Georgia’s defense in hands down the best in the nation, and maybe the best I’ve ever seen from a college football program.
Through five games, the Bulldogs’ defense has allowed just 16 points. That’s an average of 3.2 points per game surrendered so far.
The Dawgs’ defense ranks No. 1 in total defense, No. 1 in scoring defense, No. 1 in passing defense and No. 4 in rushing defense.
They’re allowing just 180.6 total yards per game, 110 passing yards and 70.6 rushing yards.
So are there any weaknesses on this year’s defense? Kirby Smart was asked how the unit can improve as the season progresses and he pointed to a lack of forced turnovers as the biggest opportunity for improvement.
“One thing is we can force turnovers. We didn’t force any turnovers and that’s what elite defenses do. So, we were not elite in that category.”
Georgia has forced nine turnovers through five games, so not bad at all. That ranks tied for 20th in the nation. Georgia has, however, given up seven turnovers so it only has a +2 turnover margin.
Smart also mentioned that Georgia’s tackling was a weakness in a 37-0 win over No. 8 Arkansas on Saturday. To the average fan, you’re probably thinking Smart is a completely crazy. I know I did not notice poor tackling. But that’s what makes Smart a great coach…nothing is ever good enough.
“The other thing is play tempo and continue to work on it,” Smart added. We spend more time all week on our weaknesses and less time really on what our opponents do sometimes because we know what’s coming down the road and we also know to be elite you got to tackle well, especially in space. We didn’t do that on Saturday. We had some really, really bad tackling situations. Run after contact. So, we basically take the things we do the weakest and we continue to work really hard on those so that we can be better prepared.”