ATHENS – On Saturday, No. 2 Georgia will venture into Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium, one of the toughest road environments in the SEC. It’s not a place the Bulldogs have been often – just 10 times in 132 years of football and three times this century – nor a venue in which they’ve had much success. They’ve won their just twice. Ever.
It’s certainly not a place a team goes to get well. Yet that’s what Georgia’s offense will attempt to do as it arrives for Saturday’s primetime tilt (7:30 p.m., ABC) against No. 4-ranked Alabama (3-0).
The Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0 SEC) will pull into Tuscaloosa with an offense nearly dry of the optimism that overflowed during the preseason. Through three games, Georgia is nine points and 95 yards a game behind last season’s pace (40.1/496.5).
Being the Bulldogs’ quarterback, Carson Beck has been the object of much of the finger-pointing for those shortcomings. So has offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. Whether either deserves that is a matter of debate.
“We have a really good offense, we have people around them and we’ve got a good quarterback,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart contended last week. “We’ve just got to go out and execute. … Clean up what you do, do it at a higher rate, make good decisions, communicate better.”
Starting faster would be good, too, Smart added. An issue at times last year, slow starts have plagued Georgia in their two games of note this year. In their 13-12 win over Kentucky Sept. 14, the Bulldogs had only 63 yards offense at the half. Beck accounted for 32 of that on 5-of-11 passing. They had three first downs. They trailed 6-3.
Having led Clemson only 6-0 at halftime of the season opener, that means Bulldogs are averaging 4.5 first-half points against FBS competition this season.
Improving on that is mainly a matter of effectively running the football, according to Beck.
“Got to be physical in the run game,” the fifth-year senior said after the Kentucky game. “I think their defense just came out really strong. We did what we had to do, but we did not play real well.”
It was well into the second half before Georgia got going against the Wildcats. After finally crossing the goal line three minutes into the fourth quarter, they needed a couple of huge first downs to salt away victory in Lexington. Beck’s 33-yard completion to Dominick Lovett and an eight-yard gain on a pass to Oscar Delp assured that Kentucky wouldn’t have time to come back.
In Beck, the Bulldogs still believe.
“He handled it,” junior running back Trevor Etienne said. “The moment didn’t get too high. You know, he handled it well. I’d say he kept the offense poised and kept us all connected. We believed in him and followed and believed he’d do what it takes to win.”
Beck almost always has. With the victory, he improved to 16-1 as Georgia’s starting quarterback.
But it’s not all on Beck, Smart stressed. Georgia had problems on the offensive line against Kentucky. That was both before and after losing Tate Ratledge to an ankle injury in the first half. The All-SEC right guard will be out four to six weeks following TightRope surgery last week.
The Bulldogs’ struggled with pass protection throughout the night. Left tackle Earnest Greene had one of the worst nights of his career, scoring an abysmal 27.4 in pass-pro, according to Pro Football Focus. Backup Monroe Freeling (35.7) was only slightly better. Even though Beck was not sacked, he was hurried often and had to run to escape pressure. That contributed to Beck’s 160 yards passing, a career low as a starter.
So was Georgia managing only 102 rushing yards, or 3.4 yards per carry. The Wildcats’ defense often crowded the line of scrimmage. Too often, the Bulldogs ran straight into seven- and eight-man boxes.
Some of that is on Beck. “I could have checked into some different things, maybe made some different decisions,” he said.
Like Georgia quarterbacks before him, Beck has limited autonomy at the line of scrimmage to change plays. Depending on the play call from Bobo, Beck can change directions from right to left. He can slide pass protections from right to left, change a pass play to a run play or a run to a pass.
Beck was not proficient in that regard against Kentucky, but Smart remains confident in his quarterback’s abilities.
“Carson does a great job of understanding that and knowing what to do and getting hats on people,” Smart said. “You know, that’s why the run game is so critical. The best friend you have on the road in those environments is in the run game. When you don’t run the ball well, you better be dang good at something.”
The other side of that equation is this: Georgia’s offensive line also can adjust blocking schemes and protections on the fly. Generally, that responsibility falls on the center. Sedrick Van Pran, who started there for the Bulldogs the last three seasons, reportedly was a master at line-calls. Georgia has a first-year starter this year in redshirt junior center Jared Wilson.
Asked if he could identify just one area of offensive improvement to make from the Kentucky game to Alabama, Smart said “communication.”
“There were some major communication errors across the front, communicating who we’re working to, points and things like that,” Smart said. “Some of that has to do with being on the road and crowd noise and everybody being on the same page. Protecting the quarterback on some pressures are really easy pickups.”
Again, Georgia has allowed only two sacks so far and hasn’t committed an offensive turnover this season. That’s after facing what appears to be some formidable defenses in both Clemson and Kentucky.
Alabama will be another. The Crimson Tide currently leads the nation in third-down conversion defense (16%). They’re also third in yards per play (3.3), fourth in points per play (0.114) and sixth in points per game (8.7).
It would behoove the Bulldogs and Beck to tighten up the loose straps before arriving in Tuscaloosa.
“We did not play as good as I think we can,” Beck said. “We have to watch the film and learn from these mistakes. But I think we’ve shown that this team won’t give in to adversity and we’re not going to bow down from a battle.”
