ATHENS – Georgia’s offense is a beautiful thing to behold. At least it is in the eyes of Matt Stinchcomb, who spends almost all his time analyzing such things for his job at ESPN.
An All-American offensive lineman under former Georgia coach Jim Donnan and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Stinchcomb admits he might spend a little extra time reviewing Georgia’s all-22 video these days. But like everybody else who follows the league closely, he’s fascinated with what the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs are doing in Year 3 under offensive coordinator Todd Monken and the first full season of Stetson Bennett as QB1.
To be clear, you’re not seeing the same old Bulldogs.
Instead of operating under a run-first, take-play-action-shots philosophy, you’re seeing Georgia zip the ball around with all kinds of quick-game passes, motion and run-pass options. The Bulldogs are taking deep shots here and there and grabbing a little run game when and where it’s needed. But mostly they’re getting their explosive plays from short, high-percentage throws from Bennett.
Heading into Saturday’s home game against Kent State (noon, SEC Network-Plus), that has translated into Georgia leading the SEC in passing (376.7 ypg) for the first time since Aaron Murray was slinging the ball around in 2012. The Bulldogs also stand second in the league in total offense (532.3 ypg) and third in points scored (43.3 ppg). Bennett leads the SEC in passing yards per attempt (10.82) and completion percentage (73.9%).
Yes, the great and powerful reputation that has led Georgia to be dubbed “Running Back University” has been tarnished a little. The Bulldogs stand 10th in the league in rushing (155.7 ypg). But Stinchcomb concludes that is more choice than deficiency.
“They’re no less ‘RBU’ than they’ve ever been before,” said Stinchcomb, who will serve as analyst for Saturday’s telecast. “I think that’s always a real hoot. They just happen to have this constellation of opportunities on the edges of the offense, on the perimeter, and that’s what they’re choosing to go with.”
Indeed, 19 Georgia players have caught passes in three games. The Bulldogs have chosen to feature different players at different times. Running back Kenny McIntosh leads the team with 15 receptions, nine of which came in the 49-3 season-opening win over Oregon. Receivers were targeted 24 times versus Samford. Tight end Brock Bowers was featured in last week’s 48-7 road win over South Carolina. A 6-foot-4, 230-pound sophomore, Bowers caught five passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns while scoring another TD on a 5-yard run via a tight-end reverse.
One-hundred-four of Bowers’ yards were recorded as “after the catch.” So, it’s not like the Bulldogs were having to risk anything by trying to throw deep.
“Getting the players out on the perimeter to do their things, whether it’s receivers, tight ends, or running backs, I think we have done a good job of dispersing the ball and letting everybody get a piece of the action,” said sophomore flanker Ladd McConkey, who has 10 catches for 162 yards and scored touchdowns on a run and a pass. “I think that’s what is separating us. It’s not just one player. They can’t key in on one receiver, tight end, or running back, and I think that’s what has helped us a lot.”
Stinchcomb did some deep-dive research on Georgia’s offense in advance of Saturday’s game against Kent State. In it, he compared the Bulldogs offense in the first three games last season with the first three games this season.
Stinchcomb found that wide throws – designated as “outside the numbers” – have dramatically increased for Georgia. Last season, the Bulldogs attempted 21 such throws through the first three games. This season, they have 36.
That’s a 41.6% increase, or five more per game.
“That’s not an insignificant leap,” Stinchcomb said. “I looked at inside runs and outside runs, and they’re about the same, almost carbon copies. But the offense changed last year as the season went on.”
Georgia was, of course, tooled to operate with quarterback JT Daniels at the controls at this point in the 2021 season. Meanwhile, Bennett was No. 3 on the depth chart and truly not expected to play.
However, Bennett beat out Carson Beck for the right to start Game 2 against Alabama-Birmingham when Daniels was sidelined with a back injury. He immediately went out and passed for five first-half touchdowns against the Blazers. A light came on for Monken.
As the season continued, and it was increasingly evident that Daniels wasn’t going to make it back to full health anytime soon, Monken began to reshape Georgia’s offense to fit Bennett’s unique style.
“Offensive philosophy doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” Stinchcomb said. “It really doesn’t matter if you want to be ground-and-pound, Air Raid or five-wide spread, if you don’t have the guys to do it, you’d be a fool to stay adherent to it. So, the offense changed as the season went on. It really was an evolution, like all seasons are, to some extent.”
As Monken and Bennett worked together more and more throughout the season, Georgia’s offense engaged in a slow, deliberate metamorphosis. Having been able to work together this entire offseason, and with Bennett’s football focus barely distracted as a graduate student, the Bulldogs have emerged almost totally different this year.
That, Stinchcomb said, speaks to the versatility that Monken possesses as a coordinator. He has overseen Air Raid offenses at Oklahoma State, run pro-style in the NFL and used something in between as head coach at Southern Mississippi.
Now the country’s highest paid coordinator ($2 million) in his third year at Georgia, Monken has been able to flex his intellectual muscles with a bevy of offensive talent at his disposal. Tight ends are the soup du jour, a position that Monken featured prominently at different stages in his career.
“There are some coaches that are intellectually nimble enough to say, ‘OK, these are the pieces that I have; let’s see what we can sling together,’” Stinchcomb said. “Monken is one of those coaches. It’s almost like being a great chef. Some people can just cook. Imagine what they can put together when you give them great ingredients.
“To me, that’s what Todd is demonstrating to be, a great chef. And when you look back over his history, it makes sense.”
The timing is excellent for coach Kirby Smart’s top-ranked Bulldogs. A seventh-year head coach, Smart has placed a recruiting emphasis on attracting elite wide receiver prospects to Georgia, an area of recent shortcomings. The Bulldogs are getting the desired attention.
“I think we have a proven track record -- Monken has, our offense has -- of developing quarterbacks, of giving guys an opportunity to play in a system that they can watch on Sundays,” Smart said. “That is pretty important.”
Another player who has flourished in Georgia’s newfangled offense is junior tight end Darnell Washington. Finally healthy after two seasons of foot-related injuries, Washington is on the field 55% of the time along with fellow tight end Bowers. That called “12″ personnel, for one back and two tight ends.
That has made for quite a pick-your-poison offensive combination. One of them blocks while the other catches. It also can be pretty devastating for defenses when they both become blockers on the perimeter.
“If everybody had the mindset of, ‘I want to be the face of the team,’ the chances of being this good are very little,” said Washington, who revealed this week his latest measurements are 6-7½, 280 pounds. “So, I feel like we spread the ball around and let everybody eat, here, there, whenever. It’s hard to stop an offense with multiple weapons.”
Stinchcomb agrees. This Georgia offense is hard to stop, and that should continue to be the case all season as Monken and the Bulldogs continue to build off what they’ve been doing.
“Right now, Georgia is more than RBU,” Stinchcomb said. “But just because they’re more than RBU doesn’t mean that aren’t RBU anymore, if that makes sense. Just because you’re more, doesn’t mean you aren’t.”
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