Paul Finebaum: Kirby Smart is the best coach in college football. I think he's better at his age than Nick Saban was at his age and I think it's scary. I think he's gonna contend with it at some point (total national titles). He's that good. A radio host was telling me it's more difficult these days with the 12 team playoff. But he would have still been in the playoff last year. He can lose two games and still be in the playoff.
Jake Crain: The vibe is Georgia is the best team in the SEC and that should be the vibe. They're confident. But they're also a little bit upset and a little bit pissed off, and they should be. We've said in the past Kirby is a master manipulator and a master motivator. But it's not needed this time. You lost a chance to get in the CFP. You lost a chance to three peat. And you lost to Alabama. It's one of the top two rosters in college football. You have a team that's upset and on a mission. If I'm a Georgia fan I'm happy. The vibe is high and strong at Georgia and it should be.
On the schedule: I think Georgia's gonna kill Clemson. Some are saying Georgia's weak up front on the defensive line. I think they are gonna be really good. Their weaknesses would be other team's strengths. I think the offense will be better than the defense, but the defense will still be top 5, top 7, in the country. If they can get past the Bama game, no reason they shouldn't go undefeated in the regular season. It's gonna be tough for me to not pick UGA every week and I'm all over UGA -13.5 in week one. I don't think Clemson scores more than ten points.
Carson Beck being the no. 1 pick in the draft: Jim Nagy is really high on him. He does everything well. He keeps his eyes downfield. Not afraid to throw the check down if nothing's there. He's not greedy. When you have a QB with all the physical attributes making good decisions and has the best players around him, that's a recipe to beat people to sleep.
Georgia's weakness: There's a lot of people saying it's the DL. They may not have a Davis or Carter there. But it's still gonna be damn good. When we say S. Carolina's Oline is weak, we're saying they're bad. That's not what we mean with Georgia. Maybe we should find a better way to say it. Maybe it's not an elite position group and maybe that's a better way to put it.
Jordan Rodgers on Georgia's schedule: When the schedules were released, everyone was looking to see "Do we have to play Georgia?". Georgia wasn't looking to see if they have to play anybody. That's just the SEC right now.
On Carson Beck: There is a lot of pressure on this program because the standard is that they go undefeated. Beck just needs to continue to not try and do too much. He has all the physical tools, but what jumps out on tape is his efficiency, accuracy and quick release.
Offense with no Bowers: It's gonna look similar in some elements. But when you take him off the field something will change. But I look at a guy like Dillon Bell as someone they can use to split out wide, put in the backfield to give them that same kind of diversity they had with Bowers.
"They ain't been playing nobody, Pawl" Greg McElroy on the biggest change for Georgia this season: The biggest change is the schedule. We had divisions and the SEC East in most cases was a little bit more manageable than the SEC West over the last decade with Bama, LSU, A&M (wut? They just fired their coach cause they were mediocre.), Auburn (wut? We play them every year), Ole Miss (wut? Their best year, we played them.) Now they have to play three top ten teams on the road. And when you're the alpha dog program, you're gonna be measured against yourself. Maybe the DL is not quite as good as it's been in 2021 and 22 when they won the title. They're kind of chasing ghosts a little bit.
On Beck: He's got such a good game. The charisma and leadership part is what he's working on to make sure the guys gravitate towards him. He was maybe little bit reserved with it being his first year. They seemed to hold him back a bit in the earlier part of the season and really released him in that Kentucky game and after that he was great. I think the sky's the limit. He's got great ball placement and really, really cerebral and understands what they want to do offensively.
Offense: I don't think it's gonna center around Beck and the passing game. With the addition of Etienne and a healthy B. Robinson, I think this run game is gonna be a bigger part of it. And Kirby wants to create more explosive plays. And the way you do that is to make the defense think you're gonna run the football and then you PA pass and throw it over their heads.
Jake Crain: The vibe is Georgia is the best team in the SEC and that should be the vibe. They're confident. But they're also a little bit upset and a little bit pissed off, and they should be. We've said in the past Kirby is a master manipulator and a master motivator. But it's not needed this time. You lost a chance to get in the CFP. You lost a chance to three peat. And you lost to Alabama. It's one of the top two rosters in college football. You have a team that's upset and on a mission. If I'm a Georgia fan I'm happy. The vibe is high and strong at Georgia and it should be.
On the schedule: I think Georgia's gonna kill Clemson. Some are saying Georgia's weak up front on the defensive line. I think they are gonna be really good. Their weaknesses would be other team's strengths. I think the offense will be better than the defense, but the defense will still be top 5, top 7, in the country. If they can get past the Bama game, no reason they shouldn't go undefeated in the regular season. It's gonna be tough for me to not pick UGA every week and I'm all over UGA -13.5 in week one. I don't think Clemson scores more than ten points.
Carson Beck being the no. 1 pick in the draft: Jim Nagy is really high on him. He does everything well. He keeps his eyes downfield. Not afraid to throw the check down if nothing's there. He's not greedy. When you have a QB with all the physical attributes making good decisions and has the best players around him, that's a recipe to beat people to sleep.
Georgia's weakness: There's a lot of people saying it's the DL. They may not have a Davis or Carter there. But it's still gonna be damn good. When we say S. Carolina's Oline is weak, we're saying they're bad. That's not what we mean with Georgia. Maybe we should find a better way to say it. Maybe it's not an elite position group and maybe that's a better way to put it.
Jordan Rodgers on Georgia's schedule: When the schedules were released, everyone was looking to see "Do we have to play Georgia?". Georgia wasn't looking to see if they have to play anybody. That's just the SEC right now.
On Carson Beck: There is a lot of pressure on this program because the standard is that they go undefeated. Beck just needs to continue to not try and do too much. He has all the physical tools, but what jumps out on tape is his efficiency, accuracy and quick release.
Offense with no Bowers: It's gonna look similar in some elements. But when you take him off the field something will change. But I look at a guy like Dillon Bell as someone they can use to split out wide, put in the backfield to give them that same kind of diversity they had with Bowers.
"They ain't been playing nobody, Pawl" Greg McElroy on the biggest change for Georgia this season: The biggest change is the schedule. We had divisions and the SEC East in most cases was a little bit more manageable than the SEC West over the last decade with Bama, LSU, A&M (wut? They just fired their coach cause they were mediocre.), Auburn (wut? We play them every year), Ole Miss (wut? Their best year, we played them.) Now they have to play three top ten teams on the road. And when you're the alpha dog program, you're gonna be measured against yourself. Maybe the DL is not quite as good as it's been in 2021 and 22 when they won the title. They're kind of chasing ghosts a little bit.
On Beck: He's got such a good game. The charisma and leadership part is what he's working on to make sure the guys gravitate towards him. He was maybe little bit reserved with it being his first year. They seemed to hold him back a bit in the earlier part of the season and really released him in that Kentucky game and after that he was great. I think the sky's the limit. He's got great ball placement and really, really cerebral and understands what they want to do offensively.
Offense: I don't think it's gonna center around Beck and the passing game. With the addition of Etienne and a healthy B. Robinson, I think this run game is gonna be a bigger part of it. And Kirby wants to create more explosive plays. And the way you do that is to make the defense think you're gonna run the football and then you PA pass and throw it over their heads.
