Georgia football searching for an identity at midseason heading into Texas showdown

ATHENS, Ga. — Kirby Smart stood at the lectern and correctly appraised the gravity of this week’s game at Texas: “This is really what you come to Georgia to play in, these moments. It should be exciting TV.”

Then Smart appraised his team, again correctly: “Can we show some kind of consistent improvement and play more consistent as a team?”

He put it another way later: “We have not put a complete game together.”

Here’s another way to put it: This team has not found its identity yet. And the worry is it may not be until it’s too late.

Let’s be clear: This team is not in crisis mode. It’s still ranked fifth in the country, and even if it picks up a second loss on Saturday, the two losses will have been road games against very good teams, and its College Football Playoff hopes will remain very much alive.

But this is also an inflection point for this team, maybe even the program. The coach is under the national microscope as never before for his sideline behavior and management of off-field arrests. On the field, the team ranked No. 1 in the preseason is showing its flaws.

Georgia quarterback Carson Beck (15) and the Bulldogs are 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the SEC entering their game on Saturday at Texas. (Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)

The issues are on both sides of the ball, but mainly on defense, which under Smart has been the backbone of the program. But at midseason a look at the SEC defensive rankings is jarring: Georgia is 12th in yards per play allowed. It has been first or second in that category for five straight years.

The pass defense is showing the wear of losing three starters to the NFL: Opponents have converted 33 percent on third downs, ranking Georgia eighth in the SEC after being No. 1 each of the past two years. The run defense has been leaky, especially on the edges: The Bulldogs are 10th in the SEC in rush defense, down from third last year and first every year from 2019-22. Yikes.

There are still moments when this defense flashes, and it’s good enough to win games, but it’s far from the shutdown unit of old.

The offense, meanwhile, has shown explosiveness and teetered an identity as a downfield passing attack that sets up the run: Georgia ranks second in the SEC in pass plays of 20-plus and 30-plus yards. But quarterback Carson Beck has made uncharacteristic mistakes: two games of multiple interceptions, after zero such games last year. The running game is inconsistent, with Georgia ranking only 10th in the SEC in rushing yards per attempt, a category it hasn’t finished below fourth in since Smart’s first year as the coach. The offensive line is the main culprit, not living up to the preseason hype yet, in part suffering from Tate Ratledge’s ankle injury but not generally finding its groove yet. The perimeter blocking hasn’t been great, hurting the offense’s screen game and ability to run to the edges, which is key for dynamic tailbacks like Trevor Etienne and Nate Frazier.

And yet this offense rallied from 28-0 down at Alabama and put up 41 points on Mississippi State, 34 on Clemson and 31 on Auburn. It was also an offense that only managed 13 at Kentucky and sputtered at the start against Clemson and Alabama. You don’t know what you’re going to get from drive to drive.

Beyond the stats, however, is a question of intangibles: Leadership is part of the identity question. Contrary to the public image of the program due to the arrests, the feeling from those close to the program is there may be too many nice players and not enough alpha types. One person described this as the nicest group he has been around. But it’s an open question whether they have a take charge, players with an edge. It doesn’t have to be the quarterback: Stetson Bennett wasn’t loud, and Beck isn’t either. But who are the Nakobe Deans, Nolan Smiths, Lorenzo Carters and Davin Bellamys of this group?

They may still emerge. Younger players may take more vocal roles as the season goes on. Smart described sophomore tight end Lawson Luckie as an alpha type, and the more prominent role he takes, the more he may take charge.

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The sooner, the better. Texas is not a must-win game, but it is a must-acquit-itself-well game. A convincing loss in Austin would make things worse. Georgia fans already on edge would go into fill-angst mode. Outside observers would be harsh. Opposing fans would be harsher.

A close loss would be different. Yes, it would still hurt and further reduce this team’s margin for error, coming close to eliminating it from SEC Championship Game contention. But a 10-2 record almost certainly still would get Georgia in the College Football Playoff, maybe even a home game, and the Ole Miss and Tennessee games look more winnable than they did a couple of weeks ago.

For anyone who would still be ready to bury Georgia, here would be the question: How many other teams would be 0-2 if they played both Alabama and Texas on the road? Almost everyone. Maybe everyone.

A win on Saturday, of course, would change everything. It instantly would be the best win of any Playoff contender. That makes this game so huge: high upside for Georgia, high risk. Still, some perspective is needed here.

This was always going to be a hard season for Georgia, given the schedule, and missing the Playoff under those circumstances would not be shameful. It would be a dose of humility, but it’s still the same coach and program that have two rings, are recruiting at a top level and are perfectly capable of winning it all without changing much, if anything, about the way they do things.

That’s looking way ahead. In the shorter term, this team is still perfectly capable of winning Saturday or losing a close one and going on a run to still win the whole thing. Barring injuries, the key for this team is just to get in the 12-team field and be the team nobody wants to face.

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But first, the Bulldogs need to find themselves and an elusive identity. The journey is ongoing, and it won’t be like past years. We’ve gotten used to seeing Georgia seasons in more of a straight line, wire-to-wire regular-season dominance with only a hiccup (a la Missouri in 2022). This season has seen more than one hiccup, but that doesn’t mean it still can’t end by hoisting a trophy.

But can we sit here today and confidently say that it will? Nope. This Saturday will tell us a lot.

(Top photo of Kirby Smart: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)