Tennessee football heads to Athens on Saturday for one of its biggest games of the season as they face rival Georgia. The game has major SEC Championship and College Football Playoff ramifications for the 2024 season.
Here’s a look at the Georgia Bulldogs ahead of Saturday’s matchup in Athens.
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How The Bulldogs Got Here
It’s been quite an up-and-down season for a Georgia program that’s been the best in college football over the last couple seasons. All looked the same for dominant Georgia when they opened up the season with a 34-3 route of Clemson in Atlanta.
But from there things got shaky. Georgia narrowly defeated Kentucky 13-12 in Lexington and fell at Alabama 41-34 in a thriller on week earlier. The Alabama game was the perfect encapsulation of Georgia’s season. They fell behind 30-7 at halftime before taking a 34-33 lead in the final minutes of the game before failing to get one final stop.
Georgia’s best win of the season was a 3-15 victory at No. 1 Texas. It’s as good a win as anyone in the country has this season. However, it’s evident that this Georgia team isn’t as elite as the ones in recent seasons.
The Bulldogs beat Mississippi State by only 10 points, was tied with Florida with five minutes to go and then lost at Ole Miss a week ago. That loss makes this a must win game for Georgia to make the College Football Playoff.
Georgia’s Strengths
Georgia is a pretty balanced team that’s been good but not great on both sides of the ball. The best part of Georgia’s offense has been its ability to move the ball throwing the football.
The Bulldogs average 286 passing yards per game which is the fifth best in the SEC this season. Georgia lacks an elite receiver and Carson Beck has been turnover prone, but the offensive line has been good in pass protection (besides last week against Ole Miss). That’s allowed the Bulldogs to move the ball through the air.
Georgia’s offense has also been solid in the red zone, scoring on 34 of 37 trips to the red zone including touchdowns on 25 of those trips.
Defensively, Georgia has been good everywhere but not elite at either stopping the pass or the run. The Bulldogs rank sixth in the SEC in both pass defense and run defense. But they have been elite situationally.
Georgia is allowing third down conversions at just a 28% rate so far this season. That ranks fifth nationally and second in the SEC, only behind Tennessee. The Bulldogs red zone defense has also been great, allowing just 11 touchdowns in 24 total red zone trips this season.
Georgia’s Weaknesses
There’s much fewer true weaknesses for Georgia. They’ve struggled to run the football, totaling just 124 yards on the ground every game. LSU is the only team in the SEC that’s been worse.
Georgia has good running backs but its offensive line has been very poor run blocking this season, particularly compared to past Bulldog teams.
Turnovers have also been an issue for Georgia this season. The Bulldogs have turned it over 15 times this season with only two SEC teams turning it over more times.
Bulldogs To Know
QB Carson Beck
Georgia’s senior quarterback came into the season with a ton of hype and was projected to go in the top 15 of the NFL Draft. That’s far from the case now after what’s been an incredibly underwhelming season without Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey.
Beck’s completed 65% of his passes for 2,488 yards, 17 touchdowns and 12 interceptions so far this season including three games throwing three interceptions.
RBs Trevor Etienne and Nate Frazier
Despite a poor running game, Georgia does have two good running backs in Trevor Etienne and Nate Frazier. As previously noted, the offensive line has struggled to run block and Etienne and Frazier have been forced to make things happen.
Etienne’s rushed for 477 yards and seven touchdowns this season while Frazier’s rushed for 333 yards and three touchdowns.
Edge Jalon Walker
Georgia has a number of good edge rushers but junior Jalon Walker leads the team with 4.5 sacks to go along with 41 total tackles.
He’s one of the top graded edge rushers in the SEC according to PFF.
S Malaki Starks
Star safety Malaki Starks leads the team with 49 tackles this season to go along with an interception and a pass breakup. Starks is elite in the run game but also very solid in coverage.
What Josh Heupel Said About The Bulldogs
Opening Statement
“Turning to the (Georgia) game, obviously getting ready to go play a great opponent. You look at them really in every phase of the football game, extremely talented, coached extremely well. They play hard, they play fundamentally sound. They make extremely well. They play hard. They play fundamentally sound. They make you earn it in every in every way. And one that will be a great, great environment and a great opportunity for everybody inside of this program.”
On Georgia QB Carson Beck’s struggles as of late
“He’s an extremely talented quarterback. He’s played extremely well throughout the course of the season. He’s the key that turns the ignition for them on the offensive side of the football. Playing quarterback, sometimes what people see isn’t just the quarterback play. It takes all 11 playing together. He’s a really good football player.”
On Georgia’s defense
“Well, it starts with their personnel because they have really good personnel. First level, second level, third level. They create pressure with their front four. They do it out of their pressure packages. They’re able to mix up their looks on the back end, so you gotta recognize what’s going on out on the perimeter. Quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends, they all gotta be on the same page. You gotta do a great job in protection, but it starts with having the ability to run the football, too. If you’re one dimensional, they’re gonna make it real tough on you all night long.”
