Kirby Smart identifies the main reason for Georgia's struggles on offense

The Georgia Bulldogs struggled on offense in their loss to the Ole Miss Rebels, only scoring 10 points. For head coach Kirby Smart, this was the latest in a string of games where the offense has struggled.

After the game, Smart shared that he believes part of the reason for the team’s struggles has been the quality of the defenses that they’ve played. At the same time, he did acknowledge

“We’ve played really good defenses,” Kirby Smart said. “So, you guys will look at a stat sheet and you’ll say, ‘Where do they rank?’ And I’ll say, ‘Well, against who?’ Because relative to who we’ve played, we’ve played some really good teams.”

Prior to the 10-point performance against Ole Miss, Georgia had scored at least 30 points in the five weeks leading up to the game. However, that stretch was sandwiched between two poor offensive performances that have hung over the Bulldogs.

For the season as a whole, Georgia is averaging 410.6 yards per game on offense, which is 50th in the country in total offense. On top of that, the Bulldogs are averaging 30.6 points per game, which is 48th in the country in scoring offense.

“But I would be remiss if I would say that we’re happy with where we are. We’re not happy with where we are. We played some really, really, really, really good defenses I think this year, more than most people in terms of their schedule,” Smart said. “And when you look at in the SEC games, the ones that matter the most, SEC versus SEC, and you look at all those, it’s not as glaring as a difference because there’s some really good defenses in our league in terms of what you play against.”

Much of the concern about the offense at Georgia has been directly targeted at quarterback Carson Beck, who has had a turnover issue in recent weeks. Including the Alabama game at the end of September, Georgia has played in six games. During that stretch, he’s thrown 12 interceptions. That’s also a big reason why Georgia is 88th in the country in turnover margin, sitting at -0.33 turnovers per game or 15 turnovers lost to 12 turnovers gained on the season.

“But we want to be more productive. We want to be able to throw the ball vertical down the field. We want to be able to shoot and play action. Play action is set up off of your backs and off of your ability to run the ball. In some games, we have been able to run the ball better than others. In some games, we’ve been able to drop back pass better than others. But regardless of those two things, you must protect the ball and we have not done that,” Smart said.

“And that’s the key to the drill. If you don’t turn the ball over, guys, you’re going to have a chance to win. And then the flip side of that is you’ve got to get turnovers. So where are our strip-outs? Where are our rip-outs? Where are our takeaways, I would say? Because to win turnover margin, it’s a two-way street. It’s not just a one-way street.”

The Georgia Bulldogs and Kirby Smart are in for another test next week when they’re set to take on the Tennessee Volunteers, who have one of the best defenses in the country.