Georgia’s 23-17 victory over Notre Dame last Saturday night in Sanford Stadium may have provided a best-case scenario for coach Kirby Smart.
While his third-ranked Bulldogs notched a top-10 triumph to improve to 4-0, they were far from dominant against the Fighting Irish, which has given Smart and his assistants plenty of teaching moments this week with an open date on the schedule. Georgia, 1-0 in Southeastern Conference play after opening the season at Vanderbilt, will return to competition Oct. 5 at struggling Tennessee (1-3, 0-1).
“Offensively, we’re looking at what we can do better to get it to our playmakers,” Smart said in a news conference this week. “How can we find plays to get guys on the perimeter and loosen things up? We need to throw the ball down the field. We need to find ways to get (freshman receiver) George (Pickens) the ball. It’s limitless in what we’re trying to do, but the central focus is protecting (junior quarterback) Jake (Fromm) to let him throw the ball vertically and spread the ball out some.
“We know our strength is running the ball, but sometimes teams do everything they can to take that away, and we’ve got to have answers.”
Georgia managed just 114 first-half yards against Notre Dame, which led 10-7 at the break. The Bulldogs were much more impressive in the second half, amassing 225 yards.