Kirby Smart addresses Georgia's slow starts offensively

ATHENS, Ga. — Two games into Georgia’s season, the Bulldogs have scored just seven points in the first quarter. Last week, UGA’s offense punted on two of three drives in the first 15:00 with a pair of three-and-outs. This week, the Dawgs only had it twice and came away empty handed with a missed 28-yard field goal attempt and a punt.

While to the casual observer this would absolutely seem like a slow start, Kirby Smart pushed back on that idea. To him, the lack of scoring early in the game is a result of failed execution – something you’d expect to get better as the season goes along and the new quarterback gets more comfortable – and clock control by the opponent – in part due to the NCAA’s new clock rules.

“We took the ball and drove down the field. We had one play, a third down, where we didn’t execute, and that hurt us,” Smart said. “Carson fumbled, and it’s concerning because you can’t have that. The ball got away from him, we harped on that last week. When he made the guy miss and he scored, the ball came and was not secured. We talked all week about how if you’re going to take off and run, you have to protect the ball. It comes out and we miss the field goal. Outside of that we had a three-and-out and a drive stop after that.”

“They were doing a very good job of clock control. They had a plan of shrinking the game and did that,” he continued. “I would’ve done the same thing if I was them. Stayed in the huddle until the last 10 seconds. I think in the first quarter we had two possessions. That’s rare when you get the ball first. So really after the first drive we did good things. We had only one other possession.”

As opposed to the old NCAA clock rules where time would stop for chains to get set after a first down the entirety of the game, the new rules only have that happening in the final 2:00 of either half. While it’s accomplishing the objective of taking away plays to put less stress on the bodies of players – and speed things up for the viewer – it’s also taking away scoring opportunities for offenses.

“Right now across the country it’s taking more than that. It’s taking away more plays than that,” Smart said in response to his prior idea that the changes might only take away 3-5 plays. “No one really knows why. Teams aren’t going as fast intentionally, there’s been a lot of large margin of victories. You could attribute that to that. But at the end of the game there they were trying to take all the clock and not get a play in. I think when you get into conference play you’re going to find out exactly how much it’s taking away.”

As for the other potential factor to the slow slow starts, the quarterback, Smart remains confident in the performance of Carson Beck through two games.

“I’m extremely pleased with what Carson’s done,” Smart said. “He’s making good decisions with the ball. There were a couple plays today that I thought that didn’t occur in the last game where he got flushed or he got in trouble and he got rid of the ball. You can’t make it dangerous when he does that. He’s got to live for the next play and move on. He’s getting the ball out of his hands quick, he sees the field. He can tell you what coverage it was, he keeps his eyes down the field. Had a max blitz today and cut a guy free, he stands in there and throws a touchdown to Marcus Rosemy. Not a lot of quarterbacks can do that. He does a good job playing that position.”

“I guess we just executed more,” Beck said for himself about the difference between Georgia’s 31-point second quarter and their scoreless first. “The defense made some plays and got us in good field position, and then we just got the ball in the end zone.”

While there’s no doubt that Smart would like to see more points put on the board early, he’s not worried about that right now. At this point in the season, the eighth year head coach seems to understand some of the hiccups and is focused on getting those mistakes corrected for what’s to come.

Georgia opens its conference schedule this Saturday taking on South Carolina. Kickoff time from Sanford Stadium is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS as the SEC Game of the Week.