Fourteen months ago, I apologized to Mike Bobo.
I apologized since I had previously attacked Kirby Smart for determining that hiring Bobo, his longtime college roommate, was the best way to replace Todd Monken. My point was that, as much as Smart would never dispute Bobo’s devotion to Georgia — where he had played and coached for two decades — this was as good an assistant position as there was in the sport, and it deserved a truly national search. Working with exceptional talent and having complete offensive autonomy should have allowed Smart to cast a broad net beyond Bobo, who had not coached a top-30 team in yards per play since 2017 at Colorado State.
So, when Bobo was guiding UGA to the fourth-best yards per play and fifth-best scoring offense, I apologized. I admit that he adopted those Monken concepts better than I expected, and even though the Dawgs lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship, I didn’t see it as an opportunity to tee off on Bobo and do a victory lap because he checked a lot of key regular-season boxes by developing Carson Beck.
However, here we are again. Another Georgia season began with a preseason No. 1 ranking and ended without advancing to the College Football Playoff semifinals. This time, however, it did not follow an offense that finished in the top five in two crucial metrics.
. It came on the heels of an offensive that barely cracked the top 50 in those two crucial metrics.
If Smart is acting in his team’s best interests, he will move away from Bobo. Do not get it misconstrued. The Notre Dame loss was not just due to Bobo. There was only so much he could do with receivers who led the nation in drops, and when a left tackle is intimidated into allowing backside pressure on a quarterback making his first career start, it’s a big hurdle for an offensive coordinator to overcome.
However, this is also part of the problem. Georgia had 39 seconds remaining in the first half and 2 timeouts in a 6-3 game. Bobo’s first-time starting quarterback completed one of
previous 7 attempts, and he was facing arguably the best secondary in college football. Oh, and again, Georgia was getting bullied at left tackle. Why Bobo got greedy in that spot was baffling in the moment and after the fact. Even though Smart stood by the decision. Instead of going into the half down 6-3, Stockton was stripped on backside pressure, which Notre Dame turned into a gift of a touchdown 12 seconds later. It was a catastrophic error in judgment. That’s been the theme with Bobo in the first half in 2024.
Think about this — the preseason AP No. 1 team only led at halftime in 6 of 12 games vs. Power Conference competition. UGA’s last halftime lead vs. Power Conference competition in the 2024 season came against Texas on Oct. 19. Ten first-half touchdowns in 12 games vs. Power Conference competition was a startling number. Just for comparison’s sake, Mississippi State was 2-10 overall and 0-8 in SEC play, yet even that group with mostly a true freshman quarterback had 10 first-half touchdowns in 9 games vs. Power Conference foes.
I know what you’re thinking — why does it matter that Bobo’s opening script struggled so mightily if UGA still adjusted well enough to win the SEC? Well, as a result of UGA playing with its food week after week, guess who didn’t get to attempt a single pass against Power Conference competition until Beck went down against Texas? Stockton.
Part of this could be ascribed to Beck’s lack of development. The drops didn’t help, but it’s clear that this wasn’t the year he had hoped for. Consider it similar to Jake Fromm’s pre-Draft experience in 2019.
Seeing UGA’s offensive inadequacies in the 2019 SEC Championship inspired Smart to look inward and propose an offensive scheme overhaul. This resulted in Monken’s unexpected employment, and he went on to become one of the most valuable coordinators of the Playoff era.
Will Georgia’s offensive struggles in the Sugar Bowl compel Smart to make another change at OC? I do not know. But at this point, Smart must ask the all-important question.
What if Georgia’s offense improved in 2024?
It wasn’t Beck or the pass catchers, and it certainly wasn’t the ground game, which never replicated their 169 rushing yards versus Clemson in the opener. Well, excluding the UMass game. Georgia fell to No. 50 in FBS yards per play, regressing by 9 points per SEC game. Failure to score a first-half touchdown in the final three games was telling. That is not acceptable. Not at Georgia. If the standard is truly about winning national championships, these are the difficult choices that must be taken.
Say what you want about someone like Ryan Day, who lacks Smart’s championship experience. Day made the difficult choice to fire DC Kerry Coombs (a respected figure under two coaching staffs in Columbus) and poach.
Jim Knowles of Oklahoma State. In 2023, the Buckeyes had the No. 2 scoring defense, and now they have the No. 1 scoring defense as the new favorites to win a national championship.
Not long ago, we questioned what could derail UGA’s overwhelming preseason favorite status to win it all. The Dawgs placed 28th in percentage of returning production, a stark contrast to the 2022 club, which lost 15 NFL Draft picks from the 2021 championship team. Bobo was meant to be part of the foundation. Instead, his inability to push the correct buttons with Georgia’s offense left the squad feeling li
Smart offered Bobo two years to return to his alma mater and capitalize on a good opportunity. It is not a rash decision to fire a coordinator after a bad season. Shoot, Seth Littrell tried to follow Bobo’s lead at Oklahoma, where he made the analyst-to-OC transition, and he was dismissed after only eight games. Granted, Oklahoma didn’t come close to UGA’s offensive success. Still, nevertheless. Brent Venables conducted a nationwide search for that sought position.
Smart owes it to his program to do the same. What if he doesn’t?
He will eventually owe an apology to Georgia fans.
ke it had fractures in its foundation for far too long of the season.
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