Hired to win big, UGA’s Smart has produced very little
The 2014 and 2015 losses to Florida were instances of Georgia undoing itself: Jeremy Pruitt’s defense was shredded for 418 yards rushing in the former; Faton Bauta threw four interceptions in the latter. On Saturday in Jacksonville, Georgia did nothing.
Eight first downs, 21 yards rushing, 164 total yards: How is that possible? Even if we concede that these are the least imposing Bulldogs in 20 years, that’s not the same as being, say, Vanderbilt. But those weren’t far off the numbers Vandy posted two weeks ago – nine first downs, 62 yards rushing, 171 total yards – against Georgia, which contrived to lose that one, too.
Yes, this is a program in transition. Yes, Kirby Smart inherited less from Mark Richt than Richt did from Jim Donnan, less than Donnan had from Ray Goff. But nothing explains Georgia going from 10-3 in a season that saw it fire Richt to 4-4 against a tepid schedule. (Ole Miss and Tennessee, considered the best teams the Bulldogs would face, have eight losses between them.)
Georgia under Smart has become a Georgia unseen since the Goff years. That’s not to say Smart’s Bulldogs can’t/won’t see brighter tomorrows, but early returns have been jarring. Even before these Bulldogs had lost a game there were rumblings that some Richt holdovers hadn’t fully embraced the Bama Way. Not to put too fine a point on it, but you don’t lose to Vandy and make eight first downs against Florida if yours is a team of true believers.
Some of that was inevitable: Those guys signed to play for Richt’s Georgia, not Smart’s Alabama. Given time, Smart will have only players of his choosing. But how many new coaches are ever handed a Nick Chubb and a Sony Michel? Could any coach have done less with them? Chubb ranks 11th among SEC rushers; Michel is 21st.
This is Jim Chaney’s sixth season as a play-calling SEC offensive coordinator. The record of those teams in league play is 9-37. The best any has gone is 3-5, which might be how these Bulldogs finish. Having Chaney run the offense is where Smart’s Total Alabama Graft breaks down. Chaney didn’t work under Nick Saban. (Though he did work one year for Lane Kiffin, who works for
As flimsy as Georgia’s offensive line is, the season turned on a play that deployed Chubb as lead blocker for the 175-pound Isaiah McKenzie. No O-lineman drew up that beauty. That was Chaney, and that was as close to a firing offense as it gets in the coordinating game. Vandy stopped McKenzie. Georgia lost. Today we wonder if/when Georgia will win again.
Smart appears to be micromanaging — he says he’s involved in all facets of the game — without managing much of anything. Special teams are substandard. The defense is just OK. The heralded Jacob Eason has lately turned into Greyson Lambert, meaning a quarterback who has passable stats but doesn’t make much happen. Somehow Georgia looked better in its excruciating loss to Tennessee than it had before or has since.
By the end of Richt’s first season, it was apparent that players who hadn’t coalesced under Donnan were building toward something. (Although Year 1 under Richt yielded the same 8-4 as Donnan’s Year 5.) The opposite has happened post-Richt. Has any Bulldog been Coached Up? As Smart conceded in Monday’s media briefing, speaking of his offense: “We’re not maximizing anyone.”
Being new and having to wrangle a roster not of his building doesn’t give Smart a pass. He’s a coach. Coaches are paid to put players, even ones not of Alabama quality, in positions to succeed. Nobody is seriously suggesting that Greg McGarity dump the guy he just hired, but Smart was imported to win bigger than Richt. His first team ranks among the worst Georgia assemblages of the past half-century. He will not be named rookie of the year.
About the Author
Mark Bradley is a sports columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has been with the AJC since 1984.
