ATLANTA — The LSU offense is the new craze in college football, Coach Ed Orgeron the latest to abandon the traditional power football model for more of an uptempo spread.
Could Georgia coach Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs’ offense be far behind in changing?
Not so fast, says ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis.
“I think there’s been a little bit of overreaction to Georgia’s offensive struggles this year,” Davis said on Friday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. “Let’s remember that Kirby’s way beat Baker Mayfield and Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. It has played for a national championship. It has won an SEC Championship.”
Davis points to personnel having more to do with scheme than anything else.
“I don’t think you have to spread it out and throw it all over the lot, (but) you can, if it fits you, and you have to, to be explosive, and Kirby knows that,” Davis said. “Georgia has been explosive in the past. Maybe not quite as much this year. Myriad reasons for it.”
Davis points to UGA changing offensive coordinators, losing its top five pass catches from a season ago and injuries in the receiving corps this season.
“I think Kirby has a pretty good handle on it, and you always need to evolve and tweak and adjust, and certainly Georgia needs to be more explosive and more efficient on offense than it has been this year,” Davis said. “But the good news is they have a history of doing so under Kirby, and I think they have the personnel to do that now. They have to find guys to make some plays.”
Davis said he’s not convinced quarterback Jake Fromm can’t have a big day against LSU when the teams meet at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the SEC Championship Game.
“I don’t see why not, now the one thing that gives you pause about that is the drop and completion percentage when he targets the two guys, (Lawrence) Cager and (George) Pickens, and every other receiver,” Davis said.
“I think it’s about 20 percentage points. But he is terrific on the big stage. Just think about the way he has started the last two times they’ve been here. The way they started the Alabama game last year, and really the way they started the national championship game, some of the plays he made there.
“He’s the type of guy that, when you’re underselling him, undervaluing him, that he has a way of rising up and making plays, so I don’t think there’s any question that he can play well enough to have Georgia pull off an upset.”
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