Kirby Smart unhappy with Georgia's secondary against South Carolina
The No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs had no issue routing the South Carolina Gamecocks at home, as head coach Kirby Smart led his team to a 40-13 victory on Saturday. But despite Georgia’s significant offensive input, Smart wasn’t happy with all facets of his team’s performance.
On the offensive side, quarterback JT Daniels completed 23 of 31 pass attempts, good for 303 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Georgia’s rushing attack was somewhat quiet, as Kendall Milton led all running backs with ten carries for 66 yards, but Smart hardly needed to use the rushing attack. Georgia had three receivers eclipse 50 passing yards, including Adonai Mitchell’s team-best four receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown.
But the defense, Smart said, needs improvement. He called out some of his secondary by name, reflecting on a performance that saw multiple blown coverages over the top. South Carolina’s leading receiver, Josh Vann, carved up the Bulldogs secondary to the tune of three catches for 128 receiving yard and a touchdown.
“It’s not just Ameer [Speed]. It’s other guys. DK [Derion Kendrick] got one. He [Josh Vann] went up and got one over top of him. Kamari [Lassiter] got one. They hit an over route on Lewis, it came back being incomplete but they had him. It was not just Ameer, it was several guys,” Smart said of his secondary. Josh Vann had a good night for them and hey, we’re going to face guys like him every week, every week.”
Although Georgia’s defense forced quarterback Luke Doty to throw an interception, while also forcing him to fumble, those two turnovers weren’t enough to overshadow the secondary’s struggles. Smart highlighted the efficiency through which South Carolina passed the ball downfield, as the Gamecocks averaged over 15 yards per completion.
“You got to play with great technique,” Smart said. “I don’t care what your pass rush is, it’s not getting there before that ball is up. That ball is caught, catch throw. We can’t protect guys all game. We got to play one-on-one. If you want to be a good defense, you better be able to play man to man. That’s the No. 1 quality. Right now, we had some shots tonight that they got on top of us. We have to improve. We got to grow and develop some younger players.”
Georgia, now 3-0, has beat Clemson, UAB and South Carolina in three consecutive weeks, and Smart’s team figures to be the consensus No. 2 team entering postseason play. But they have plenty to prove before then, with matchups against Arkansas, Auburn and Florida all scheduled in October.