College Football Thread

[striker42]

I think Bennett has the teams backing, but it could be wrong.

Took JT a long time to come back from that muscle injury.

Bennett is popular in the locker room. But it's Kirby's job to put the best team out there he can. JT is just miles better than Bennett.

Honestly, Bennett isn't as good as even his stats make him look. He's been carried by some really great receivers and TEs as well as a deep stable of RBs. And until Saturday he hadn't been asked to win a game through the air. If you watch him play, I mean closely watch him, it's painful. He struggles with progressions, he'll completely ignore receivers running wide open, he's got no feel for when a receiver is about to get open, and when he does try to throw to a receiver that's open he usually underthrows it so badly that he makes it a contested ball.

There aren't many people on earth right now who think Stetson Bennett is Georgia's best choice at QB. Even Michigan fans are hoping Georgia doesn't make a change at QB. I just hope Kirby comes to his senses and uses this break to get Daniels reinstalled as the starter. I don't expect it. Kirby is stubborn as a mule and not a great evaluator of QBs but it's still a hope.

[Carp]

I personally think Michigan will beat UGA. Their DL is just as legit as UGA, but unlike UGA they actually have a good offense to supplement it.

UGA is great. But they we ain't winning it with Bennett at QB and even if they roll with JT Daniels, I don't know that he'll be in rhythm enough to make a difference. I just haven't been impressed with their offense at any point this season really. And they've really been tested before Bama. Who was the best team they played prior to last week? A 3 loss Clemson team in week 1? I certainly don't think Arky or UK were anything special. The Vols offense was a challenge, but certainly not their defense.

[striker42]

I personally think Michigan will beat UGA. Their DL is just as legit as UGA, but unlike UGA they actually have a good offense to supplement it.

UGA is great. But they we ain't winning it with Bennett at QB and even if they roll with JT Daniels, I don't know that he'll be in rhythm enough to make a difference. I just haven't been impressed with their offense at any point this season really. And they've really been tested before Bama. Who was the best team they played prior to last week? A 3 loss Clemson team in week 1? I certainly don't think Arky or UK were anything special. The Vols offense was a challenge, but certainly not their defense.

The only time I've been impressed with the offense was when JT Daniels was leading it early in the season. It was actually capable of explosive plays. About all Bennett can do is hand the ball off. Smart was asked once why he stuck with Bennett and his answer wasn't that Bennett is the better QB, it was "continuity." That's no reason to play a significantly worse QB.

As for Georgia's opponents, Clemson was a defensive brawl and the one thing Clemson did well last year was play defense. Also, those kick off games aren't always great indicators of a season. Teams frequently need a couple weeks to hit their stride and a bad team practicing with a single game in mind all offseason can give a good team a run for its money.

The rest of the regular season Georgia dominated pretty much every game it played. The worst Georgia looked was probably against Florida where Stetson Bennett again wet the bed. Arkansas and UK aren't elite but they're solid teams with good players and Georgia beat them both pretty soundly.

The SEC is a physical slog. Even bad teams tend to have a lot of excellent athletes. SEC teams wail on each other all season so you can count on ending up banged up after an SEC game. This makes it really hard to go through an SEC schedule unscathed. Teams like Arkansas, KY, or even TN might not be great but they all have enough good players to sneak up and beat you if you have an off week. So dominating while going 12-0 in the regular season is impressive in itself.

But I agree that UGA cannot win against Michigan without some kind of improvement on offense. Michigan will eat Bennett for lunch. If Georgia installs Daniels now and gives him all the first team snaps during bowl practices, they have a good chance. Daniels doesn't need as much time to get back in rhythm as he got the starting QB snaps in the offseason and started multiple games this year. I think the bowl practices would be enough. However, I don't expect Kirby Smart to play him. Smart is absolutely in love with Bennett and his unrivaled ability to hand the ball off.

[striker42]

In many ways the SEC championship game was closer than the final score indicated and others it wasn't as close.

Alabama's offensive success was largely limited to the first half (and the first possession of the second). Georgia made adjustments in the second half and Alabama struggled moving the ball. When you watch the game closely you realize just how stupid and out of character Georgia's defensive scheme was. The book on Bama is press coverage and rush 6. If you try to use a zone they'll eat you alive. So what does Kirby do? Naturally he trots out zones that Georgia hadn't run all year. The players frequently didn't know what they were supposed to do, made tons of mistakes, and Alabama jumped all over it.

Once Kirby made some adjustments and started dialing up more pressure, they controlled Young. But the damage was already done. Since so much of the struggle against Bama was based in an absolutely idiotic scheme, I don't feel like it gave a true picture of what Georgia's defense could have done that game. If Kirby learns his lesson then this shouldn't be something that repeats itself.

On the other side of the ball the game wasn't as close as it looked. Stetson Bennett was, believe it or not, insanely lucky. He threw two picks including one pick six but that number probably should have been 4 interceptions with 2 pick sixes. A Bama defender straight up dropped an easy pick six. About the only thing Georgia could do successfully in the game was throw to Brock Bowers. He's quite possibly the best TE in the nation but Bama eventually started blanketing him and Bennett had no answer. If you shut down the run and cover Bennett's safety blankets inside the numbers, you'll shut down Georgia's offense. Bennett has zero ability to work outside the numbers.

Georgia's defense was hamstrung by insanely bad coaching while the offensive limitations were exposed probably more than the score indicates.

[zitothebrave]

NCAA wisely banned the fake slide. Because NCAA coaches wouldn't give a **** and would rather hit a QB and take the penalty than give up a TD

[striker42]

NCAA wisely banned the fake slide. Because NCAA coaches wouldn't give a **** and would rather hit a QB and take the penalty than give up a TD

Yeah. Trying to take advantage of a rule designed for player safety isn't a great look.

[striker42]

Early signing day today. I wonder if we'll see more drama than usual this year with the players getting more and more money.

[Krgrecw]

Early signing day today. I wonder if we'll see more drama than usual this year with the players getting more and more money.

Lane was 100000% correct when he said players are free agents now.

[Tapate50]

Early signing day today. I wonder if we'll see more drama than usual this year with the players getting more and more money.

Just ask FSU.

[mqt]

I love the new quirks to recruiting, lol. Power to the players.

[striker42]

Stetson Bennett is so, so bad. Kirby Smart needs to explain his reasoning for sticking with him.

[Heyward]

Congrats to Georgia fans. It's most likely different if Bama had Metchie and Jameson Williams but thats football. Good for Kirby finally beating Saban, long overdue.

[CyYoung31]

Georgia sports curse is officially no more. The 2021 Braves were finally the team that said, “**** that.”

Braves fans better not walk out of a World Series game early ever again.

[CrimsonCowboy]

Congratulations Georgia fans. This was your night. Hate the injuries Bama suffered, but UGA was better anyway. Especially in the second half. Enjoy this night Dawg fans. It’s special seeing your team win a national championship. Again, congratulations Georgia

[striker42]

I don't know who kidnapped Bennett in the 4th quarter and replaced him with Tom Brady but I thank you.

Man, what a wild few months. Braves then Dawgs. Im still just stunned. Ive never seen a UGA title in my life. Just wow.

[mqt]

Stetson Bennett is so, so bad. Kirby Smart needs to explain his reasoning for sticking with him.

That aged well, lol.

[striker42]

That aged well, lol.

He's still bad. He managed to put together a couple drives but he's honestly not good.

The defense won the game.

[The Chosen One]

He's still bad. He managed to put together a couple drives but he's honestly not good.

The defense won the game.

Im not a UGA fan but the amount of Stetson worshipping on my Facebook feed the last 20 hours… you’d think he was gonna be the #1 draft pick lol

its like the Snit effect when we won the WS.

[Tapate50]

He's still bad. He managed to put together a couple drives but he's honestly not good.

The defense won the game.

He literally had the best final qb season of any UGA qb ever.

[Tapate50]

Im not a UGA fan but the amount of Stetson worshipping on my Facebook feed the last 20 hours… you’d think he was gonna be the #1 draft pick lol

its like the Snit effect when we won the WS.

I mean he did go out and win them a NC.

I don’t blame anyone for loving it.

No one thinks he’s gonna be a top draft pick though.