Offense: 1) QB - Same: intermediate passing game will open up running game to compensate for loss of AR running yards 2) O - Line- Worse: O'Cyrus was awesome 3) Receivers - Much Better: Big time freshman talent and a good coach 4) Tight End - Same: Very unproven 5) Running Backs - Better: best RB room in a long while and they complement each other 6) FG kicking - Better 7) Return Game - Better 8) PPG Scoring: Better: run game is going to shock people 9) YPG: Better Defense: 1) DLine: Same 2) Linebackers: Better 3) D-Backs: Much Better 4) Punting: Same 5) Special teams: Surely better or big changes better happen 6) PPG allowed: Better 7) Yards allowed: Better
A great passer gets the defense out of the box and makes the run game much easier. Stacked boxes is all we saw last year. Protect the deep ball and play the run every play is what we saw.
This discussion made me think back to the pre-Spurrier days when teams wouldn't throw much. The conventional coaching wisdom was that three things could happen on passes and two of them were bad . . . so teams significantly preferred running.
My gut tells me Napier is playing the long game. He's got his eye on 2024 and 2025. If the machine is clicking on all cylinders in 2025 Napier ain't getting fired. It doesn't matter what happens in 2023 as long as we see an upward trend on the field in 2024 and 2025. There are going to be some growing pains because of the roster turnover we've seen with some units. It is particularly severe at OL and QB. 8 OL including 5 guys who are SEC quality starters IMO (White, Tarquin, Braun, Torrence, and Gouriage) left the building this year. We also lost our #1 and #2 at QB in Richardson and Kitna. That is tough to overcome when you are trying to build a championship offense. The offense will take a step back, but that would be expected under almost any coaching staff who lost what Napier lost at OL and QB going into year 2. I think the defense will show signs that they are in that 2nd tier behind Bama and UGA. And the offense will be in a rebuilding year to build up depth and experience with a bevy of new players at OL, QB, and WR. We'll begin to see the upward trajectory in 2024 as we should see good amounts of returning starters and returning depth recruited by Napier.
AR issue has been answered many times and I agree with the principle that we are replacing a mediocre QB as far as production goes. While he had Uber talents as a runner, he didn't run much. His passing was often times a liability, see Kentucky. If one of our QBs is a dependable game manager with average talent and less mistakes, it is an improvement. Now what I want to see next season is just competent play across the board. No more 3rd and 28 plays going for 35 yards on our defense. Competent tackling, etc. No head scratching plays that make you wonder if the players even practice all season. If we are showing improvement, play hard and competent, and fight until the end, the win/loss mark doesn't really matter. We have a very hard schedule this year so to paint it as anything other than that doesn't help. You can't judge a teams improvement by wins and losses alone when we are rebuilding the entire program! If Georgia goes 10-2 we can say they had a down year or regessed a bit without Stetson Bennett. If we go 6-7 again, but lose games by 7 point in the final quarter, and you can't point to those "one or two plays" that seemingly cost us the game, then we HAVE improved.
Beavis at Lsu really struggled while passing for 400 yards every game and dropping 40-50 on everyone they played including Bamas defense.
So true, ETGator. Those of us old enough to remember the Bob Woodruff teams of the 1950’s can attest to that. I think we averaged about 11 pass attempts per game. I had the good fortune of attending the 1958 Florida/Georgia game with my Grandfather. We won 7-6 in a game that would have made Will Muschamp ecstatic. Highlights of the game were Jimmy Dunn’s 75 yard touchdown run and Bobby Joe Green’s punting. I’ve tried to retrieve the stats from that game unsuccessfully but, I do believe we ended the game with less than 100 yards total offense and that’s including Dunns TD run. What’s amazing to me is that it was an exciting game to me then. I’d be sleeping through a game like that now.
Ever since 2010 we have been comparing last year to the current year thinking that would give us insight into the future and look where that got us. We can safely assume Napier is not going to turn the program around like Meyer. We have no idea if he will fail like Muschamp, McElwain, and Mullen. I am quietly hoping he is fixing the program slowly like Pell and we will see big returns in a few years (minus NCAA sanctions). All that to say: any comparison between May of 2022 to May of 2023 is just going to show that in terms of measurable changes things have not turned for the better. We can argue about different units being slightly better. Since we like to focus on the QB I will say that I was hoping for a high-profile transfer instead of Mertz, and although I am disappointed I still have faith in Napier’s long term plan. I am not accepting mediocrity, but I am being realistic about a long term plan that might not bear fruit for a couple more years. Edited to correct an iPhone autocorrection.
Nice post. But……Napier has a totally different job than Meyer did. Meyer did not turn our program around — he took a stocked team and started winning with it and reloading via recruiting. Napier is the guy faced with “turning our program around”.
Im not sure the point you are trying to make. If you drop 500 yards passing on anyone then you are very likely to win. If you drop 500 yards rushing on anyone then you are also very likely to win. Certainly you remember Nebraska putting up over 500 yards rushing on us in a National Championship Game. Either way the entire point of the conversation is due to posters who ignore rushing. They ONLY look at passing numbers. That is just as flawed as only looking at rushing numbers. And it is an objective fact that a QB that goes 250p100r had a better game than a QB that went 350p. Either way it’s likely Mertz will have slightly better passing stats than AR yet our O will step back and many here will be baffled on why.
