Michigan football implements 'Beat Georgia' drill with eyes on national title

The last time Michigan football got a shot at Georgia, now the kings of college football, the Bulldogs were still on their ascension to the throne. And they stepped all over the Wolverines faces to take their next step, trouncing Michigan 34-11 in an uncompetitive Orange Bowl in the 2021 College Football Playoff.

Since then, Georgia has won a pair of national championships and the Wolverines stumbled in the semifinals again. But The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman revealed a tidbit from Michigan and how the Wolverines are quite consciously trying to beat Georgia.

“All of a sudden, now, I hear that they have a ‘Beat Georgia’ period, too,” Feldman said. “Well, it probably needs to happen in the recruiting office as much as anything else. But, I think — look I think Jim Harbaugh knows, he watched and he saw what happened with Georgia and Ohio State. I think he knows they’re a different kind of team than, certainly, Ohio State. Ohio State with CJ [Stroud] and you have great receivers and they recruit at a high level.

“But they have really good players, too. I don’t think people realize how talented J.J. [McCarthy] is, because I think you get caught up in ‘Hey they got the great offensive line and really good running backs.’ It’s not like an Air Raid offense. J.J.’s really gifted, and I think we need to see if from the next year, this year.”

Feldman noted that the “Beat Georgia” period is a derivation from the “Beat Ohio” period that many Wolverines credit for helping them beat Ohio State in back-to-back seasons.

In essence, it gives the defense a 9-on-7 advantage, where the defense has all but cornerbacks and the offense has just the line, a quarterback and the running back. If the offense can churn out yards and win blocks when out-manned, then they believe they make it work almost any time — a belief hardened in this drill.

That period, dubbed the “Beat Ohio” period, has evidently morphed into an additional bit of time dedicated to catching up the top dogs and two-time national champions.

“One thing I heard a couple of years ago, one of the things that helped flip the switch at Michigan was they started to really embrace the, ‘Hey we’re going after Ohio State year-round, basically.’ And they would put in this, ‘Beat Ohio’ period. Which sends 9-on-7 and getting after them,” Feldman said.