ATHENS — The Georgia football quest to three-peat is quite a story, to the extent ESPN sent a reporter out to ask elite coaches what it would take to put the Bulldogs down.
An ESPN story looking at how Alabama, Ohio State, Tennessee or LSU could dethrone Georgia asked, Who can stop the Bulldogs?
“Well, Alabama can,” an anonymous SEC head coach reportedly told ESPN. “Missouri should have. The best thing that can beat Georgia is Georgia, but a fast-paced offense like Tennessee would have some type of chance. Alabama. Obviously Ohio State.
“After that, probably not a lot. But I think the best opponent Georgia would have is Georgia not playing well because they’re that dominating.”
LSU coach Brian Kelly, whose Tigers lost a 50-30 shootout to UGA in the SEC title game, told Heather Dinich in the recent pay-site article that it’s a matter of physicality
Indeed, LSU actually out-gained Georgia 549-529 yards.
“We scored enough points, but we couldn’t match up physically yet,” Kelly said. “You look at the other teams, obviously Ohio State had enough of that to take them right down to the wire.”
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Indeed, the Buckeyes lost to Georgia 42-41 in the CFP Peach Bowl Semifinal and could have won had their last-second field goal attempt not sailed wide.
The ESPN story documented how that exciting game came down to big plays for both sides.
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Georgia had 10 plays of 20 or more yards against the Buckeyes, which was the most allowed by Ohio State in one game as far back as the ESPN data goes (2004).
Conversely, UGA game up seven plays of at least 20 yards, a number eclipsed only by Kelly’s explosive LSU offense, which had 11 in the SEC title game.
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The ESPN article correctly points out that the home crowd factored into Georgia’s win over Tennessee last season, and of course this year’s game will be played in Knoxville.
The Bulldogs efficiency blitzing was the key state ESPN zeroed in for the matchup with the Vols, noting UGA blitzed Hendon Hooker on 43-percent of the snaps — blitzing only C.J. Stroud more (48 percent).
The notion for a Tennessee upset is apparently that Joe Milton handled the Clemson blitz well in the Orange Bowl, 9 of 13 for 2 touchdowns on such occasions.
Of course, there’s nothing indicating that Kirby Smart’s game plan will be to utilize the blitz against Milton, who has yet to show he can pass as accurately as Hooker did last season.
All in all, it was an interesting piece reflecting as much on last year’s statistics as possibilities for the 2023 season.
