This Saturday, Georgia football quarterback Gunner Stockton is set to make his first SEC road start. It’s quite the tough one, too. He’ll be getting the ball inside Neyland Stadium in a top-15 matchup with Tennessee.
Before he takes his first snap of the game, former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray dove into the film from the Bulldogs’ ugly win over Austin Peay. UGA won the game 28-6, and never got the offense rolling. Stockton finished completing 26-of-34 passes for 227 yards. He did not throw a touchdown or an interception.
Murray gave his overall thoughts on Stockton and the offense’s play in the game at the end of his film breakdown.
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“Thought it was just okay, man, let’s be honest,” Murray said. “Timing, was indecisive at times. Got through his reads too fast, something that’s kind of carried over from a week ago to this week of not playing within the offense. But the offensive line hasn’t helped him either at times. Offensive line has to play better. This is two weeks now where you’ve seen miscommunication upfront, effects the quarterback, quarterback a little bit inaccurate down the football field. This is the identity of this offense. It’s going to continue to be like that.
“Who’s going to be the deep threat? Who’s the guys that’s going to take the top off a defense. Zachariah (Branch) is great with some of the shorter stuff. He’s great over the middle of the field. I do need a Noah (Thomas), a Colbie (Young), let’s see who can take the top off a defense. Or a Dillon Bell. More shots have to be called, no doubt about it. But right now, this offense, they’re just okay, let’s just be honest. They’re just okay. It’s a big week coming up.
“Can they find a way to be more explosive? Can they find a way to trust Gunner? I was hoping this was the game where you try to build some trust and some confidence with the down the field throws. But (Mike) Bobo and Kirby (Smart), they know this offense better than I do. And based on what we’ve seen the first two weeks, this is kind of who they are and that’s their identity. I’m not just saying it’s Gunner’s fault, I think the entire offense needs to be better for this offense to be as good as I think they can be.”
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Here’s Murray’s full film analysis:
In his breakdown, Murray explained what Georgia’s offense has gone to the most through two games. It’s been a lot of run-pass options with quick decisions on the throws. The result has been largely methodical drives with runs and short passes that essentially serve the same purpose as a run.
There seemingly has been a lack of explosive plays down the field, as well, despite games against Marshall and Austin Peay.
“Georgia runs a lot of what we call the RPOs. The run-pass option,” Murray said. “It’s a numbers game in the box. Too many guys to block? Let’s throw it. We got good leverage or we have enough distance away from the DB on the outside? Let’s throw it. A three-yard, four-yard pass, a mindset of a fan is like, that’s not successful. That’s just a run. A four-yard run, a five-yard run is a great run. We just have to get out of our minds as a fan that a four or five-yard pass in this RPO world (isn’t) successful. That’s what it’s intended to do. You hope a guy makes a guy miss, because the distance when the quarterback gets it out on time, and all of a sudden that five-yard gain turns into a 10+ yard gain. But all it is is a run. It’s a hey, I don’t like the box number, let me throw it to the outside because we have an advantage on the perimeter.”
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While Murray had plenty of criticism, he did have some good things to say about Georgia’s offense. The opening frame went well, in his opinion.
Despite the result not going as planned, he thinks it overall wasn’t as bad as it felt watching live.
“I thought Georgia, first quarter looked really good,” Murray said. “Beginning of the second quarter looked okay, end of the second quarter kind of went downhill. And then third and fourth quarter, this is one of those games, honestly, for Georgia, where you go back and watch the tape, was it perfect? No. Was it great? No. Was it as bad as it felt watching it? No. It’s just one of those classic ones where it’s never as good as you think it is and it’s never as bad as you think it is, as well.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and will air on ABC. ESPN’s College GameDay will also be on campus with ‘Checker Neyland’ in effect.
