There are a lot of adjectives that could be used to describe the Georgia football offense of late, but just how much things have changed in a year’s time is apparent in this postgame comment from coach Kirby Smart after the Bulldogs hammered Ole Miss in November of 2023.
“They’re potent,” Smart said of the unit after a 52-17 win. “You’ve got a quarterback and you’ve got pass protectors and you’ve got weapons.”
Georgia’s offense had plenty of reason for optimism heading into this season with coordinator Mike Bobo coming off a season when he was named finalist for the Broyles Award for nation’s top assistant, second-year starter Carson Beck being hailed as a possible QB1 for the 2025 NFL draft, four returning starters on the offensive line and an impact running back transfer in Trevor Etienne from Florida.
Instead Georgia has dipped from 40.1 points per game last season to 30.6 this season, going from 5th in the nation to 48th. There’s also been a big drop in yards per play from 4th last season at 7.26 to 48th this season at 6.14, according to cfbstats.com.
“They’ve got major problems,” former Alabama QB Greg McElroy said on the ABC broadcast at the end of a 28-10 upset loss Saturday at Ole Miss. “Everyone’s talked about Carson Beck’s interceptions, but they need to look at the receiver play and the drops and the inconsistencies with routes and the inability to separate downfield and then to make matters worse the inconsistencies on the offensive line because if you can’t block people in this league, you’ve got major issues.”
This is the worst Georgia offense statistically since 2019 when James Coley was offensive coordinator for one season and then done, replaced by Todd Monken who ran the offenses for national championship teams in 2021 and 2022. It comes after two key players from those seasons–Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey–are now in the NFL.
Here’s how this Georgia offense stacks up compared to the 2019 offense in a few major categories:
Total offense: 50th in 2024 at 410.6 and 61st in 2019 at 408.1
Scoring offense: 48th in 2024 at 30.6 and 50th in 2019 at 30.8
Passing efficiency: 49th in 2024 at 140.7 and 47th in 2019 at 142.4.
“We want to be more productive,” Smart said Monday. “We want to be able to throw the ball vertical down the field. We want to be able to shoot and play action. Play action is set up off of your backs and off of your ability to run the ball. In some games, we have been able to run the ball better than others. In some games, we’ve been able to drop back pass better than others. But regardless of those two things, you must protect the ball and we have not done that. And that’s the key to the drill.”
Coley is back on staff as Georgia’s wide receivers coach.
That has paid dividends on the recruiting trail with five 2025 receiver commitments including two ranked in the top 100 nationally in the 247Sports Composite.
Georgia’s wideouts have had drop issues all season. Only Arian Smith was tagged with a drop by PFF Saturday, but that may be generous because London Humphreys and Dillon Bell also had balls go off their hands and incomplete.
“We’ve dealt with that before,” Smart said. “We’ve got to overcome it.”
Georgia’s offense has 19 drops, the same number as all of last season, per PFF. Sports Info Solutions had the number at 27, second most in FBS.
Georgia is second-to-last in the SEC in rushing and 104th nationally at 124.1 yards per game. That’s on pace to be Georgia’s lowest average since 107.4 in 1993 and second lowest since 1963.
“Our identity here for so long has been to run the ball and we just weren’t able to do that,” Beck said after Georgia rushed for 59 yards against Ole Miss.
Smart said Etienne and Nate Frazier Saturday “had some of their best runs of the year considering what the blocking was or what we got done up front.”
Smart replaced longtime Georgia running backs coach Dell McGee who is now Georgia State head coach with Josh Crawford. Coley was hired to replace Bryan McClendon who left to be an assistant in the NFL with Tampa Bay.
The offensive numbers reflect a rugged schedule that includes four top 16 teams in this week’s coaches’ poll — Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss and Clemson — but Georgia also managed just 13 points at Kentucky.
“We’re not happy with where we are,” Smart said. “We played some really, really, really, really good defenses I think this year, more than most people in terms of their schedule. And when you look at the SEC games, the ones that matter the most, SEC versus SEC…it’s not as glaring a difference.”
Georgia is 8th in yards per play in conference games at 5.72 compared to 9th at 6.14 for all games and 10th in rushing yards per game in conference at 111.7 compared to 15th in all games at 124.1
The Bulldogs play No. 4 Tennessee Saturday. The Volunteers rank fifth in nation in total defense, 3rd in yards per play allowed and 9th in run defense.
Georgia’s offensive woes Saturday weren’t really about Beck whose 12 interceptions is tied for most nationally with four others.
“I thought Carson did some good things,” Smart said. “He threw some play-action strikes. He stepped up and made some great third-down plays. … I thought he threw the ball away a couple times.”
Beck did throw his 12th interception of the season but it came on a fourth down in the fourth quarter with Georgia desperate. Georgia surrendered five sacks including one where Beck turned it over on a fumble.
“In this league you’ve got to move forward,” guard Dylan Fairchild said. “We’re looking forward to attacking this week.”
