Joel Klatt reveals exactly what makes Georgia's defense so successful

Anyone that has watched college football this season knows the Georgia defense is the best in the nation and possibly one of the best in history, including Joel Klatt.

Clearly there’s talent on head coach Kirby Smart’s defense, but there’s talent at a lot of places. What else makes Georgia different?

On Wednesday, the Fox analyst broke down four reasons why every offense in America trembles at the thought of facing the Bulldogs.

Talent

Klatt starts with the obvious, a necessity in college football. As he points out, Georgia has the most five-stars recruits on their roster in the country with 19. There are 33 four or five-star recruits on the defensive side of the ball alone.

He highlights the work of nose guard Jordan Davis, who has played one of the best defensive seasons in recent memory and is in the Heisman Trophy conversation. The 6-foot-6, 340-pound lineman has 20 tackles and two sacks this year, but his impact on the game goes far beyond the stat line. Oh, and he was a three-star recruit.

Scheme

The Fox analyst stated that even though it is wildly successful, Georgia’s defensive scheme is not too complicated.

“They’re playing more basic defense and zone coverage in the back end, and that allows their talent to be great,” Klatt said. 

The Georgia front seven does not need much time to get into the backfield and influence the quarterback; the linemen have more speed and explosiveness than you may have found on a defensive line a decade ago. The pressure they create combined with the zone defense played downfield is a recipe for bad passes.

“In past years they were running more man coverage, but when you have zone… everyone’s covered because of that zone defense,” Klatt said while breaking down film. “The eyes are on the quarterback. He doesn’t have anywhere to go with the ball, and you get a sack because you’ve got great pass rushers up front.”

Effort

The Georgia defense is vicious. They play every down like it is the most important play of the game. Georgia has allowed just 104 first downs all season, second in the nation.

“You talk with coaches around the country, and they say things like ‘It seems like Georgia wants to rip your face off on defense,’” Klatt said.

Once a team makes a rare appearance in the end zone, good luck scoring. Opponents have scored points just eight of the 14 times they’ve reached the end zone this season, by far the best percentage in the country.

Tackling

Lastly, and very simply, Georgia is not missing tackles. They have a PFF total tackling grade of 93.4, which is unsurprisingly the best in the country. The Bulldogs have missed just 39 tackles all season, and the second through fifth teams have missed between 66 and 73. Miami has missed 137 tackles this year, nearly 100 more than Georgia.

The defense is balanced when it comes to tackling too; there is not one player shouldering a large chunk of the burden. Five Georgia players have more than 30 tackles and four of them are linebackers. Linebacker Nakobe Dean has been the best across the board for Georgia, notching 37 tackles, 3.5 sacks with 26 sack yards and two interceptions including a 50-yard pick-six against Florida last weekend.

When combining all of these elements, you get a defense allowing just 6.6 points and 225.6 yards per game. Georgia has allowed 53 points all season. No other team has allowed fewer than 114.