What the 2022 Season Proved About Todd Monken

What Georgia's 2022 football solidified about offensive coordinator Todd Monken

Jonathan Williams | Jan 13, 2023

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Georgia Bulldogs

Another season in the books and another season of offensive genius shown by offensive coordinator Todd Monken. Last season for Georgia, a lot of the talk around the program was centered around the Bulldogs' immensely talented defense, and rightfully so. This year, the defense was still highly productive, but the offense got shown a lot of love too.

Even last year, the statistics showed that Georgia pulled their own weight offensively. They averaged 38.6 points per game which ranked them 10th in the nation. However, the Bulldogs took major strides across the board offensively this season which made it impossible to ignore their success.

During the 2022 season, Georgia averaged 41.1 points per game which was the 4th most in the nation while also averaging over 500 yards of total offense. The Bulldogs also boasted the highest scoring percentage in the red zone, the fifth-best third-down conversion rate and finished the season with the most first downs converted in the entire country.

The assumption after glancing at those numbers might be, "Well yeah, of course Georgia should have a good offense. They recruit the best players." All of that is true, but when taking a look at where the Bulldogs were offensively when Monken took over, some clarity is added.

The season prior to Monken taking over as offensive coordinator, Georgia averaged 30.8 points per game which ranked 48th in the nation, and 408 yards of total offense which ranked 61st. That's quite a leap to take in just three years, but the numbers don't stop there.

Quarterback Stetson Bennett took most of the snaps under center during the 2020 season in which he finished with 1,179 passing yards and eight touchdowns with a 55 percent completion percentage. In 2021, those numbers jumped up to 2,862 yards, 29 touchdowns and a 64 percent completion rate for Bennett. In 2022, those numbers jumped all the way up to 4,127 yards, 37 total touchdowns and a near 70 percent completion rate. Bennett this season also broke Georgia's single-season passing yards record, was a Heisman trophy finalist and became a two-time national champion.

A lot of that credit goes to Bennett himself for staying the course and sticking to the grind, but this isn't the first time Monken has had gradual success with a quarterback over a three-year time period.

The last time Todd Monken had the same QB for three straight years:

Nick Mullens 2013-15:
2013: 49.3%, 1776 yards, 13 TDs
2014: 59.7% 2470 yards, 12 TDs
2015: 63.5%, 4476 yards, 38 TDs

Stetson Bennett:
2020: 55.5%, 1179 yards, 8 TDs
2021: 64.5%, 2862 yards, 29 TDs
2022:??
— Jonathan Williams (@Dr_JWill) July 23, 2022

The 2022 season taught us a lot of things about Georgia's football program. But a major takeaway has to be that Monken is not only an offensive mastermind, but he is one of the best in the business at what he does. The numbers prove it, and his track record shows it.

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