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ATHENS - If you expect Georgia’s offense to change much in 2026 you’re going to be disappointed.
Yes, they need to be more explosive. They need to find another security blanket for Gunner Stockton. They need to involve the tight ends more in the passing game.
That’s all true.
But their identity isn’t changing. And it never will.
The Georgia Bulldogs are going to run the football. That’s what they want to do every year. They want to establish the line of scrimmage, control the clock, and wear down defenses with the run game.
So while they do need to open up the passing attack, the focus of the offense, once again, is the ground game.
“I think every year offensively, you're a little bit different,” Mike Bobo told reporters this week. “I think everybody knows we want to run the ball here. You’ve got to be able to run the ball and you got to be able to stop the run. That method of winning football games is never going to change here at the University of Georgia under Coach Smart.”
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Georgia made a significant step forward in the run game last year. It wasn’t “bad” in 2024 with Nate Frazier and Trevor Etienne, but they knew they had to improve.
And they did.
Now they have to keep improving. There’s no going backwards. They were 4th in the SEC is rushing yards per game last year and have a chance to improve on that this fall.
“You can't get away from that point of emphasis,” Smart told reporters last week. “That's not going to ever change in our program. I would say we were coming off a year where we were subpar at that and we really tried to drive that home.”
“We're not going to ever get away from that,” Smart added. “We have to be able to run the football. Show me a good team that wins championships that can't run the football. Just doesn't happen. You look at the national champions the last five, six years, they're effective running the football and they're effective stopping the run.”
So while all the talk this off-season has been about expanding the passing game, which is true, this is still a line of scrimmage game. It starts with the run game, and that still starts with Gunner Stockton.
If the Dawgs do want to be more explosive in the passing game, it starts with running the football. Luring defenders closer to the line of scrimmage then using play-action to beat them over the top.
It may not be “flashy”, but it leads to winning football.
“We can be explosive if we can run the ball, and explosive passes for tight ends usually come off of play actions,” Smart said. “Play-actions only work if you have the ability to run the ball. So our ability to run the ball allows us to utilize what may be one of our stronger rooms.”
There it is. This is a run-first football team. Always has been. Always will be.
If they’re successful on the ground, we should expect to see Stockton hit more explosives down the field. That should lead to a stronger offense and a potential national championship next January.
