Georgia Bulldogs: Same division title results, different feel in 2018

Georgia football just secured consecutive SEC East divisional crowns over the weekend. Although the result is the same, it felt different in 2018.

You won’t hear many Georgia Bulldogs fans complaining this week. Any time your favorite team wins its second division title, in as many years, only the feverishly fanatical fan would find something harp about. Every fanbase has them, just not many of them. That isn’t to say, however, that there hasn’t been some complaining and murmuring from Dawg Nation in 2018. While the result, year-over-year, has been the same, the tone, tenor, and temperature has felt much different than in 2017. Fans have noticed.

Going into the 2018 football season, much of the message board chatter and banter, with regards to Georgia, and between rivals, focused on how UGA wouldn’t be as good in 2018, as they were in 2017. With the loss of six NFL draft picks, Senior leadership at every position group, and the musical chairs of coaches in the off-season, there just couldn’t be any way that team could be as good. And The “haters” were right.

More from Saturday Blitz

• Michigan State vs. Maryland: Location, time, prediction, and more
• ACC Power Rankings: Can #4 FSU overthrow Clemson at Death Valley East?
• Most heartwarming social media reactions to Nick Chubb’s injury
• Ranking college football’s top 10 quarterbacks after Week 3
• Things are going to get much darker for the Houston Cougars

The rejoinder from Dawg Nation to that accusation and prognostication was to point out how many returnees the team actually would feature. The familiar question that answers a question was commonplace; “Have you seen how they’ve recruited? Have you ever heard of Justin Fields? Did you know that Georgia has 15 five-stars on this team?”. These questions were usually asked in an incredulous manner. And “Dawg Nation” was right.

How could this be? How could both, the haters and the lovers, be right at the same time?

Well, they were. The Georgia Bulldogs ran through, literally, their entire division, beating every team by double digits for the second year in a row. While doing it, at times, they’ve looked halting, sporadic, and inconsistent. They were both right.

Even besides the eye test, a quick look at the numbers bares this out. At this point in the season, the numbers for Time of Possession, points-per-game, average points allowed, penalties, opponent rushing yards, and margin of victory are all worse in 2018 than in 2017. Yet, they housed their division again. How?

One number that stands out as being remarkably static, in an otherwise transitional year, is that of opponent points-per-game. Remarkably, in 2017 the Georgia Bulldogs averaged giving up 16.4 points-per-game. To this point in 2018, the Georgia Bulldogs average giving up 16.4 points-per-game.

In spite of all of the obvious problems Georgia has had stopping the run this year, primarily between the Tackles, and in spite of the consistency issues on the Offensive side of the ball, that one statistic stands out. It was always a beauty contest, but it’s still been a beatdown, most of the time.

The “haters” were right. This Georgia team doesn’t look the same as it did last year. About 68 percent of the roster are listed as freshmen or sophomores.

The “lovers” were right when they pointed to roster talent as a buttress to transition.

The scary thing for the “haters” now: this Georgia Bulldogs team is growing up, and if you don’t get them this year, next season won’t be any easier.

I’m looking at you, SEC East.