ATHENS, Ga. — It was their finest hour. The players and coaches on the Georgia defense turn on the film from the last Texas game, preparing for a rematch in this week’s SEC championship, and see themselves at their best: seven sacks, four forced turnovers and generally wreaking havoc in the home of the No. 2 team in the country.
Typical Georgia defense, in other words. Except not this season.
By several key metrics, this is the worst defense of the Kirby Smart era:
• Eighth in the SEC in yards per play allowed, after being first or second every season since 2019 and never worse than fifth.
• Ninth in the SEC in total yards allowed per game, after being first or second every season since 2017 and fourth in 2016.
• Seventh in the SEC in points allowed, after being first or second every year since 2019 and never worse than fifth.
“I can’t put a finger on what exactly it’s been. If I could, we’d certainly put a stop to it,” Smart said. “We’ve played well at times, and we’ve tackled well at times. And then we haven’t at times.”
It’s what makes predicting this version of Georgia so hard. Defense has been a hallmark of the program under Smart, and it looked like it was in the win at Texas. It also looked great against Clemson in the season opener and for the second half of the win against Tennessee. But the same unit just gave up 563 yards to Georgia Tech, one of five games this year in which it’s given up at least 350 yards. That hadn’t happened to a Smart-coached team in six years.
For all the (sometimes deserved) attention on Georgia’s offense, the national ranks for the Bulldogs’ two units are remarkably similar:
• Georgia offense: 33rd in yards per play, 37th in total yards, 25th in points.
• Georgia defense: 36th in yards per play, 35th in total yards, 25th in points.
Where they diverge is the explanation for not being better: Georgia’s offense has dealt with injuries everywhere except quarterback, with the worst hits coming at tailback and offensive line. Georgia’s defense, on the other hand, has been relatively healthy. The most long-term injury to a key player was linebacker Smael Mondon Jr. — and that was only four games, which included the great defensive performance at Texas.
Talent shouldn’t be an issue: Safety Malaki Starks, edge Mykel Williams and linebacker Jalon Walker are projected first-round picks in next year’s NFL Draft. The rest of the defense is full of five stars and other blue chips.
The more maddening thing: It’s not really one position that’s been the team’s undoing. Sometimes it varies by game, but no area has been dominant throughout the season.
The defensive line got pushed around for much of the Georgia Tech game. Ole Miss and other teams hurt Georgia in the midfield passing game. The pass rush has been inconsistent. The secondary hasn’t been great. The run defense on the edges was an issue against Kentucky and other teams.
But if you’re looking for one core issue, it might be run defense, and it’s been a building problem. Between 2019 and 2022, when guys such as Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter and Travon Walker were part of loaded front sevens, the Bulldogs ranked first or second in the nation. (Not just the SEC, but the nation.) Last year it slipped to fifth in the SEC, giving up 3.77 yards per rush attempt. This year it’s down to eighth at 3.84.
But even then it’s simplistic to blame the defensive line: Smart pointed out that it put Georgia Tech in second-and-long 16 times, which he was pleased with.
“If you told me before the game, we were going to have them in second-and-7 plus-16 times, I would have thought that we did something really, really well,” Smart said. “What we didn’t do was play really well on a couple of the second-and-longs and a couple of the third downs, which really cost us.”
The schedule has to be considered. Georgia has faced four of the nation’s top 25 offenses and eight of the top 50. In past years, even those great defenses had games in which they looked mortal against great offenses: Ohio State in the 2022 Peach Bowl and Alabama in the 2021 SEC championship.
But a few of the 2024 Georgia defense’s best games have come against those highly ranked offenses: Clemson and Texas had their season lows for yards per play and points. Tennessee was held to its season low for yards. Maybe it’s a thing about facing teams in orange. Or maybe it’s a sign the talent is perfectly capable of putting it together in certain games but for some reason can’t do it every week.
Two theories were expressed during Monday’s press availability in Athens, both tying back to that.
Smart said not reacting well within drives has led to bad results.
“The trait that confounds you or bothers you is when something goes wrong. When any explosive play or penalty that extends a drive has almost been catastrophic, like, we can’t stop anybody when that happens,” Smart said. “We haven’t overcome that well.”
Starks said early in games there’s been too much “individual” play.
“I think sometimes when we look at it, we just all need to be on the same page, instead of going out there and playing as individuals instead of playing as a whole unit,” Starks said. “When we’re all connected, when we’re all on the same page, when we’re not doing things individually, I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Coaching-wise, there might be an adjustment period in the secondary, after Fran Brown left to become Syracuse’s head coach and Will Muschamp stepped into an analyst role. But Muschamp has remained around the program, and Brown was only with the program for two years.
One final stat, which goes to the issue of tackling: Georgia is 82nd in yards after contact allowed at 3.16, per TruMedia. That speaks to plenty of flaws: one-on-one tackling, defensive swarm to the ball, giving up explosive plays. But even there it’s inconsistent.
The upshot of all this: The Bulldogs shouldn’t be surprised if Texas starts out making more plays than it did in Austin. As Smart pointed out, the defense has been resilient and usually ends up making the stop when it really needs it.
“It’s just knowing we’ve been in that position before,” Starks said. “Just lean on each other — when things get hard, not pointing fingers, not complaining, coming together as a group to figure it out.”
(Top photo of Georgia’s Malaki Starks: Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)
