Georgia’s hot offense is vindication for oft-criticized Mike Bobo

ATHENS – The Georgia offense is rolling like a spilled box of ball bearings and what’s a Mike Bobo critic to do?

Admit that maybe coach Kirby Smart was actually right about his offensive coordinator?

The winner of two national championships and four SEC titles having a better feel for his coaching staff than dissatisfied fans?

It just might be true.

We’re six games into a most promising season for the Bulldogs, who ascended on Sunday to the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 poll for the first time since the start of the 2024 season.

Bobo, in the fourth season of his second stint as Georgia’s offensive coordinator, has his fingerprints all over it.

Under his direction, Georgia ranks second in FBS scoring at 46.2 points per game. ESPN’s College Football Power Index rates Georgia’s offense as the most efficient in FBS. Quarterback Gunner Stockton is ranked third in FBS in passing efficiency.

Georgia’s 20-17 road win over No. 6 Alabama on Saturday may have been the masterpiece of Bobo’s tenure.

Without his first- and second-string running backs and two of his top wide receivers, Bobo oversaw the Bulldogs’ offense to a jewel of a performance – Stockton finished 18-for-22 passing for 249 yards with one touchdown and one interception (182.8 passing efficiency rating), while running back Dwight Phillips Jr. led a rushing attack that finished with 206 yards on the ground.

It was the first time that the Crimson Tide had allowed a visiting opponent to rush for at least 200 yards and record a passer efficiency rating higher than 150 in the same game since at least 1995, according to Stathead.

It is a vindicating moment for both Bobo and Smart, who has stood behind his offensive coordinator as he served as a lightning rod for disgruntled Georgia fans when he wasn’t filling his role as a red-and-black piñata.

It was in July at SEC Media Days that Smart assured that “I know we got the right offensive coordinator” and that “the way he coaches our players day-to-day is unmatched in this country.”

And it was Saturday night that Smart offered a reminder.

“We’ve got a really good offensive coordinator that y’all like to criticize,” Smart said. “He called those plays, he designed them, him and his staff put them together.”

At his media availability Monday at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall, Smart offered more insight into Bobo’s behind-the-scenes diligence and skill in preparing the Bulldogs for Saturday.

Smart described a coach who leads a staff with intensity, preparing players, adding and removing wrinkles and utilizing different personnel groupings and schemes.

“He’s very smart in the run game,” Smart said. “In a world that, I don’t want to say young coaches but a lot of new-age coaches, they don’t get infatuated with the run game or the details of the run game in terms of who’s blocking who. All those things are important to him.”

Georgia will play rival Auburn at Sanford Stadium on Saturday. As Smart is quick to note, “We’re a week away from humility on both sides of the ball.”

But six undefeated games in, Bobo has induced second thoughts even among his most ardent critics.

If you’re a Georgia fan, you probably know someone like my wife’s cousin Will, who is probably the most die-hard Bulldogs fan I know. He was opposed to Bobo’s return to OC in 2023, particularly after the success of his predecessor Todd Monken.