Georgia's Offense Beginning to Hit Its Stride
The notion that an offense that averaged 39 points and 468 yards through its first three games was "struggling" was always a bit reactionary, but, reactionary or not, that was the prevailing notion regarding the Georgia offense entering Saturday night's game against UAB. But after building on its strong second-half performance against South Carolina by posting its best statistical performance of the season and demonstrating obvious improvement in a number of the areas that frustrated fans, players, and coaches alike through the first three weeks of the season, the Georgia offense opened eyes on Saturday night and put many a Georgia fan at ease heading into a stretch of seven consecutive conference games beginning with a tricky road trip to Auburn next week.
Proclaiming that the Georgia offense began to hit its stride against UAB on Saturday night is not entirely accurate. Sure, it was firing on all cylinders for most of the game against the Blazers, but the offensive improvement really traces back to the second half of the SEC opener against South Carolina. After being held to 3 points in the first half of the game against the Gamecocks, Georgia came out firing in the second half, posting touchdowns on each of its first two possessions after halftime to take a lead it would never relinquish. Something clicked for the Georgia offense in that second half against South Carolina, and the Bulldogs carried that momentum over into Saturday's contest with UAB.
Perhaps the most glaring issue for the Georgia offense following the first two weeks of the season was the lackluster rushing attack. In its week two matchup with Ball State, Georgia was held under 100 yards rushing for the first time since January 1, 2021, when it was held to 45 yards rushing by Cincinnati in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. An absurd rash of injuries at the running back position along with inconsistent offensive line play conspired to limit the effectiveness of the Georgia ground game and, in the process, frustrate the Georgia offense at large.
Despite the return of veteran running back Daijun Edwards, Georgia's rushing woes continued in the first half of the South Carolina game as the Bulldogs only managed 65 yards rushing in the first half against the Gamecocks. However, the Bulldogs came out with renewed focus and intensity in the second half against South Carolina and began to find the run game that had largely eluded them to that point in the season, rushing for 125 yards and three touchdowns in the final two-quarters of the win over the Gamecocks. That trend continued on Saturday when the Bulldogs ran for 188 yards and 5.4 yards per carry for a season-high four rushing touchdowns, despite missing both Kendall Milton and Roderick Robinson who were added to the team's expansive injury list following the victory over South Carolina.
The return of senior running back Daijun Edwards from an MCL injury has helped spark a struggling Georgia rushing attack. Credit / Tony Walsh UGAA
Georgia's struggles to run the football factored prominently into its red zone issues in the first half against South Carolina when it only managed to convert two red zone trips into three total points. The second half, however, was a different story as the Bulldogs scored three touchdowns in four red zone trips to pull away from the Gamecocks. Against UAB on Saturday, not only did that trend continue, it accelerated, as Mike Bobo's offense scored six touchdowns on six red zone trips.
Red zone efficiency is certainly critical for an offense, but teams can only be efficient in the red zone if they put themselves in a position to actually be inside the opponent's 20-yard line. In order to reach that point on the field, a team must be efficient converting third downs, an area where Georgia took significant strides on Saturday. After only converting 16 of its 37 third downs over the first three games of the season, the Georgia offense went a scintillating 10/13 on thirds downs against UAB. That type of efficiency on third down combined with Georgia's red zone success over the past six quarters of play bodes well for the Bulldog offense as the team moves into the core of its SEC schedule.
According to Head Coach Kirby Smart, there was no tangible reason for the enhanced efficiency of the Georgia offense against UAB, but rather it was just a matter of things falling into place.
"I think it just happens like that sometimes. I'd love to say it was a perfect call or perfect play, but you don't ever really control it early in the year. There's not enough opportunities to really measure it early in the year. I told the players, look guys, all it takes is 3-for-4, a 6-for-10 on third downs and then you flip the script because there's not a lot of data. I thought we did that on offense tonight. 10-of-13 on third downs, six for six in the red area, that'll get you well quick."
While Georgia's offensive efficiency has taken noticeable steps forward recently, it has also take its explosiveness to a new level over the team's last six quarters of play. After only producing four total plays of 25 or more yards over its last two games coming into Saturday, the Bulldog offense generated five such explosive plays against UAB. The ability to score from outside of the red zone via explosive plays helps mitigate offensive inefficiencies, be it red zone or otherwise, and is another strong sign that the Georgia offense is beginning to find its footing as the level of competition is set to ramp up beginning this weekend.
For his part, Smart simultaneously expressed excitement over the explosive plays the Georgia offense was able to generate in the game against UAB and regret over the opportunities it let pass by.
"I think it's great. It was awesome. I wish that we had hit the other ones that were there. You know, we had several others that we left on the field.
Smart also made it clear that Georgia's newfound offensive explosiveness was no accident, but rather a product of the emphasis and weight placed on generating explosive plays within the program.
"We work really hard on those plays, and you know? It's going to come together. It's just a matter of when. We work really hard on those explosives. Right now in the SEC the most unique stat there is is plus-or-minus ratio on explosives versus plus-or-minus ratio on turnovers. You would think turnovers are a greater indicators, but explosives are greater indicators of win-loss — of how much more you're explosive than your opponent. So we've got to find ways to be explosive."
Only time will tell whether the improved levels of efficiency and explosiveness that Georgia offense has found over its past six quarters of game action is aberrant or a sign of positive things to come. Regardless, with its recent play, the Georgia offense is beginning to hit its stride at the exact right time as a matchup against an Auburn defense ranked inside the top-25 nationally in total and scoring defense looms ahead in less than a week's time.
Other Georgia News:
- Despite Injuries, Smart Bullish on Georgia's Running Backs
- Practice Observations - Georgia Priming for Second Scrimmage
- Preseason All-SEC Teams Released
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