Georgia Football: The Dawgs Don’t Have to Be Much Better to Get to 10
By W. M. Lawson
Coming off of a disappointing 2016, the Georgia Bulldogs are slight favorites to win the SEC East in 2017. The Dawgs actually don’t have to be much better to do it.
With a faint wind of positive expectation at their backs heading into their first game of the year this Saturday, the Georgia Bulldogs look to start the process of taking back championships within their division. It’s been since 2012 that they’ve won. Many think they can. Some outright say they will. The thing is 2017 Georgia Football doesn’t have to get much better than 2016 to get to 10 wins and a probable Division Title.
Stay with me here. This isn’t going to be an overly analytical article. Are you familiar with Occam’s Razor? I’m kind of going in that direction.
Much has been written about how the Offensive Line has to get better. This is a fact. If they don’t, as a unit, 2017 will suck. Period.
Much has been written about how Jacob Eason has to improve in 2017 for Georgia Football to reach it’s goal. That is a fact. Any regression from Eason would, most likely, ruin any other positive things going on.
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It is also established fact that OC Jim Chaney has to get better at play calling and managing a game. The Offense was too predictable and could never adjust to game time circumstances last year. If that continues this year, UGA won’t be any good, and fans will lose patience within the first two games.
That is all true. But there is a far simpler beacon to point to in order to measure whether UGA should or could get to 10 wins, and most likely, win the SEC East.
In 2016, The Dawgs averaged scoring 24.5 points per game. The Georgia Bulldogs Defense averaged giving up 24.0 points per game. There it is. It is that simple.
In order to believe that UGA could win 10 games and, most likely, win the SEC East, you would only have to believe that the Offense could improve to 27.5 points per game and the Defense improves to giving up 21.0 points per game. Three points in both directions. Not exactly a complete turnaround.
In 2016, Georgia lost 3 games (of the 5 lost) by a combined 5 points.
Even the most skeptical fan of Kirby Smart, the Offensive Line, Jim Chaney, or Jacob Eason, has to admit that a three point per game improvement on Offense and Defense is not anything strikingly aggressive. In fact, one would hope that a team could improve that much with both units basically returning intact.
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So, that’s it. If UGA improves just a little on both sides of the ball, and on Special Teams, they should accomplish their goals. Could and should. Seems too simple to be true. But then there’s that Occam’s Razor thing again.