Will Kirby Make the Right Move This Time?

Well, I'll be the first to admit I was wrong about Stetson having a bounce back game against Kentucky. My prediction of him throwing for 200 yards and leading the offense to a more productive game overall was far from correct. I was very disappointed with the offense's lack of ability to finish off drives. All fingers really have to be pointed at the QB. Stetson Bennett couldn't get anything going on Saturday. He threw for 131 yards and had two interceptions. The only productive offense the Dawgs had against Kentucky was due to the solid run game. Zamir White led the way with 126 yards and a touchdown but the offense still only mustered up 14 points. Minus the first drives of each half, the Bulldogs put up no other points. They were close several times but could not find a way to get points up on the board. Anytime the offense would get momentum, it would be killed by a Bennett turnover. On the other hand, the defense played a stellar game. Most fans and analysts all expected this against the Kentucky offense. The Dawgs only allowed 229 total yards. 138 of those came on the ground but the Wildcats still only averaged 3.5 yards per carry. Kentucky only had one long drive where they could put up some points, but it only ended in 3. The real worry was with the offense because the final in Lexington ended up being 14-3.

A lot of people will say that the Dawgs won a physical matchup against a solid offensive and defensive line in Kentucky. This can be considered true in many ways but if you are a realistic Georgia fan you know that the Bulldogs have some figuring out to do. Sure, the Bulldogs were close to finishing off drives all game versus the Wildcats but close isn't good enough anymore. Georgia has been close in winning championships since 1980. That's 40 years almost. I know Dawg nation has to be tired of seeing the Georgia football team be so good, all to have it washed away. The talent we have had over the last decade has been tremendous and the fact that one championship hasn't happened in that amount of time is down right disgusting.

The University of Georgia hired Kirby Smart at the end of 2015 and I have loved pretty much every second of it. Kirby has taken the Dawgs to a National Championship, won a rose bowl, a SEC championship and also been in 3 straight SEC Championships. That doesn't even mention all of the success Smart has had in the recruiting world. Kirby has had the best recruiting classes in the nation each of the past 3 years. In my life, I've never seen Georgia be this relevant continuously. Smart has had the Bulldogs ranked in the top ten 45 weeks in a row. That is a pretty heard feat to accomplish. My point in all this is that Kirby has a very good head coaching resume as of now. He has the Dawgs where they want to be now, but all of dawg nation is hungry for a National Championship. It's still early in Smart's head coaching career but there is one particular negative trend in Kirby's early head coaching career that has me a little worried to be honest.

The trend that concerns me most with Smart in his head coaching career thus far has been his quarterback management. All dawg fans know how the whole situation with Justin Fields went. I don't completely blame Kirby for losing Fields. It's hard to take out your starting quarterback who took you to the national championship as a freshman the previous year (Jake Fromm). Either way, people will give Smart crap for that as long as he's a coach. The real issue now is: Are we seeing it again?

Smart has continued to stick with Stetson as the starting quarterback ever since pulling Mathis from the Arkansas game. It appears that he has no plans of changing (even after Kentucky) that as yesterday in his press conference, Smart stated that "they believe Stetson gives them the best chance to win." My question for Smart is how can you say that so confidently? Bennett has thrown 5 interceptions in his last 8 quarters of play. That doesn't even mention how the interceptions have already been an on-going issue with Stetson at QB. Bennett threw 14 interceptions in 12 NJCAA (Junior College) games two years ago. The interceptions have been a problem for the former walk-on already. My argument for Stetson being the starter at first was that he was taking care of the ball and had a phenomenal QBR through his first 3 games. The players around him on offense will make him look better and he won't even have to do too much with our elite defense. That thought process has all went out the window after his showing at Bama and then Kentucky. Since then, it appears the pressure of being QB at the University of Georgia has became greater for Bennett.

Why is Smart so stubborn to not try something different? He has a 5 star transfer and two 4 stars on the bench behind Bennett. Yes, stars aren't everything (I can hear Kirby saying it now) but Bennett has obviously been the reason the offense has been slugging of late. Leading the offense, Stetson has put up 14 points in his last 6 quarters of play. Obviously the running game has still been effective (175 yards per game) so where does that leave the question mark? The QUARTERBACK. Smart was quick to pull the trigger on Mathis in the first game this season so why hasn't the same occurred for Bennett. We have seen the same amount of production from Stet in the last 2 games compared to Mathis versus Arkansas. This shows that Bennett has gotten progressively worse. If Smart is all about production and competition for other positions, why not do the same with the quarterbacks? Either there is something we really don't know about on the outside or Kirby doesn't know how to handle the QB room. It's that simple. We will take a step towards finding out Smart's QB decision-making on Saturday when the Bulldogs play in a winner-take-all East matchup with the Florida Gators. If Georgia loses this game because of Quarterback play, people will have some heat for Kirby Smart and this offensive coaching staff.

Image from: Dean Legge/DawgPost