Here’s a bit of a concerning trend:
Georgia’s dominant days from the 2021 and 2022 (and even 2023) college football seasons may be over. The Bulldogs have just one win over a Power Four opponent in their last seven games that did not go to overtime (2024 versus Tennessee). Georgia has just one win over a Power Four opponent by 20 points or more since the start of the 2024 season and that was 2024’s season opener against the Clemson Tigers, which was a 34-3 win.
Thoughts ?
That started at 430pm or later in the eastern time zone while Venus was in the north orbit and the team had Burger King for a pregame meal.
Geez..if u get one more pt than them u win right?
Kirby will figure it out.
The ‘concerning trend’ here is the length some people will go to for clicks.
Yes, we have problems with assistants and aggressiveness, and we lost a huge game by 3 points. But it ain’t the end of Dawg football as we know it.
A fix to our problems doesn’t seem insurmountable. The only question most of us have is whether the staff is too obstinate and set in their ways to make the fixes. To many of us, the answer is no, we don’t believe staff will adjust, and therefore Kirby needs some new assistants to get that job done.
I concur.
W Cobb, I am not so certain that coaching is the complete answer in most areas. I would argue that we have a talent issue on the D-line and O-line. Can the staff scheme pressure, or added protection time for the QB? Sure they can. The question then becomes do we have the talent to properly run the schemes drawn up? I tend to say no.
This game is not overly complicated…protect your QB and get to the opposing QB. Is this group capable of either? I tend to think that Searels and Bobo are doing a much better job protecting Stockton than Schuman is doing getting to the QB. Who is the difference maker on the D-line right now? Who is the game breaker on O? The slow starts for both sides of the ball is a whole other issue. That falls squarely upon the staff.
In short, I believe we have a player issue and not a coaching issue. If you want to argue the staff is not optimizing the talent on hand, I can buy that.
I agree 100%.
We’re doomed I tells ya…DOOMED!
Portals, NIL and kids not waiting to develop and learn their craft. Being a dominant team with a 9 game league schedule is becoming a thing of the past.
I remember the years before Kirby won back to back. We used to argue the same things. Is Kirby too stubborn to change, the game is passing him by, we’re doomed!
If anyone can figure it out, I believe Kirby can.
Your right lots of people were convinced Kirby was stuck on ManBall. Then the 2019 SEC championship game happened. Kirby adapted and will again as needed.
I think the Senator coined the phrase “Manball.” He sure ranted about it that year Coley ran the offense.
We need to be “manball” this year because of our qb situation.
That style creates a margin for error that we just far exceeded last week.
If we can stay the course tho, we could be running roughshod over folks by the time we get to championship season.
I’m sure there are folks who think Gunner is a Joe Brady away from being Joe Burrow, but that’s far from realistic.
We can win with him but not if we’re putting the ball in his hands and telling to go win it. He ain’t that guy.
Gotta rtdb, play d, win kicking game, and make the plays when they present themselves.
Whether that’s a shot play or a pick, we need to make it. And no fumbles in the shadow of our goal line.
This D line is playing pretty good man ball against the run..but opponents have learned that quick released short passes negates the need to run the ball on us.
Opposing offenses are gambling that they can hit those darts at a high enough percentage to keep moving the chains. We’ve seen a few QB’s with receivers that can do it. The downside of their gamble is that they have to connect on a very high percentage of those dart passes to sustain a drive. They are taking chance on a deflected pick or even an incompletion stalling their drive..Bama’s plan was excellent and they executed..What was most disturbing was the lack of tackling on the screens.
One good thing is the areas that need improving are starkly glaring…if they get fixed we’ll be good.
Derek,
I think Gunner throws an outstanding deep ball. Unlike Beck he puts enough air under it to allow his guys to run to it.
Now catching that pass has not gone as well as it could.
I do agree this team so far seems built to RTDB.
The James Coley year is something I try to forget.
Manball is much easier if you have a Todd Gurley, Nick Chubb, Sonny Micheal RB room.
Before ManBall we had Grown Man football. That’s to Pat Dye and some Missu lineman who made the mistake of saying Georgia played old man football. That first trip to Missouri was fun. Their fans had no clue what was coming down the track.
Coley has got to be glad that Bobo is here to be his blame shield.
You spelled Monken wrong….
The sort of dominance Alabama had and Georgia began replicating is gone with NIL and the portal. Program management, culture, relentless recruiting will remain important, but x’s and o’s are going to start taking on greater importance as everyone is going to have to adapt to having to work with less.
There isn’t anyone out there I would rather have navigating all of that than Kirby Smart. And if the man keeps his coordinators in place, I’m trusting that. If he switches them? I’ll trust that too.
I worry more about the man retiring than I do about him fucking up my football program.
Totally agree. Do believe evaluation of talent in the transfer portal will be more important. Also saw where a team is now doing 2 year nil deals to hold on to talent
This times 100.
If you want to be developed and get to the NFL, there’s a (very) few programs that will get you there and we’re at the top of that list. If you want to get an NIL deal to play on the equivalent of a traveling baseball team, there’s plenty of schools for that. But be warned, ye young football studs: you’ll get one good year before half the mercenaries leave for Auburn.
I like our long term chances, NIL, portal or not…
Derek,
Perhaps your best post ever.
Cool. So no one say any observation that’s debatable or negative because Kirby is the coach and Derek trusts him.
No fan is allowed to share their that the playcalling looks constipated, or the players seem to lack emotion and leadership, or that situationally confusing things are done with clock management, play calling, or play execution. Because as fans Derek says we definitionally know nothing.
Derek has no idea how a message board or a fan blog works.
Those are facts. They are indisputable. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.
The total dominance by any program that we have seen in years past is gone with NIL, the portal, and the playoffs. That is not to say that same teams with the top tier coaches and programs won’t be in the hunt every year. The haves will still have and every now and then a have not will enter the picture. The same 10-12 teams that are the usual suspects will still be the usual suspects, but it will be much harder for any one of them to separate themselves from the pack on a consistent basis.
Exactly, so we’re going to have to get used to NFL type results where teams lose closely fought games to both equal and lesser opposition and losing a handful of games a year is both expected and represents a successful season.
Success moving forward will be:
Did you make or give yourself a shot at making the playoffs?
Results beyond that will be too random and uncertain to credibly whine about unless:
Your qb is Tom Brady OR you go decades being the Dallas Cowboys and shitting the bed in the postseason.
You’re missing it. People aren’t whining about the OUTcome. They’re calling out the poor decision making that drives the INputs leading to the end result.
Bad play calling is an INput. Lack of preparing a quality game plan is an INput. Lack of in-game adjustments is an INput. Lack of leadership, lack of coaches properly motivating players, lack of discipline, and yes lack of player execution are all INputs.
No one is complaining Georgia doesn’t win enough. They’re holding those in charge to a higher standard commensurate to where the bar is for a program like Georgia based on all the advantages our program has (fan support, talent, a legacy to leverage, aligned administration, money, facilities, resources, etc., etc.)
Stop acting like the arbiter for every fan on this blog. You’re just one more obnoxious keyboard warrior dismissing those you don’t agree with.
If Joey freshwater is in the midst of luck or has kinda’ figured out a winning combination (recruit/nil/port-o-let) for “survive and advance”, roster management and sustainable student athlete commitment is questionable at best, CKS is committed to his way of program management, being “elite” could very well be done….will still beat that dead 2023 horse for Fucking Evah, UGA football got fucked out Back2Back2Back…GO DAWGS!!
With an expanded rather than 4 team playoff. Ladd and Brock get healthy and it’s a 3 peat.
Gonna’ step out here onto mine Bulldog ledge and go all “UGA football takes meeshigun behind the wood shed” in 2023 for the friggin’ title….in whut desperate world for insanity does the #1 ranked team in the world , lose it’s conference championship game by 3 points and falllllll fucking 4 spots in the rankings, Fuck ’em today, Fuck ’em tomorrow, Fuck ’em for Evah….GO DAWGS!!
One mistake people seem to repeat over and over is using the word “never”. That is a long damn time and things can change quickly. This narrative that “We will never see dominant teams again.” Im just not so sure we know what is never going to happen again. People like to make grand pronouncements based on the moment. Usually proves to be unwise to do that.
The only way I would see that changing is if eligibility rules go away and guys can regularly play 6-7 years (more?) for a college team AND for whatever reason the types of kids who want to play that long concentrate at a few schools.
If you have a team of 25 year olds playing kids, yeah, they’re gonna whip some ass.
So long as college is a 3 year experience for the top talent and a 5 year experience for less NFL friendly players, its hard to imagine how someone could concentrate the talent necessary to dominate.
Plus, once the “superconference” comes on line 11-12 win regular seasons will become very rare.
Perhaps this is the dawning of the Vanderbilt Dynasty? I could see Diego Pavia playing there until he’s 40 if allowed. (I keed — I think).
The B1G has the formula, 3 maybe 4 teams are good and the rest are just the little sisters of the poor. OSU, Michigan, maybe Penn State, now Indy but the rest are garbage.
My prediction is that those “little sisters” will basically be Ivy League teams in the near future. About 30-ish programs will survive as “professional” college teams.
The rest will be forced by the tv market to revert to being amateurs.
It wouldn’t piss me off if we were to opt out and try and be kings of the “little sisters” but cash, and one other thing I know of, is undefeated.
The #1 and #2 things that sent Carson packing.
The B1G has ESPN and it’s goons promoting it to a ridiculous degree….
*see PSU’s ranking compared to SEC teams with better credentials for one example…there are more.
Look at what school most of these media experts graduated from to find their bias. Very few are fair to other conferences.
It was no accident a b10 admin chair last year’s playoff committee. Indiana did not earn on the field their playoff berth. Not a chance a better 3 loss battle tested SEC school would jump them. It’s never been fair and the majority of writers and pundits have ties to the b10.
Don’t forget Oregon. It’s hard sometimes to remember the west coast teams are also in the B1G. Even harder to remember that Stanford and California are ATLANTIC Coast Conference while staring at the Pacific and SMU nowhere near either.
The ACC is bad. Clemson is down and FSU could lose some games.
There is a rea$on the refs handed that game against WF to GT last week…they need to protect their playoff contenders.
And this is why GT will be on fire to beat us and we’d better get seasoned and ready for it..their QB is much like Bama’s.
I hope we go out and absolutely destroy Kentucky ‘tween the hedges tomorrow.
It’s a good opportunity to solidify some things for sure.
Remember how we used to say that Georgia had developed a culture of playing to the level of its opponents? Still seems to a problem in the first half of almost every game.
Hopefully Kirby is on that mother.
Tomorrow is a big deal.
We need to. If we don’t, I won’t be surprised if we drop a spot or two in the polls.
I agree..and the biggest indicator that something is askew at UGA is the team’s propensity to go into halftime behind against almost every brand name team it plays. The halftime adjustments obviously work..which is good coaching..the first half anemic performances are partly poor coaching and partly unseasoned (in SEC play) players. c I’m not one to criticize out staff..but it ^^^ is a glaring problem that needs attention.
We’ve been in the mouth in the first half against almost every team we’ve played.
We forget that this team is very young..and that’s a lot of it.
But the first half anemia didn’t start this year.
If Kirby can fix a couple of things then this team SHOULD be clicking at a much higher level by COFH…but that may be too late for this year.
If Kirby can hang on to these talented but sometimes flummoxed looking young’uns then the future can be bright.
I am less concerned about the dynasty issue than the amount of mediocre football we have played since the 2023 13-1 team. The results last year were fine, but we were a tough watch and seemed to struggle with most every team we played. That has carried over to this season as well. For example, we currently rank 40th in total defense. We have a bunch of excellent players, but we have a helluva lot less of them than we did in 2021-23. This is the new normal and we are going to have to adjust to it. We have the right guy in charge to figure it out.
Georgia’s average points per game for recent years are: 36.7 in 2025, 38.4 in 2023, and 39.0 in 2022.
Bill Belechik figured it out with the Patriots & Brady.
Kirby will figure it out with the Dawgs
With the pros you can lock them up for several years. The way the portal works at present, you could lose them between first downs.