Georgia Football: A True Indicator of Success in 2020 - Sports Illustrated

Media outlets, including ours, and even the guys out in Las Vegas are certainly high on Jamie Newman. He's listed currently with the third-best odds to win the Heisman Trophy. 

It's understandable. The Heisman has largely turned into a quarterback award and Georgia is predicted to be one of the best programs, so naturally, Jamie Newman is going to get some buzz as the presumed starter for the Dawgs. 

However, it would be important for everyone to remember two things. Jamie Newman, though it seems inevitable, has not been named the starter yet, and explosive offenses are not composed of just 50 or 60-yard pass plays and the occasional quarterback run.

Jamie Newman, Favorite to Start for Georgia & Preseason Heisman Candidate

Explosivity at its finest in college football comes when there is a great balance. 

Achieving balance in the offense has been Kirby Smart's goal from the moment he got hired as the Head Coach of the University of Georgia. That has not changed, despite what some may think, with the hire of Todd Monken. The lack of explosive plays in Georgia's offense in 2019 was due to a lack of balance. Georgia was entirely too dependent on D'Andre Swift and the running game due to struggles in the passing game. 

Sometimes it was Fromm, sometimes it was the receivers, sometimes it was the play called. Put all the blame aside, it simply wasn't productive enough to create the space that the offensive line and running backs needed to really produce big plays.

When you compare the 2019 Georgia offensive stats to that of each of the past College Football Playoff Champions, they paled in comparison. Georgia averaged fewer plays per game and fewer yards per game than any of the past six national champions. 

Also, the rushing yards per game of 185.9 for Georgia was lower than that of all but the 2016 Clemson Tigers and the 2019 LSU Tigers. So, if you're banking on Jamie Newman to be the next Deshaun Watson or Joe Burrow, then maybe the ability to gain chunks of yards on the ground won't be important. But, if Newman turns out not to be a once in a generation type player for the program, then offense must be designed and executed in such a way that formations and balance allow the rushing game to become explosive.

D'Andre Swift finished 2019 with 1,218 yards on 196 carries

D'Andre Swift's 6.2 yards per carry this past season was the lowest output of his career at Georgia. Yes, he had more carries, but you could tell, even with what was supposed to be one of the best offensive lines in college football, the phenom from Philly had to fight for every single yard. 

There were no gaping holes to run through that you would see made for the likes of Ezekiel Elliot, Damien Harris, Travis Etienne, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Each of those National Champion backs had a system and offensive weapons around them that made the opposing defense worry about having to defend every blade of grass for the entire 53 1/3 yards in width on the field.

The goal of Jamie Newman (presuming he does win the job), George Pickens, Demetris Robertson, Dominick Blaylock, the remaining veterans, and the host of newcomers that will be involved in the Georgia passing game should be to threaten the defense enough vertically and horizontally to see Zamir White and company have room to operate. Running to set up the pass just isn't going to win it all in big-time college football anymore.

In 2019, Georgia's cumulative passing game production and their per-game production was worse than any of the past six national champions, except for the 2017 Alabama passing game behind Jalen Hurts. Even in the case of that outlier, Georgia fans know all too well that Alabama would not have won the national championship that year had Hurts finished the game for Alabama in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kirby Smart, Todd Monken and company will be and should be concerned if any change in the Georgia offense does not produce explosive runs. The aforementioned 6.2 yards per carry of D'Andre Swift in 2019 is worse than all but two of the past six champions' top backs.

Jamie Newman doesn't need to be superman. The offense doesn't need to look like LSU of 2019. Georgia is in line to have one of the best defenses in all of football. The offense just needs to be more complementary of said defe

What Georgia needs is consistency, efficiency, and variety in the passing game that will allow Zamir White, James Cook, Kenny McIntosh, Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards to rip off big gains that bring the Georgia faithful to their feet, get the energy and the excitement going at a fever pitch and then let a dominating defense go out and play with momentum behind them. Not clinging on for dear life.

Zamir White stares down a safety in the box versus Auburn

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March 12, 2020 at 06:18AM
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Georgia Football: A True Indicator of Success in 2020 - Sports Illustrated
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