One-dimensional Dawgs: How LSU shut down Georgia’s run game and exposed fatal flaws
The offensive approach was always going to be an area of concern for fourth-ranked Georgia heading into its SEC Championship matchup with No. 1 LSU.
The Bulldogs’ offense, though it features playmakers and four-or-five-star recruits at just about every position, has shown a tendency to go quite vanilla this year. A sequence of run-run-pass became routine and some play-calling (and execution) raised some eyebrows in late-game situations against South Carolina, as did the first half goose egg against Kentucky.
Bulldogs running back D’Andre Swift was clearly not 100%. He only registered two rushes for 13 yards (though he did catch three passes). Saturday, the responsibility fell on the rest of the offense to fill in the void. That was only made more difficult by the absence of receiver Lawrence Cager (out for the season with an ankle injury) and George Pickens, the Bulldogs’ No. 2 receiver, in the first half.
LSU knew Swift would not be at full speed, and prepared for the senior to receive limited touches. Swift said he was not 100% after the game.
So, the Tigers’ approach was simple: Take away the run game, and force quarterback Jake Fromm and Georgia’s receivers to beat them through the air. It paid dividends, to say the least.
“We knew once we took (the run game) away, that they were going to try throw,” LSU cornerback Kristian Fulton said. “They have some nice receivers, so it was on us as the back seven to take away the pass. ... When (the front seven) is stopping the run, and we’re stopping the pass, we’re tough to beat.”
The result exposed a harsh reality — that Georgia’s receivers simply aren’t at the level of last year’s group (Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart echoed this in his postgame press conference) and that, without a run game, the Bulldogs struggle to show much of a pulse on offense.
“The first two years (of UGA quarterback Jake Fromm’s career), Jake’s numbers were better,” Smart said. “So the indicator of that was four wide receivers were on our sideline that were drafted that are playing in the NFL. So right now, I don’t know if we have four wide receivers that are going to be playing in the NFL at this time next year. And the loss of those wideouts, the vertical threat, has probably hurt our team. That’s my responsibility, right, to replace them.
“That’s my responsibility to replace them in recruiting, and we probably haven’t done a good enough job of that.”
Smart noted that, with the injuries at receiver, the Bulldogs have not been able to field a consistent group at wideout. That’s true, and the Bulldogs lost two more receivers to injury, Dominick Blaylock and Kearis Jackson, in their 37-10 loss Saturday.
The opportunities were certainly there for UGA to do so. Georgia opened up the game throwing deep, and Fromm threw two catchable deep passes, one of which was caught out of bounds and one that was dropped, on Georgia’s opening drive.
But the run game was nonexistent for most of the afternoon, and that played directly into LSU’s hands. Georgia had 21 rushing yards at halftime and 49 rushing yards at the end of the third quarter.
“They started off the game trying to take some shots,” Tigers safety Grant Delpit said. “We gameplanned for it. We made adjustments, and we played well after that. ... We shut the run down, and made them throw the ball a lot.”
It was far too easy, for an LSU secondary that ranked 56th nationally in pass yards allowed entering the game. Fromm finished with 225 yards and one touchdown pass, but threw two interceptions. Fromm had 151 passing yards at the end of the third quarter, before a final quarter that was largely meaningless due to the massive lead the Tigers had built.
But the bigger story is this: In Swift’s absence, the Bulldogs offense faltered. And there are not many signs that it will get much better, at least this season.
There are real questions to ask about the Bulldogs’ offensive scheme. Each LSU player interviewed after the game said the Bulldogs showed nothing schematically that they did not expect. Brian Herrien, James Cook and Zamir White combined for 52 rushing yards. Herrien, the Bulldogs’ leading rusher (24 yards), averaged a measly three yards per carry.
The passing game did not fare much better. Fromm threw 42 passes, took three sacks and threw his first interception since the South Carolina loss.
The offensive approach was always going to be a concern for the Bulldogs Saturday. It continues to be afterwards, because LSU just provided the perfect blueprint to beat it.
“That was the goal, was to make them one-dimensional,” LSU safety JaCoby Stevens said. “We make an offense play with one hand behind their back, it makes it easy.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
