Branch gets open at the snap so Stockton can get rid of the ball quickly. And if defenses ignore him to blitz or put guys in the box like they did Bell/Lovett/Smith, he will take one of Stockton's screen passes and just keep running. The attention that Branch gets gives Frazier and Bowens more room to run too. Granted, it will take more than that if UGA is going to get very far in the playoffs. Noah Thomas will need to be at least as good as Smith was on the outside. But if UGA had a guy like Branch last year, Beck doesn't get hurt, Etienne and Frazier are far more effective at tailback and UGA at the very minimum gets to play Ohio State in the title game and probably wins it.
Football is a team game. If you're as glaringly deficient in one area as UGA was at WR last year, it makes other areas look worse than they are. But no, the teams that won playoff games last year like Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame etc. did not have 3 rookie NFL starters and 4 rookies in NFL rotations overall. They just had better than Smith, Lovett and Bell at WR. And in the case of Ohio State where Emeka Egbuka is the Bucs' leading WR by a mile , Jeremiah Smith will be a top 5 pick in the 2027 draft and Carnell Tate will be a 1st round pick in the upcoming one, a lot better.
@randomsportsfan Did you watch the tape from last year? The talent was there hence the draftees but the play wasn't there. The stats prove it out. They were also pretty beat up last year and we were mainly young this year but these guys are no longer freshman. The drops were crushing, the string of picks didn't help, but we were behind the sticks all season because we were getting <3 yards on first down runs.
No one cares what ESPN thinks. Toliver proved himself vs. the Gumps in the SECCG and will only get better from here.
Next. Man. Up.
Go Dawgs!
While you cannot replace Bobo's experience and knowledge of the protections, Tolliver held his own against that big nose tackle of Alabama's. I don't feel we'll see any better than the big 'Bama NT, so as long as Tolliver does his job and makes good snaps and grades out at least 70% or better, we should be able to win in any contest.
Bots can’t think and are asexual. But if it was human, more than likely, it would be a chick.
But the good news is, you can give them stats.
I thought it always begins a week out, but I don’t know that we can expect an update on Christmas Day. Maybe the day after?
Drew Bobo is a MUST for us to go far in these playoffs. Go Dawgs!
I thought so, too, before the SECCG game. He would definitely be a bolster, but Tolliver is no slouch. Being thrown into a game, when you've had minimal participation, is different from managing a game from the start, when you've had time to work with the first team. It's not the same as Gunner being shifted from backup QB to starter.
bobo is out for the year
I'm confuzzed... are you saying Kirby's comments above are BS? Legitimately interested, no sarcasm
I’ve never known Kirby to be completely forthcoming about injuries. Maybe drew is making a miraculous recovery but I haven’t seen it
I understand, but I would rather go into the MOST important part of the season with my proven leader Drew Bobo.