Georgia coach Kirby Smart was asked Monday how he felt James Coley was doing as offensive coordinator this season.
He didn't answer.
“Yeah, we're definitely looking forward to Kentucky right now,” Smart said, deflecting the question. “That's the biggest concern we've got, and we're going to focus on that.”
Coley, in his first season as the Bulldogs' sole offensive coordinator and play-caller, has come under fire in the wake of Georgia's 20-17 loss to South Carolina this past weekend. The Bulldogs managed only two touchdowns in four quarters and two overtime periods against a team that came in giving up 24.4 points and 390.8 yards per game. Georgia averaged 42.8 points.
The Bulldogs committed a season-high four turnovers in the game, which included three interceptions and a fumbled snap. They gained 468 yards on 95 offensive plays, recorded 30 first downs to South Carolina's 16 and dominated time of possession 36:04 to 23:56.
But Georgia's longest play from scrimmage was 33 yards and it had only four plays of 15 yards or more (which are defined as “explosive”). None of those came from the running game.
“I think the most important part of an offense is scoring points,” Smart said. "Now, how do I get to those points? Do I get to them through explosive plays? Do I get them through long, methodical drives, which has so far been our M.O.? ... At the end of the day we're all judged by, number one, how do I score points, how do I protect the ball and how explosive can I be? That's what we're focused on.”
So while Smart wasn't critical of Coley's work specifically, he was critical of the work the offense has been doing. The Bulldogs simply haven't logged nearly as many explosive plays as they have the last two seasons.
Coley was co-coordinator last year along with Jim Chaney. Chaney left after last season for Tennessee for a $700,000-a-year pay raise. After a national search, Smart chose to stick with Coley, who had been offered the coordinator's position at Colorado by coach Mel Tucker, who had been the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator.
This is not Coley's first go-around. He'd been offensive coordinator at Miami before joining Smart's Georgia staff in 2016 as wide receivers coach. Before that, he served as a co-coordinator at Florida State under Jimbo Fisher.
The Bulldogs' current scoring average of 38.5 points per game is just ahead of last season's 37.9. They averaged 35.4 the previous year.
Nevertheless, Georgia believes it should do better. It hopes to against Kentucky on Saturday. The Wildcats (3-3, 1-3 SEC) are giving up 380.7 yards and 23.7 points per game.
"We have to score more points,” junior running back D'Andre Swift said. “Our defense held (South Carolina) to 10 points. Offensively, if we can’t score, we can’t win. ... I think we need to do a better job of getting the ball to our play-makers in space and try to get the ball outside a little more. ... We have to work on that stuff in practice and get better at it.”
Said Smart: “We have to find some guys that can get open, that can win one-on-one, that can create separation and do a good job. Then, Jake [Fromm] ultimately has to be the guy that controls it, whether he throws it away, eats it and runs with it, which he did the other day. He makes good decisions with the ball.”
