Georgia’s Mike Bobo a finalist for Broyles Award as top assistant coach
ATHENS — Mike Bobo entered the season facing a lot of questions.
Safe to say the Georgia offensive coordinator answered just about all of them. With a new starting quarterback in place, Georgia went 12-1 and won the SEC.
The Bulldogs enter the College Football Playoff as the No. 3 overall seed. For his efforts in coordinating the offense, Bobo has been recognized as a finalist for the Broyles Award, which goes to the nation’s top assistant coach.
It’s the second time in three years that Bobo has been a finalist for the award. Former Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken also was up for the award in 2022, but neither won it. Brian VanGorder was the last Georgia coach to win the award in 2003.
The other finalists this year include Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman, Ohio State defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and Texas Tech defensive coordinator Shiel Wood.
Georgia’s offense this season averaged 31.9 points per game. The high points came when Georgia scored 44 points on the road against Tennessee and 43 points in a home win over Ole Miss.
That’s all despite quarterback Gunner Stockton stepping in for Carson Beck on a full-time basis.
Under Bobo, who also is Georgia’s quarterbacks coach, Stockton completed 70.7% of his passes while throwing for 23 touchdowns with only five interceptions. Stockton also added eight rushing touchdowns and was named MVP of the SEC championship game.
The biggest difference between the 2024 version of the Georgia offense and this year’s came in the run game. Georgia averaged only 124 rushing yards per game last season, which ranked next to last in the SEC.
This year, the Bulldogs have averaged 186 rushing yards per game, good for fifth in the SEC.
The rushing improvements came despite injury issues on the offensive line. Georgia started a different offensive line combination in each of the first six games of the season. Even in the SEC championship game, the Bulldogs had to roll with backup Malachi Toliver at center.
“We were running the ball,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “We’re running the ball pretty well. So those two games, the game, the SEC schedule is kind of what allowed me to realize we were going to be better. I don’t know that I would say we hit our standard or that, you know, there’s two national championship years’ standard, but we improved in that area. And we needed to improve in that area. It was big for our team.”
Yet Bobo found a way to keep Georgia’s offense on track. The Bulldogs scored touchdowns on 79% of their red-zone opportunities this season. That ranks second in the country.
The Broyles Award will be given out Feb. 12 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Georgia’s next game comes Jan. 1 when it plays in the Sugar Bowl against either Ole Miss or Tulane.
About the Author
Connor Riley has been covering the University of Georgia since 2014 before moving to DawgNation full-time before the 2018 season. He helps in all areas of the site such as team coverage, recruiting, video production, social media and podcasting. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2016.
