Film room: A closer look at the players who helped spring Georgia's run game

Kirby Smart was all smiles after Georgia’s win over North Carolina on Saturday.

Then he watched the game tape.

Like any head coach, even if it was his first time in this role, there was a lot he didn’t like. He said as much Monday, going over what it was like to re-live the game with the benefit of hindsight vision.

“I’ve heard the mantra that it’s never as good as it seems and it’s never as bad as it seems,” Smart said. “There’s nowhere more evident than that tape of that. You went to sleep thinking you played well, you watch the tape and you’re sick to your stomach because there are so many things we did wrong that we need to improve on. The good thing is we get to show the kids that. We’ll do that today and we’ll get moved on to Nicholls.”

There was a lot to like about Georgia’s game. There were also some concerning spots that emerged.

But if there are issues to correct, it’s better for those to occur in a 33-24 victory than in a loss.

Here are some key moments observed from re-watching the game.

Christian Payne brings the pain: Look no further than Georgia's second play from scrimmage. The one they call the “Payne Train” drove back a defender eight yards and put him on his back. Payne had a couple more pancakes during the game and also upended linebacker Andre Smith on Brian Herrien’s touchdown run.

But one thing of note is how offensive coordinator Jim Chaney used Payne. A year ago, Payne was your old-school fullback, lining up in front of the tailback and leading the way. Chaney lined Payne up all over the backfield. He’d split out off the line of scrimmage behind a tight end and start a play there. He’d line up there again but motion into the backfield.

Chaney did a lot of creative things with Payne that seemed to put him in better position to key in on his blocks. And Chaney made the North Carolina defenders pay as a result. It was an innovative approach in getting a fullback into the game plan in an era when that particular position isn’t getting the run it used to.

Tight end usage: Georgia ran a ton of the 22 personnel package, meaning it lined up with two tight ends and two running backs. Sometimes, the Bulldogs used three tight ends in a formation. And of note, Charlie Woerner was used as the No. 2 tight end for this game behind Jeb Blazevich. Isaac Nauta was third and Jackson Harris fourth.

Now, Chaney wasn’t necessarily trying to get his tight ends involved in the passing game. The tight ends, however, were used as integral cogs in the run game. You could even count receiver Michael Chigbu as part of this aspect of the game plan. Chigbu started and blocked his tail off the entire game. He caught 3 passes for 27 yards and the only tight end to catch a pass was Woerner -- one for 1 yard. .

Just because the tight ends weren’t used in the pass game much doesn’t mean they had a bad game. They did a heck of a job in helping Chubb and Herrien run the ball.

Eason’s pros and cons: There was a lot to like about freshman quarterback Jacob Eason’s performance.

He was able to lead Georgia down the field on his first two series of the game, although the first ended in a Brendan Douglas fumble. The second drive resulted in a touchdown, which featured a shovel pass on a jet sweep to Isaiah McKenzie and four runs.

But of course, there were some freshman mistakes as well. One came on his third play of the game, which followed a short completion Terry Godwin took for 23 yards. Eason took too long to get his team lined up and almost drew a delay of game penalty.

The Bulldogs were forced to call a timeout as a result. Smart touched on that during his Monday news conference, saying that Eason still has to improve in this area. It's one reason why a rotation will continue with Greyson Lambert, until Eason can be trusted to run the entire show.

Smith’s safety: First, it makes little sense why North Carolina would call a screen play inside its own 5-yard line.

But the Tar Heels did so late in the third quarter and the Bulldogs were surely thankful of it.

This wasn’t the first time North Carolina went with this exact screen either. Earlier in the game, the Tar Heels lined up three receivers to the right and one to the left, just like they did on this occasion. Sophomore inside linebacker Roquan Smith said that the moment North Carolina aligned again like this he saw the screen coming.

Off the snap, Smith ran right at Hood, who ran up the middle and then to his left to receive a pass. Smith reacted so quickly that UNC receiver Bug Howard was unable to block him in time. With Trubisky facing pressure, since DaQuan Hawkins-Muckle was allowed to run free, Smith actually pushed Hood, at the 1-yard line, back into the end zone.

Not able to spend anymore time with the football, Trubisky threw to Hood, who proceeded to catch it. Smith then pushed him out of bounds for the safety.

It was a heck of a read from Smith. But just in case Smith wasn’t there, it did appear that cornerback Juwuan Briscoe was running up and would have had a chance to prevent the play from busting loose. It amounted to great execution from Georgia’s defense and a poor play – from the call to the implementation – by North Carolina’s offense.

Secondary’s miscues: There were two plays in the first half that could have changed the course of the game in North Carolina’s favor.

The first came in the first quarter, on a third-and-8 from the North Carolina 42-yard line. Receiver Ryan Switzer was able to get behind nickel back Maurice Smith and run down the middle of the field wide open. Quarterback Mitch Trubisky had time and stepped into his throw for what should have been a touchdown.

But Trubisky underthrew the ball, which allowed Smith to recover and make a play on it. Credit Smith for catching up but this should have been a big play for the Tar Heels.

The other came in the second quarter, with receiver Austin Proehl getting past cornerback Juwuan Briscoe off the line of scrimmage. This time, Trubisky lofted a perfectly-thrown pass to Proehl in stride. But Proehl inexplicably dropped the pass and failed to flip the field.

While cornerback Malkom Parrish excelled in man coverage throughout, there is now some concern about Georgia’s other cornerbacks in this area. It didn’t burn them against the Tar Heels but it is something to look at moving forward.

Blown kickoff coverage: If one player has to be singled out on T.J. Logan’s 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, it’s safety Dominick Sanders.

Sanders jumped outside of his lane and inside to a sea of bodies. Perhaps he thought both Tyrique McGhee and Ryne Rankin had Logan initially and that he could then clean up the initial contact. But a block on Rankin -- one that was awfully close to being in the back -- forced a collision with McGhee and helped propel the play. Sanders was then out of his lane and out of position.

If Sanders would have stayed on the right side of Shattle Fenteng, he would have been in position to make a tackle or at least force the action back inside. Instead, he had to play catch-up with Logan reading the blocks ahead of him.

And Logan’s speed was too much as he took it to the house.

This story was originally published September 6, 2016 at 12:06 PM with the headline "Film room: A closer look at the players who helped spring Georgia's run game."