In the Georgia Bulldogs’ 28-10 loss to the No. 10 Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford it raised questions about UGA’s offense identity. With it being this late in the season questions need to be answered with another pivotal matchup in Week 12 agains the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers at home.
In Monday’s press conference, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart had answers.
With the offensive line surrendering a season-high five sacks and nine tackles for losses the offensive line performance was one of the main things wanted to hear from Kirby.
“But, you know, being more efficient is the most important thing. And that’s our biggest struggle, is staying ahead of the chains for third downs and putting together drives where we don’t have turnovers, ” Smart said.
“At the end of the day when you play from behind and a team can rush the passer like they did. Their No. 1 is an elite rusher,” Smart said.
The No. 1 that coach Smart is referring to for Ole Miss is Princely Umanmielen, who had two sacks and two tackles for losses and consistently lived in the Georgia backfield.
Georgia ranks No. 76 with a 38 percent conversion rate on third down. Compared to last year, when Georgia was the best team in the country with a 55 percent conversion rate on third down. Seven starters left for the NFL after last season including main offensive contributors Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey. The receiver corps lost two were security blankets for Carson Beck.
Smart also touched on the difficult schedule that the Bulldogs have been going through this season.
“Well, we played really good defenses. So, you guys will look at a stat sheet and you’ll say, where do they rank? And I’ll say, well, against who? Because relative to who we’ve played, we’ve played some really good teams,” Smart said.
The Bulldogs have No. 1 strength of schedule this year with four top 25 matchups in away/neutral stadiums. In those top 25 matchups, the average defense the Georgia offense will faced was 20th in the nation. Georgia will have their hands full with their last matchup against Tennessee, who is No. 7 in total defense.
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This season has been inconsistent on the offensive end of things for Georgia. However, UGA’s season ends with three home games in a row, so there could be a way to find that consistency ahead of the postseason.