Kirby Smart Needs Pressure On The QB To "Get Better"

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ATHENS - After last year’s championship, led by one of the best defenses in college football history, there were plenty of questions about this year’s unit heading into this season.

How will Georgia replace Nakobe Dean and Jordan Davis?

Will the 2022 defense force as many turnovers?

Can this group lead the team to another national championship?

So far, Kirby Smart’s group has more than held their own. Once again, Georgia’s defense is one of the best in the country, coming in at No. 3 nationally in total defense.

But where are the sacks?

The Bulldogs have made seven sacks so far through seven games. Not terrible, but far from the sack total we saw from last year’s team that ended the season with 48.5 sacks.

Smart spoke about the defense’s lack of sacks through the first seven games...

“Yeah, it needs to get better, but we need an opportunity”, Smart said. “We did a real hard study on that and did a game-by-game breakdown of snap to throw, and it's faster than it's ever been.”

So basically, quarterbacks are getting the ball out quicker. Coaches and play-callers and making things easier for quarterbacks across the country and getting the ball out quickly. Like Smart said earlier this season, some quick pass plays are an extension of the run game, so quarterbacks aren’t sitting back in the pocket as much these days.

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“We've played teams that have gotten rid of the ball really, really quick”, Smart added. “I mean, the Auburn game was the only game that was over three seconds per pass and I think that factors in the scrambles, where he would run around with the ball and throw it away. So, there hasn't been a lot of opportunities, but that doesn't mean that we can't do a better job. We've studied that really, really hard, in terms of just looking at ourselves, and we're telling them, 'Hey, it's 2.6 seconds that you have to get there by.' So, you have to get there in 2.6 seconds or you have to affect the throw, and we've had several really good rushes where we affected throws in terms of bull, batting balls. And I'm saying bull as in bull rush to get someone to the quarterback to affect his throw. But it's tough to be where we are sack-wise and we're just not getting a lot of opportunities.”

The sack total may be low, but that doesn’t mean the Bulldogs aren’t getting after the quarterback. They’re creating pressure, and it’s made them one of the toughest teams to throw on in the country, giving up just 163 passing yards per game. They’re effective, and the pressure is there.

Of course, getting to the quarterback is key. They’re drive-killers. But at the end of the day, it’s all about how many points you give up, and Georgia’s only allowing 10 points a game through seven games. That’s a recipe for success, and they’ve had a lot of it this year.

The stat sheet might not look flashy, but if they continue to give up just 10 points a game for the rest of the season, nobody should care about the sack total. Again, sacks help, but they’ll come once they face teams who want to sit back in the pocket and attempt to throw on Smart’s defense down the field.

Maybe that comes against Tennessee. Maybe Kentucky. The opportunities will be there as they head towards the back end of the regular schedule, so it’s only a matter of time before the sacks start piling in.

Smart knows the pass-rush needs to get better, but it doesn’t seem like he’s overly worried about it. That’s a great sign for the rest of the season.