Bio Blast: Georgia Bulldogs

The Kentucky football team is reeling after an embarrassing home loss to Vanderbilt. However, the season is not over even if it feels like it. The fact of the matter is the Cats have two games with power conference opponents remaining to see if Mark Stoops and his program can get this off the rails year now back on the tracks.

However, that will be very tough on Saturday.

No. 1 and undefeated Georgia is making the trip to Kentucky for Week 12. The Bulldogs have already clinched their fifth SEC East title in the last six seasons and are the favorite to bring home the title after ending a long streak last season. Kirby Smart is a perfect 7-0 against Kentucky in his career, and UGA has not lost in Lexington since 2006.

The deck is stacked against the Cats this week playing the best team in college football. Let’s dig into why Georgia is that again.

Efficiency machine

When compared to other national title contenders, Georgia is typically not the most explosive offense. However, the Bulldogs make up for it with play-by-play dominance.

This style of play all started with offensive coordinator in Jim Chaney when Smart first arrived in Athens, but it has hit another gear over the last three seasons with Todd Monken calling the plays. The Bulldogs rank inside the top 10 in success rate, points per drive, and yards per play. This offense stays ahead of schedule like a service academy option attack but can also hit defenses with enough haymakers to land knockout blows.

Stetson Bennett leads the way at quarterback completing 67.8 percent of his 32.9 throws per game on 8.8 yards per attempt. Meanwhile, the rushing attack is putting up 192.5 yards per game with four tailbacks that have logged 50-plus attempts with 32 total rushing touchdowns as a team.

The offensive line keeps Bennett clean and creates running room. Monken’s scheme does a good job of creating a consistent and dangerous passing attack despite not having a true No. 1 outside receiver. Brock Bowers is a matchup nightmare at tight end (39 receptions for 615 yards), Ladd McConkey is an underrated vertical playmaker (seven receptions of 25-plus yards), and numerous other weapons can contribute at any point.

Bennett has thrown for at least 250 yards in every game but one and this offense also finishes drives (69.6% red zone touchdown rate) at a high clip.

Georgia is rightfully first recognized for defense under Smart, but this is a legitimate top-10 offense, and that is due to extreme efficiency.

Another dominant defense

In 2021, Georgia rode a generational defense to national title glory as the Bulldogs gave up just 10.2 points per game on 4.1 yards per play. The Bulldogs were dominant from start to finish under defensive coordinator Dan Lanning.

Glenn Schumann and Will Muschamp are running the show together this season as UGA is giving up 11.6 points per game on 4.5 yards per play. Georgia has taken a step back, but this still might be the top defense in college football.

UGA is again dominant against the run (No. 7 in yards per rush allowed, No. 6 in rush success rate) and also outstanding against the pass (No. 4 in yards per attempt, No. 5 in passer rating). The Bulldogs lead college football in red zone defense (28.6% touchdown rate) and get off the field on third down at a high clip (No. 3 overall).

The Bulldogs rank No. 102 in takeaways (11) and that is really the only weakness of the group. Jalen Carter might be the best player in college football at defensive tackle, and true freshman safety Malaki Starks is a future All-American.

This Georgia defense doesn’t appear to have its typical star power, but it’s still a dominant defense that just put the clamps on a potent Tennessee offense that no one else has been able to figure out.

NFL tight end room

We cannot get out of here without spending some time focusing on the biggest strength of the Georgia offense. The offense may not have a true WR1 on the outside, but UGA clearly has two tight ends that should have long careers in the NFL.

Brock Bowers is well on his way to an All-American season as a sophomore leading this offense in receptions (39), receiving yards (615), and receiving touchdowns (4). The versatile tight end has great speed and has been used on jet sweeps the last two years by Todd Monken to give defenses something else to defend.

BROCK BOWERS SIMPLY ISN’T HUMAN pic.twitter.com/wJUNO9S1ti

— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthewCFB) September 24, 2022

However, Bowers isn’t even the biggest athletic freak in that tight end room. Darnell Washington could push Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer for TE1 honors in the upcoming NFL Draft as the former five-star prospect has great size (6-7, 270) and has made plays in the passing game with 24 receptions on 37 targets for 392 yards. The Las Vegas native is a great dual-threat tight end both as a blocker and pass catcher.

UGA went get into 12 personnel a ton as Bowers and Washington are perhaps the two most important skill talent players on this roster.

Youth movement on defense

Perhaps the most impressive part about Georgia this season is that Glenn Schumann and Will Muschamp have put together a top-five defense with a lot of moving parts and youth. They’ve even dealt with injuries for most of the season.

Star defensive tackle Jalen Carter has missed multiple games. EDGE Nolan Smith and safety Dan Jackson have been ruled out for the season. But that has not slowed Georgia down.

The Bulldogs start six true freshman/true sophomore players on defense and this group is still getting high-level play. Javon Bullard and Kamari Lassiter have stepped to fill big roles in the secondary. Jamon Dumas-Johnson has been one of the best linebackers in the SEC. They are all true sophomores.

Malaki Starks and defensive end Mykel Williams both look like future All-Americans as rookies. Bear Alexander appears to be the next great interior defensive lineman at Georgia.

Overall, Kirby Smart’s team starts 14 former top-100 recruits on both offense and defense. Georgia overwhelms foes with talent and that has turned into a bunch of wins and national title contention over the last few seasons.