Georgia football trying to fix what's ailing its underperforming offense during off week
Georgia football returned top Heisman Trophy contender and projected NFL first-round quarterback Carson Beck and an experienced offensive line considered one of the best in the nation.
Sure, the Bulldogs lost generational tight end talent Brock Bowers and top wide receiver Ladd McConkey to the NFL, but there was optimism about transfer portal additions and returning players ready to step into more prominent roles.
So how is it going?
Georgia shook off a slow start to steamroll a ranked Clemson in the opener and took care of business against Tennessee Tech. Then came the Kentucky game last Saturday, when the Bulldogs offense was stymied for much of the night in a 13-12 escape job in Lexington.
Georgia football produces its lowest offensive output since 2021
“I think Georgia’s offense still has to find that gear, find out who they are, who their playmakers are,” former Georgia All-American defensive end and ESPN CollegeGameDay analyst David Pollack said in a video he posted to X, formerly Twitter. “Find a better way to run the football more consistently because that was ugly.”
Georgia’s 4.85 yards per play against Kentucky was its lowest since a 10-3 win against Clemson on Sept. 4, 2021. Its 160 passing yards and 262 total yards were its fewest in the 17 games of Mike Bobo’s second stint as offensive coordinator.
Georgia produced just 63 yards of total offense in the first half, its lowest since 2009, according to the SEC Network. It had 31 rushing yards on 12 carries in the half including Trevor Etienne being stopped for no gain against an eight-man box.
It scored 10 second-half points on scoring drives of 63 and 68 yards.
“We hit a couple plays, went fastball with it,” coach Kirby Smart said afterward. “But we never really found any rhythm the whole night, and that's disappointing because we're a better offense than we played tonight.”
Georgia ranks 13th out of 16 SEC teams in scoring at 31.7 points per game and 10th in total offense, averaging 402.3 yards. The Bulldogs are tied for the third-fewest touchdowns on offense with 11, rank 10th in passing yards per game at 256.7 and 13th in third down conversions at 39.4%.
Georgia doesn’t have a player in the top 10 in the SEC for catches, receiving yards per game or touchdown catches.
“It is very basic, it is very plain,” former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray said on his Snaps podcast. “It’s not very explosive. The offensive line is not up to the caliber that they were supposed to be.”
How Georgia football's offensive line faltered in Lexington
Georgia allowed seven quarterback pressures against Kentucky, the same amount it gave up in the first two games combined, according to Pro Football Focus.
That was fewer than four games last season — nine against Alabama in the SEC championship game and eight against Tennessee, Vanderbilt and South Carolina.
“When you look back at the game, there were some major communication errors there, talking about across the front, and communicating who we're working to, points, and things like that,” Smart said after practice Tuesday. “Which a lot of that, some of that has to do with being on the road and crowd noise, and everybody being on the same page.”
Left tackle Earnest Greene allowed four quarterback pressures, backup tackle Monroe Freeling two and right tackle Xavier Truss one.
“We made him uncomfortable,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops told reporters Monday.
Said Pollack: “The offensive line was supposed to be a strength. The offensive line wasn’t pushing people around. They weren’t creating holes at all to let UGA develop a ground game. And let’s be honest, Georgia wasn’t very aggressive early. Very conservative.”
Beck completed 15 of 24 passes for 160 yards. He was too far on a short pass on the side to Dillon Bell, threw incomplete on a third-and-3 to tight end Oscar Delp who was covered and was off target to Bell on a downfield pass when he was open.
“We've got to be able to hit some open guys when they're open,” Smart said, “and we've got to be able to do some things in the RPO game that help us. And there's some things we missed in that.”
Beck twice connected with Dominic Lovett in the second half on 33-yard pickups including on a second-and-9 late in the game when Georgia was trying to keep Kentucky from getting the ball back.
“At the end of the day, when you lose momentum in those kind of games, you've got to grind them out and find a way,” Smart said. “And we did not have momentum in that game, and it made it more difficult. But when you watch that tape, there are varied things you can point at and say, if we just do this, we're gonna be this much better."
Georgia has extra time to get right with a matchup next with No. 4 Alabama looming Sept. 28 in Tuscaloosa.
“I think that we have a really good offensive staff,” Smart said after the Kentucky game. “We have a really good offense. We have people around them, and we've got a good quarterback. We've got to do a good job and go out and execute.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: The areas that have kept Georgia football offense from hitting stride
