Georgia quiets 'naysayers' by defense raising game in time for CFP
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It’s common for coaches and players to act like the only critiques that matter are those that come from inside the program.
Shut out or ignore the noise, they say.
Georgia football coach Kirby Smart heard people taking aim at defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann and the Bulldogs this season when the unit wasn’t living up to the high standards of past teams.
“There’s a lot of naysayers out there for Schumann and his staff,” Smart said after a 28-7 smackdown of Alabama to win the SEC Championship on Dec. 6. “They never flinched. They kept getting better, kept growing the players.”
The last four games are proof positive of that.
Georgia has not allowed more than 10 points in any of those games.
Over 39 defensive possessions (not including three of one play before halftime), the Bulldogs have forced 24 punts, made five interceptions, got the ball back three times by downs, gave up five field goals and just two touchdowns.
Two.
That’s against a team going to the College Football Playoff (Alabama), a 10-win team (Georgia Tech), a team ranked No. 14 nationally (Texas) and Charlotte.
Georgia held Alabama to minus-3 rushing yards, the lowest an opponent has mustered since Florida had minus-19 yards in a 24-20 Bulldogs win in 2011.
Georgia gave up 397 total yards to Alabama in a 24-21 loss on Sept. 27 in Athens. It held the Crimson Tide to 209 in the rematch.
“We just kept working on it every day in practice and no days were wasted,” linebacker Raylen Wilson said. “We had an opportunity to show how better we got. We showed that.”
Georgia became the first team to shut out an opponent in the first three quarters of an SEC Championship game. It went 12 quarters without allowing a touchdown going back to the third quarter of a 35-10 win of Texas on Nov. 15.
The Bulldogs could have future first-round draft picks in linebacker CJ Allen and defensive lineman Christen Miller. Allen was named first-team coaches All-SEC on Tuesday.
There have been some unsung contributions like safety JaCorey Thomas, who stepped into the starting lineup after Kyron Jones went down with a foot injury. Thomas had a team-high six tackles in the SEC Championship game and his first career sack.
“They’re getting better,” Smart said. “Young kids are growing up.”
Freshman Rasean Dinkins started at the Star nickel position in the SEC title game with Joenel Aguero battling a wrist injury.
“They did a good job of bringing some pressures, right?” Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson said. “Almost like they were bringing somebody on almost every down.”
It seems like a long time ago —it was Oct. 18 ― since Ole Miss scored touchdowns on its first five possessions before Georgia battled back to win 43-35.
“There weren’t just naysayers at the beginning of the season; there were naysayers throughout the season, and probably with good reason,” Smart said. “We had a couple of defensive games mid-season and later that we didn’t play up to our standard, and a lot of that had to do with the team we were playing. But I do think we’re getting better, but we have to continue that.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football defense quiets the ‘naysayers’ after shaky times
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