lets tap the brakes a little. \GA prepped for a slow, pocket passer and played a soft defense to boot in the 4th qtr. (being up by 21 at the end of the 3rd qtr) We see that all the time in college and pro. At the same time, Trace ended up being 14 of 27 for 141 yards. Hack had 139 yards passing (8 of 14). Where Trace did excel was he had 33 yards rushing (back to a GA D prepped to stop a pocket passer, but he is simply a better runner as well).
But lets take that year...because it was NOT the same offensive line as Trace had the next year.
Going into the season, the starters were:
Godwin, SO
Hamilton, SO
Thompkins, Fr
Gesicki, SO (who had at least six key drops that year)
LT Paris Palmer Jr.
LG Mahon, SO
C Mangiro, Sr.
RG Gaia, Jr.
RT Nelson, SO
RB, Lynch Jr
So we had 5 starting So, two on the OL plus Palmer who was simply awful and didn't last the season. What changed that year was the emergence of Barkley. As a true Fr, he didn't play against Temple (1 carry) and got dinged up against SD St. The team went 5-2 (losses to Temple and Ohio State) and then lost four in a row (NW, UM, MSU, Ga). These are hardly shameful losses and teams adjusted to Barkley who averaged 90 yards rushing in those games.
So, moving from 16 to 17 (hack to trace), we have:
If that isn't a sea change on offense, I don't know what is.
- totally different offensive scheme
- new OC
- A physically improved and settled Barkley who stays healthy the entire year (true Fr to So)
- All of those So moving to Jrs, a huge difference in college ball
- And the OL went from (going into both seasons before injuries)
- LT Palmer to Mahon
- LG Mahon to Bates
- C Mangiro to Gaia
- RG Gaia to Dowrey
- RT Nelson to Nelson
I am a film junkie. Georgia didn’t play a soft defense in the second half (especially in Q4). I haven’t looked at the film In a long time but I am almost certain they played man free coverage (man coverage with a safety over the top). I am not going to say anything bad about Hack because I like the kid. But once TM got his feet wet, Georgia was in trouble. I think we win that game if we had another 2 minutes.