Georgia 2010

Georgia (2009 Statistics)

• This is Mark Richt’s 10^th year as Head Coach of Georgia.  One thing that is notable about Richt is his impressive record in true road games (in an opponent’s stadium).  He enters the 2010 season 33-6.
• Offense returns all of the 2009 starters except for Quarterback, which will be played by Redshirt Freshman Aaron Murray (he is only 19 years old). Last year they had a worse situation on offense having to replace Matthew Stafford at Quarterback (1^st overall selection in the 2009 NFL Draft for the Detroit Lions) with Joe Cox.  The passing yards obviously declined, but overall the offense was consistent with the average total numbers put up by Georgia over the past few years.   And this year, the Offensive Line is extremely experienced, which should help immensely.
• Their star Wide Receiver A.J. Green will miss four games due to an NCAA suspension for selling his bowl jersey for $1,000 to someone who qualifies as an agent.  Aside from that wrinkle, Georgia’s passing game should improve.
• Relative to the rest of the country, Georgia’s Total Defense was ranked 38^th out of 120.  However, for the SEC they were below average and near the bottom in several categories.  The Bulldogs defense has consistently declined under Richt, but last year it hit bottom with the worst scoring defense and rushing defense since he took over.  And it was the worst total defense apart from his first year as head coach.  As a result, the focus during the off-season was on fixing that unit.  All four Defensive Assistants were fired.  And they switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 Scheme.  (Link to 3-4 Defense Article)
• The success of the defense this year will depend on how well they adjust to the new 3-4 scheme, which depends greatly on the strength of the Nose Tackle (in the middle of the Defensive Line and responsible for 2-Gap Blocking).  To add to complications, this unit is quite inexperienced and will be replacing over half of their starters from last year.
• In addition to defense, look for Georgia to improve their Turnover Margin.  They were 118^th in the nation last year.  Both offense and defense are to blame for this as they gave up 28 turnovers and only gained 12 all season.