Paul Finebaum shares how Georgia has handled offseason distractions

In 2023, the Georgia Bulldogs are looking to win their third national championship in a row. However, to do so the Bulldogs will need to overcome several offseason distractions, including the large amount of praise being given to the program.

During an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, college football analyst Paul Finebaum says he thinks to try and prevent complacency, head coach Kirby Smart has tried to be as critical of the team as possible.

“I think he’s countering it,” Paul Finebaum said. “It’s very difficult to talk about this offseason because it began with such tragedy and I think that has influenced everything that has gone on.”

Georgia’s offseason was immediately marred by tragedy. A fatal car crash killed offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy. Alcohol and speeding were involved in that crash, which led to further scrutiny over traffic violations within the program.

“Even though Media Days was a turning point, it was the strangest offseason,” Finebaum said. “And there’s no way to separate what happened after the game with the death of two young people and the injury to others and a lot of negative attention. But, Kirby has really done a fairly good job. I’m not talking about fans because Georgia fans today are now Alabama fans of a couple years ago. They don’t think they’re ever gonna lose again. But he’s done a fairly good job of keeping that team honest.”

Through all of these distractions, one thing that Finebaum has noticed with the Georgia program is how much the program resembles Alabama.

“I had the opportunity to talk to Ladd McConkey the other day. And he’s a really charming guy but man it sounded like he graduate Phi Beta Kappa from the Nick Saban school of don’t say anything but smile the whole time, and that’s exactly what Kirby’s got going over there. The cliche is Alabama 2.0. I’m not sure that’s 100 percent accurate,” Finebaum said.

“But everything that you went through, Greg, and everything that every player went through after you while Alabama was knocking down those six national championships, I’m now hearing from Kirby Smart and his program.”

Rece Davis explained having Georgia ranked No. 2

The preseason AP Top 25 Poll came out and, unsurprisingly, Georgia was ranked first. However, one notable figure who had the Bulldogs second was Rece Davis.

The College GameDay host explained his decision to put Michigan ahead of Georgia.

“Quarterback, and it’s not that they don’t have talented guys. Carson Beck [is] likely the starter. I was told by someone close to the Georgia program just a couple of days ago that Brock Vandagriff’s been really terrific in fall camp. So they’ve got a couple of talented options, but they’re unproven,” Davis said.

“While I don’t have them ranked No. 1 to start as the preseason poll — I have Michigan on top — it’s not unreasonable to think that Georgia is just going to reload. And the schedule suggests that they really only have two games that they can even find a way to give away over the course of the regular season.”