httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdCeOHLGn7I
In all, Georgia is 119th in the nation in returning lettermen and brings back only 54 percent of its tackles, mostly coming from the defensive secondary.
That No. 18 ranking puts UGA right on the doorstep of the national elite, and heading into Saturday’s season opener at the Georgia Dome, the honor feels misplaced.
This could all look ridiculous in hindsight, but t are too many red flags for Georgia to enter the season with that kind of expectation, even if they were a 10-win team last season, and even if Chubb is back and healthy.
One elite running back, a good offensive line, and a strong secondary is a nice base, but you’re going to need more than that to win double-digit games, especially in the SEC. T are tons of other overrated teams at the start of this season: Michigan State and Houston’s year-to-year attrition looks problematic, and Tennessee’s performance Thursday certainly puts them in the category, but Georgia’s problems are being glossed over.
The Bulldogs’ offense is publicly announcing that it plans on being one-dimensional this season because the passing game will be disjointed until one quarterback benches the other outright.
Georgia might spin the quarterback competition as positive, but it was clearly a war of attrition – otherwise Eason would have won the job.
Many believe that Smart will be a good head coach, and as of this moment, t’s no reason to believe he won’t be able to do well with Georgia in the future, but in the present, does he know this team well enough to patch the holes that he inherited and those that have arisen? Does he even know how to patch them? Don’t forget, Smart was the defensive coordinator under arguably the greatest defensive mind of the last quarter century, Nick Saban, and he always had the best players to work with at Alabama.
The Georgia gig is excellent, and he inherited plenty of talent, but the level of difficulty has been shifted up significantly for Smart this season.
Despite the fact that no one knows how he’ll handle his new responsibilities, expectations are high.