Imagine if UGA actually committed to a running game

… but that’s assuming that your offensive line can effectively run block. Earlier in the year, our offensive line’s run blocking was so pathetically bad that we should have been envious of the ball running skills of a June Jones-coached team.

For reference purposes… a Hawai’i shirt from Jones’ tenure.

Confusingly, however, we also typically pass blocked very well… not sure how that worked out that way.

There is more to this issue than just stability and ability on the offensive line. Some games, yes, committing to the run game would have paid dividends. I believe that if we had gameplanned around the run from the first drive against Auburn, the game would not have been nearly as close. With their weakness against the run, the need to attack it should have been obvious. However, there were other games against different defenses, like the LSU game for example, where trying to commit to the run too much cost the team. Remember, UGA commited to the run for a good long while against LSU, and ended up with an offensively wasted first half to show for it.

There are times to use the run to set up the pass. There are also times to use the pass to set up the run. There really isn’t, or at least shouldn’t be, a hard and fast rule for which one to stick to. It depends on the capabilities of the offense and the strenghts of the defense. The trick is identifying which strategy to use and how long to stick with one that isn’t working. For the most part, UGA’s biggest problem this year has been choosing the wrong one from the outset and taking far too long to alter the gameplan (LSU again is a prime example). On Saturday, the Dawgs were able to change the plan and go to the ground game in time.