The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Great defense, but offense lacking
Clemson was tough on the Bulldogs, who seemed undermanned.
ATHENS — A lot of people picked Georgia to upset No. 3 Clemson in the season opener Saturday. But how many would have gone with the Bulldogs had they known they wouldn’t score an offensive touchdown in the game? Likely none.
To be clear, as good as Georgia’s defense looks to be this season, the preseason objective of the Bulldogs being more explosive on offense remains intact. And by “explosive,” that means more than six plays of 10 or more
yards, such as they had Saturday.
Yes, the Tigers’ defense is otherworldly on the level of Georgia’s. And, yes, the Bulldogs’ list of injuries for receivers borders on ridiculous. But zero touchdowns and zero plays from scrimmage of more than 22 yards is not acceptable to Georgia coach Kirby Smart or his quarterback, JT Daniels.
“All the talk about the weapons that he does and doesn’t have is a moot point,” Smart said Tuesday of the Bulldogs’ junior quarterback. “That’s what everyone wants to talk about. You can make excuses for me, for JT, for coach (Todd) Monken, but we’ve got good football players. We have to take the football players we have and be explosive. It doesn’t matter who is out there. That’s just pity or something.”
Fully half of Smart’s first in-person press conference of the season was spent talking about Georgia’s offensive woes in the 10-3 win. Any such discussion must include the context of, (a) who the Bulldogs were playing against, and, (b) who they were playing without.
Star split end George Pickens has been sidelined with an ACL injury since March, so it’s pointless to include him in the conversation. But senior Kearis Jackson, who tied Pickens for the team lead with 36 receptions last season, did not take an offensive snap in the game. Oddly enough, he only returned punts while wearing a significant brace on a knee that underwent arthroscopic surgery this fall.
Smart revealed that flanker Jermaine Burton, who had the second-most receptions with 27 last year, has fully participated in approximately 10 of Georgia’s 45 practices this year due to various injuries. The latest was a sprained ankle suffered on the second day of preseason camp.
Dominick Blaylock, the previous starter at flanker, remains sidelined while recovering from a second ACL injury.
Georgia lost tight ends Darnell Washington and John Fitzpatrick to foot injuries in mid-august. Fitzpatrick, still far from 100%, played sparingly Saturday and finished with one catch for zero yards. Marcus Rosemy-jacksaint, lost last season to a broken leg, had to leave the Clemson game after suffering a first-half injury, only to return later and finish with 2 catches for 12 yards on three targets. There is still no sign of 5-star transfer Arik Gilbert.
As a result, the Bulldogs played two first-time starters against the Tigers in redshirt freshman slotback Ladd Mcconkey and true freshman tight end Brock Bowers. The rest of Georgia’s receiving corps consisted of true freshman Adonai Mitchell, redshirt freshman Justin Robinson, former walk-on Jaylen Johnson and sophomore Arian Smith.
“I think we did a lot of good things offensively, just not enough consistently to where you’re going to put up points against a team like Clemson,” said Daniels, who was 22-of-30 passing for 135 yards with an interception. “We’ve got to be more explosive, which was tough to do with what Clemson did. They played a very conservative soft zone, they dropped eight a lot ... I think Clemson did a great job executing that scheme and making us take what’s there. But we’ve got to do better.”
Georgia indeed was very conservative in its ball distribution. Johnson had the longest reception with 21 yards on a seam route. Otherwise, the majority of the Bulldogs’ pass attempts were on quick outs and flat routes. At least 15 of Daniels’ 22 completions were actually caught behind the line of scrimmage when the receiver hauled them in.
After reviewing game video, Smart indicated Monday he didn’t really have a problem with the offensive strategy. It could be argued that the Bulldogs won’t face a tougher defense all season. And, feeling they were the superior overall team from a strength and athleticism standpoint, they didn’t want to take unnecessary risks.
What infuriated Smart was a lack of execution by the offense. He said young players who had been carrying out assignments and making the adjustments correctly throughout the preseason had breakdowns Saturday.
“Some of that was youth, some of that was anxiety, some of it was inexperience and some of it was what Clemson did,” Smart said. “It frustrates me because we practiced that. … But it also excites me because it is not a lack of ability. … So, I’m excited to see what our guys can do moving forward. The greatest jump you make is from Game 1 to Game 2, so ...”
Therein lies the good news for Georgia’s offensive transformation. Jackson, Burton and Washington are healing with every passing day. Blaylock surprised everybody by traveling to Charlotte and fielding punts and kickoffs in pregame warmups. There’s even reports of Pickens now getting some limited on-field work with the receivers.
And while the Bulldogs managed only 256 yards against Clemson and were far from explosive in the passing game, they gave up only a single sack against a defense that returned every starter from a front seven that led the nation in bringing down the quarterback. And when Georgia needed to run out the clock to salt away the victory with 4:49 remaining in the game, it recorded two first downs on nine consecutive rushes and was able to kneel at Clemson’s 12-yard line.
That’s a lot to build on heading into the second game of the season.
“In football and in life, you can never be perfect, so it’s more exciting (for the offense) because now we can see what we did wrong,” junior guard Warren Ericson said. “Now the Clemson game is behind us, we can focus on UAB and move forward.”
Said Daniels: “It’s awesome when your defense holds a team like Clemson to three points and scores seven. That’s awesome and our defense deserves all the credit for that. But our offense doesn’t play based on what our defense gives up. I think we’re good enough and have enough talent and the ability to execute where we should move the ball on anybody no matter what the circumstances.”