How Georgia Paid for 2019 Offense in 2020

Georgia football has the talent, coaching and leadership to win a national championship. No team outside the top four is as close to being a finished product as Georgia.

Yet, nine games into the 2020 season, the Bulldogs are 7-2. The SEC Championship Game appearance streak is over. The Bulldogs actually fell outside the top 10 in the major polls for the first time since 2017 after losing to Florida. There's no excuse for this team's lack of success.

When injuries ravaged the team, Georgia should have been prepared. With four straight top-three recruiting classes, how is there not a competent backup at every position? How was former walk-on turned JUCO transfer Stetson Bennett the best option at quarterback?

There's no excuse for failure, but there has to be a reason.

The James Coley Experiment

Georgia's failures in 2020 are a direct result of its failures in 2019. Why weren't backups with elite talent capable of supplanting injured starters? That was the case because they weren't developed enough.

When did Georgia have the chance to develop those players last season? Not during a 24-17 win over Florida, a 19-13 win over Texas A&M or a 21-14 win over Auburn. Certainly not during a 20-17 loss to South Carolina. The Bulldogs scored 30 points or less in three of its four lopsided SEC wins. They couldn't even put Baylor away with the final score of the Sugar Bowl 26-14.

How is Alabama always able to reload at every position? Its average margin of victory in the SEC last season was 19.75. The Tide's average in 2018 was 29.7. Alabama hasn't averaged less than 21 points in this category since 2015.

Practice only gets a player so far; in-game reps are where players develop the most. Guys deep in the depth chart aren't getting those reps when the first-teamers need to play all 60 minutes.

That also goes for Bennett. Yes, Georgia signed Jamie Newman and JT Daniels with the expectation for them to compete for the starting job. And this isn't to say Bennett wouldn't have joined that battle, but he would have fared much better this season had he played more in 2019.

What would running backs Zamir White and Kenny McIntosh look like now if they had drives all to themselves last year against SEC teams, like the way Daijun Edwards has this season? Would Christopher Smith be a better fill-in for Richard LeCounte if he played defense against Kellen Mond, Bo Nix, and Kyle Trask in 2019? Probably so.

Despite head coach Kirby Smart's best efforts in hiring Todd Monken to coordinate the offense, this critical error only got worse. The COVID-19 pandemic started, canceling spring practices and robbing younger players of more development opportunities.

Newman opted out weeks before the season started and Daniels' knee was a bigger issue than previously anticipated. Injuries ravaged the team all in one week. Defensive linemen Julian Rochester and Jordan Davis fell in the Kentucky game and LeCounte's motorcycle accident occurred later that night. Linebacker Monty Rice and wide receiver George Pickens also got banged up around that time.

Georgia brought this season on itself by hiring Coley before the 2019 season. COVID-19, opt-outs and injuries made matters worse, but following the 2019 season, Georgia needed perfection and a bit of luck to maintain championship hopes. It received neither for all of 2020.

The good news

Georgia is beating up SEC teams again. Its average margin of victory in its last two games is 32 points and that number should increase against Vanderbilt this Saturday. Second-stringers are starting to play more often. Defensive back Latavious Brini had a great game against Missouri. Receiver Arian Smith is getting some opportunities.

What fans call "garbage time," coaches like Smart see it as anything but. That is valuable time the Bulldogs didn't have last year, but they're getting that now and the results will be seen next year.