Georgia defensive coaches speak on pass defense woes of late

Los Angeles, Calif. — Georgia needs one more win to successfully defend its National Championship. TCU stands in the way but the game within the game suggests that the Bulldogs can do plenty to inflict in-game harm on themselves. The list of ways in which they have done that of late includes, but is not limited to, allowing big plays.

No two plays are alike but there was a common thread in UGA’s 42-41 win over Ohio State. CJ Stroud and his band of big-time wideouts were given too much time to execute. The Buckeyes got two touchdowns in the first half off plays where Stroud held the ball for around six seconds. Marvin Harrison Jr. was on the receiving end of both of those scores.

Some want to blame the secondary while others will point to the Bulldogs inability to get a pass rush. But there’s no finger pointing inside the Georgia football facility. Talk to the guys in charge of getting the defense ready to play, and they’ll talk about the ways in which the players under their watch can execute better.

“Well we work scramble drill a lot, obviously not enough,” co-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp said. “We gave up 14 points in the Ohio State game on scramble pass. Initially you have the receiver covered then you’ve got to win in space against a very skilled player (Ohio State and they’ve got some very skilled players as well — as far as TCU is concerned. So it’s something you continue to work on, finish on the quarterback better. Finish on the field on receivers better which, obviously, we have not done a great job of that. We’ve spent more time working on it.”

On one hand, the Georgia pass defense has struggled the past two times out. Ohio State and LSU combined to hand 71 points on the Bulldogs. But it feels like there were two different causes.

Most of the yardage and points Georgia gave up to LSU were in the second half. The Bulldogs had a huge lead and there seemed to be a lack of focus. Against Ohio State, it was asking defensive backs to cover for twice as long as is often considered fair.

Tray Scott knows one of the reasons why that was the case against the Buckeyes. UGA’s beloved defensive line coach believes his group missed too many “layups.” They’re goal is for a finish-on-the-quarterback rate of 100 percent at games end. It was well below that against the Buckeyes.

“If that quarterback is back there and he’s comfortable or he has eluded the rush, that’s on us,” Scott said at UGA’s National Championship media day. “So it’s something those guys take really, really to heart. They do a lot of extra conditioning. They put themselves through the ringer to make sure we prevent that.

Scott also gave Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud a great deal of credit. Stroud evaded the rush on numerous occasions, using his legs and arm to pick up big yardage. TCU’s Max Duggan will present a similar threat. Duggan is a power runner who is tough to get on the ground whether he’s inside or outside of the pocket.

With the number of times Georgia rushed, there was some chatter about missed holding calls. There seemed to be quite a few but the Bulldogs aren’t going to dwell on what they can control. As redshirt freshman defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins said on Saturday, being held isn’t an excuse at the University of Georgia.

There’s one more element that probably showed up in a big way in the comeback win over Ohio State — conditioning. The Bulldogs dominated the fourth quarter of that contest, out scouring Ryan Day’s team by a score of 18-3 despite having spent a lot of time on the field. That has been a focus since the game, too. It’s time to let it all hang out.

“Conditioning,” outside linebackers coach Chidera Uzo Diribe said. “We’ve got to do a great job of being fresh, fighting through, straining in our rush. Also, at the same time, we’ve got to get guys who are fresh out there, too, so we don’t have guys who are winded and tired. Our guys know that we’re fresh, we’re going to get guys out there, we’re going to go ahead and attack and execute the plan that we have for Monday night.”