A lot has been said about the sheer dominance of the Georgia defense this season. The Dawgs have absolutely annihilated opponents and held them to an average of 171.2 yards per game below their season averages. They have crushed opponents and held them a college football-leading 7.6 points per game (or a mere 76 points in the entire season). It is, without a doubt, the best unit in college football.
But what about the offense?
While a solid unit in its own right, it certainly falls well short of the dominance seen in previous seasons by championship-winning offenses. College Football Gametime discussed what it means that the unit hasn't really been tested all too often in 2021.
"I think the best chance for Georgia to stumble is when they go up against somebody that has a defense that can slow down the Georgia offense and give them some problems," says Chris Goforth. "What happens when they face another team with great a defense as well."
While Week 1 is forever ago, it may be more relevant than ever to this conversation. For all of its shortcomings in 2021, Clemson still has a dominant defense and certainly the best defense that Georgia has faced. "The Clemson game is the only game that Georgia has played this year that they needed help from their offense," says Jon Chuckery. "And if Georgia could have scored one offensive touchdown that game would have looked like a blowout."
Sure, this is a different team than the one that lined up against the Tigers. There's a different starting quarterback, healthier wide receivers, and a further-established offensive line. There's no telling what would happen if the two lined up again. But the point stands that it's the only real barometer that we have to judge this offense against a truly elite defense.
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This also serves as a testament to just how dominant this defense truly is. They have, time and again, been enough to pick up the offense when it's figuring itself out. It did in Charlotte with the Pick-6, it handled Florida nearly by itself in the final two minutes of the first half, and its manhandled opponents enough to give its offense try after try to get things right.
The question of the year looms large: it's not who the defense is, it's who is this offense? We've seen the Dawgs remain committed to running the football and they're averaging nearly 200 yards per contest. But they have remained only above average at throwing the ball coming in around 237 yard per game. Sure, they haven't been put in that situation. But what if they do?
"We've talked about this all year, you have to score points! These games are not 13-7 in the Playoff., says Chuckery. "You have be able to put up 40-45 points."
Can Georgia's offense do that?
