ATLANTA — After an obviously disappointing showing in the SEC Championship game Saturday night -- a 37-10 beatdown at the hands of LSU at Mercedes-Benz Stadium -- the burning question for the Georgia Bulldogs is just where do they go from here?
Georgia came into the 2019 season, again, with national championship aspirations. For a second consecutive season, it ended in Atlanta in the SEC title game.
Before asking what is needed, here is what we do know the Bulldogs possess:
-- They have an elite defense with one of the best young coordinators in the game in Dan Lanning. But he is expected to interview for the Memphis head coaching job after the Tigers’ Mike Norvell was named the new Florida State head coach. Keeping Lanning should be a top priority but head coach Kirby Smart may have little say if Lanning thinks he is ready for upward mobility.
-- They have one of the best-recruiting groups in the nation headlined by Smart, who has shown he can attract, and sign, the nation’s top talent. Georgia is expected to have another top 3 or 4 recruiting class for 2020 so talent is not, and should not, be an issue.
-- They still have offensive line coach Sam Pittman, who is regarded among the tops at his profession and is also a master recruiter. The Bulldogs have had one of the best, if not the best, lines in the country the last two seasons and that should not change.
UPDATE: (ESPN and other sources announced Sunday that Pittman was hired to take over the vacant Arkansas job, so the Dogs will have another hole in their coaching staff.)
-- They have a roster chock-full of talent, most of it young, that got plenty of high-quality minutes on the field in 2019. At one point, Georgia had five freshmen or sophomores on the defensive side of the ball in the game against LSU. The ceiling is high on just how good this roster will be.
-- And, they are more than likely to have quarterback Jake Fromm return for his senior season. Fromm has a high football IQ and understands the game and, the SEC Championship game aside does not generally make many mistakes to hurt his team. He is a high-valued locker room presence. Experience does count. But less than a year removed from many Georgia fans counting Fromm as a well-above-average asset, Fromm is now a lightning-rod for what many fans think is now a liability. I don’t see it that way. I will get into that later.
So with all that, what was missing Saturday in front of a sellout Mercedes-Benz crowd that was 70 percent covered in Red and Black?
First, LSU is just that good. They have arguably the best college quarterback in the game in Joe Burrow, a top-three running back in Clyde Edwards-Helaire, a plethora of receivers that easily made them one of the best offenses in the country. Defensively, they were better, and much more physical, than advertised.
Second, the Georgia gameplan did not fit its style or personnel on this Saturday. Instead of using their girth upfront with a stable of talented running backs to shorten the game and control the clock, the Bulldogs tried to finesse with a passing game that at best was banged up with guys out (Lawrence Cager) or suspended (George Pickens for a half). By the end of the first quarter, the unit was crippled with the losses of Dominick Blaylock and Kearis Jackson to injury.
Was Georgia trying to catch the Tigers, who were expecting the Dogs to pound the ball, in a surprise air assault? The opening play saw Tyler Simmons drop a 50-yard bomb that certainly would have had the Tigers thinking differently about Georgia’s passing game. Later, Matt Landers dropped a touchdown catch that would have pulled Georgia within 10 points in a fateful third quarter. In between, Georgia receivers dropped half-a-dozen balls that would have made a difference for sure.
Fromm, in my opinion, is a big-game player. He finished 20-of-43 for 225 yards, though he did throw two bad interceptions. However, if the receivers were able to hang onto most, if not all of those drops, he’s well over 300 yards for the game and most fans would not be lighting up the internet about what is wrong with Fromm (of which there are more than a few theories being offered up).
Georgia has an elite defense, though it did not appear that way on Saturday. The offense could not stay on the field long enough to shorten the game and limit LSU possessions to help the defense get some rest.
Smart and Lanning did not use their elite defense as a weapon. Where were the blitzes? The mixing up of coverages? Dictating the action with a defense that is just as good as a ball-control offense.
Imagine the scenario where Georgia’s defense is able to force three-and-outs to open the game. Burrow and the LSU offense begin to feel pressure knowing they are SUPPOSED to score on every possession. Doubt begins to set in. The LSU defense then feels the pressure to have to slow down Georgia and makes mistakes. All of that was possible.
Smart and Lanning did spy Burrow early on with junior linebacker Walter Grant and flushed him out of the pocket. But Burrow was also able to keep several drives alive with his legs. But eventually, Grant was taken out, at least it appeared that way, on a kickoff return to open the third quarter by former Lee County standout Tory Carter -- who was tossed for targeting -- and was lost for the rest of the game. Spying Burrow ceased to exist after that, which was when the Tigers went on a 17-point third-quarter blitz as the defense seemed to back up. Game over, as they say.
But the offense didn’t do much to help the defense, either. The two picks by Fromm and 61 total yards rushing (mainly due to Georgia abandoning the run) will not win you many games.
So, where does all that leave the Bulldogs?
The defense will be just as good, if not better, in 2020. Georgia does not lose many of the essential parts of a defense, until Saturday, had allowed just 10.2 points a game on the season.
The key area to address will have to be at wide receiver, where injuries and a lack of progression by the unit as a whole played key roles in 2019. But even Smart admitted in a postgame interview that unlike the end of the 2018 season, which would see four receivers end up on NFL rosters, the Bulldogs do not possess any “draft picks” at the receiver position at the moment. That needs to be a high-priority recruiting focus, but it may be too late for the 2020 class.
The wildly-popular transfer portal could play a factor as the deadline for players to make a decision to stay or go looms quickly. Georgia may not have many, if any, high-profile players like last year’s Justin Fields test the portal, but several juniors like RB D’Andre Swift, and linemen Andrew Thomas and Solomon Kindley, may decide to test the NFL waters. The same could go for redshirt-sophomore OL Isaiah Wilson as well. Junior safety Richard LeCounte also may look at his draft stock.
Fromm, before the season began was expected to be a possible NFL pick. But after his sub-par 2019 season, that is looking less likely. I expect him to come back for his senior season. But if he figures to get back on an upward trajectory, he will need to be pushed during the summer.
On the coaching side, former Georgia offensive coordinator, and until recently the Colorado State head coach, Mike Bobo has generated a firestorm of internet talk about returning to Athens to take over the offense, especially after several lackluster performances by the offense under current coordinator James Coley. Only time will tell if that is a possibility. But Bobo was the best man at Smart’s wedding and the two played together at Georgia and are best friends.
UPDATE: (It is being rumored that Bobo will take the OC job at South Carolina to work for another former teammate and friend in Will Muschamp.)
It is more than possible that Georgia can find itself right back in Atlanta at The Benz next season as the only team to win four straight East titles and make a fourth consecutive appearance in the SEC Championship game, which would also be a first. I don't see any East teams rising up enough to dethrone the Bulldogs.
While comparisons to Mark Richt have been made, the program seems much more on an upward trend under Smart, though how Smart fares over the next four years may well determine if the Bulldogs are setting themselves up to be among the nation’s elite or just continue to be above-average and not playing for national titles.
Smart is 43-12 in his first four seasons compared to 42-10 for Richt’s first four seasons in Athens. Smart has gotten the Bulldogs to three straight SEC title games, winning one, and playing for one national title.
Richt’s Bulldogs made the SEC title game four times (‘02, ‘05, ‘07, ‘11) and won twice. But they never made a national championship game.
But Smart will have to do some introspection about just what he has, and who he has to develop on an uber-talented roster. Does he bring in Bobo? If Lanning leaves, who then takes over the defense? Does he commit to a power-rush team or embrace a spread, RPO-like attack on offense? I think those will be the biggest issues he faces as he gets ready for the 2020 campaign.
