Why Georgia doesn't want to lose its 'physicality as an offense' (2024)

ATHENS, Ga. — Mike Bobo, in his first incarnation as Georgia football’s offensive coordinator, sometimes would call enough passes that traditional, hard-bitten Dawgs fans coined the phrase: “Run the damn ball, Bobo.” And to be fair, that’s generally what he did in that era.

In this era, however, Bobo found himself talking recently with Travaris Robinson, Georgia’s safeties coach, about how things have changed.

“Back in the day, the game may have been a little bit simpler,” Bobo said. “It was a little more physical. But you’ve got to adapt. The game is played in space nowadays.”

Georgia, formerly known as Tailback U., whose head coach Kirby Smart was labeled as beholden to “man-ball,” is illustrative of the change. The Bulldogs have gone from running the ball 61.1 percent of the time during Smart’s first four seasons (2016-19) to running it 54.5 percent the past four seasons. And there have been more blowouts the past four seasons, thus padding those run numbers.

But much like the game is not simple anymore, as Bobo said, nor is the narrative on Georgia’s offense. For one thing, opening up the offense and passing it more actually improved Georgia’s running game, at least in one metric.

When it comes to explosive run plays, as defined by rushes of 12 yards or more, Georgia has produced a higher percentage of them despite fewer carries. The data per TruMedia:

Essentially, UGA is still forcing defenses to honor the run because of the threat of the big pass play. In fact, per TruMedia, defenses have not loaded the box as often (as defined by eight-plus defenders near the line of scrimmage): In 2020, Georgia attempted runs against a loaded box 34.2 percent of the time; In 2023, it was 23.8 percent.

Still, Smart wishes those explosive runs were way more explosive: Georgia ranked 40th nationally last year in rushes of 20-plus yards and 56th in rushes of 40-plus yards.

“We didn’t have the home runs, the long runs that historically we’ve had,” Smart said.

Still, being enough of a threat running the ball has helped the passing game, via play-action passes. And Georgia has indeed been more of an explosive passing team: sixth nationally in passes of 20-plus yards in 2023 and eighth in passes of 40-plus yards.

Now how about doing that in the run?

“We certainly need to be explosive in both,” Smart said. “I think we’ve got the backs to be an explosive run game. We’ve got the perimeter blockers to be an explosive run team. We’ve got the offensive line to be an explosive run team. Ihopewe’re more capable of longer explosives. Meaning when we get through there for 10-12, we can turn it into 40-50 and not 20-30.”

In Georgia’s one loss last year, it suffered from not being able to get a few critical yards on the ground. Alabama stifled several short-yardage run plays, and in hindsight, a few of them could have been pass plays.

But in the macro sense, Georgia retaining a desire for a physical running attack may give it an advantage in this era. Defenses are getting smaller and more athletic to stop passing attacks and mobile quarterbacks. That leaves an opening for teams that can pound the ball. That’s still what Georgia aims to do, at least when it needs to.

“I don’t want to adapt so much that we don’t lose our physicality as an offense,” Bobo said. “What this program is built on and what Coach Smart is building on is toughness and physical and offense. You want to be innovative and play the game in space and try to be explosive. You’ve got to be explosive on offense nowadays. At the same time, you don’t want to lose your physicality as an offensive unit. That’s something we pride ourselves on. It’s a staple of what Coach Smart’s done here.”

That’s not just clinging to tradition. Having a physical running game helps in two ways: A team’s offense has an advantage, but its defense also practices against it and is more ready for it.

The only team that has beaten Georgia in the past three seasons is Alabama, which for all its modernization still retained Nick Saban’s philosophy on playing physically. Georgia struggled to run the ball in last year’s SEC championship — 3.4 yards per carry for the tailbacks — while Alabama tailback Roydell Williams managed 4 yards per carry (and Jalen Milroe’s ability to run was big). In the 2021 SEC championship, it was more about Georgia’s inability to stop Alabama’s passing attack, but Georgia’s top tailbacks, James Cook and Zamir White, were also held to fewer than 4 yards per carry.

In a way, being able to ground and pound is exploiting a market inefficiency. The teams that run for the most yards still tend to do it out of the spread: Tennessee, which amassed the most rushing yards in the SEC last year, spaces out defenses and then strategically runs the ball. Ole Miss, which led the SEC in rushing yards two years ago, does something similar.

Michigan won the national championship after using its running game to beat Ohio State — a 156-100 advantage in rushing yards — and then equaling what Alabama brought in the Rose Bowl. Alabama had more rushing yards, but the difference was Milroe’s rushing, while Michigan barely averaged more yards per carry.

This season, Georgia faces a gauntlet of teams that won’t make it easier to run the ball: Alabama doesn’t have Saban anymore but still has a lot of his recruits. Texas ranked first in the Big 12 last year in rush defense. Ole Miss has strengthened its defensive front via the transfer portal. Kentucky, Tennessee, Auburn and Clemson likely won’t be pushovers.

So for Georgia, balance is the key. The passing game would seem to be the strength with Carson Beck and a deep group of receivers and tight ends. The running game is more a question, with Florida transfer Trevor Etienne heading an otherwise inexperienced bunch.

But Georgia’s line is strong, and those young tailbacks have talent. So yes, Bobo will run the dang ball.

”Football is football,” Bobo said. “We’re really running very similar plays that we ran 27 years ago when I started coaching. Might be just out of different formations and different personnels and using different guys.”

(Photo of Carson Beck, left, and Roderick Robinson: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)

Seth Emerson is a senior writer for The Athletic covering Georgia and the SEC. Seth joined The Athletic in 2018 from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and also covered the Bulldogs and the SEC for The Albany Herald from 2002-05. Seth also covered South Carolina for The State from 2005-10. Follow Seth on Twitter @SethWEmerson