Georgia’s 2020 regular season is over. Vanderbilt announced on Monday that they’d be unable to field a team on Saturday, and Georgia’s attempts to find a replacement game came up empty.

“While we conducted our due diligence in finding a replacement game, we were unable to make it happen,” said UGA J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Greg McGarity. “We now focus on our upcoming Bowl game. We are also working on alternative ways to honor our senior class, who deserve the opportunity to be celebrated as one of the most prolific classes in University of Georgia history.”

It’s frustrating – Georgia is one of a handful of SEC schools who won’t complete their 10-game schedule, and at no time did the program have to shut down or pull itself out of a game. But it’s 2020, and we’ve been aware from the start that nothing was guaranteed and that every game played should be cherished. It’s especially tough for Georgia as a team that was just hitting a good stride. Without a conference title game to play, the Vanderbilt game would have been one more showcase for a revitalized offense. Other teams aren’t in such a good position right now, and more than a few are just ready to call it quits on this difficult year. It’s tough to blame them.

Of course the biggest consequence of this cancellation is that Georgia won’t be able to honor its seniors in a final home game. Bulldog fans will have only seen three home games in 2020 and just one since early October. McGarity promises to “work on alternative ways to honor our senior class,” but it’s going to be difficult to gather them all back inside Sanford Stadium once NFL draft preparations begin. Perhaps something can be worked out at the bowl, especially if Georgia plays in Atlanta. (It being 2020 and all, I guess we should add a qualifier for the bowl game being played too.)

This development should come as a warning for Georgia’s winter sports that are underway or preparing to play. It’s not a given that we’ll see a complete basketball or gymnastics season. Several basketball programs have already canceled games or eliminated the rest of their nonconference slates altogether. Those programs should make plans to honor seniors and do other traditional end-of-year activities early in the season.

I’m sure it’s happened before, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen a game in which the Georgia offense produced:

• A 300-yard passer
• A 100-yard receiver
• Two 100-yard tailbacks
• Four different tailbacks with touchdowns

To be fair, J.T. Daniels didn’t exactly get to 300 yards – 299 will have to do. Since J.T. Daniels took over at quarterback, we’ve seen a game in which the passing attack thrived while the rushing output didn’t break double-digits. We’ve seen the running game come to life at the expense of a less-prolific passing game. Observers maybe still not quite sure of the offense’s transformation wanted to see it all put together. This game was what they were waiting to see. Georgia’s full arsenal of passing and rushing weapons was on display, and a playcaller that knew how to make the most of those weapons unleashed them. Mississippi State and South Carolina were depleted defenses, and it could be argued that Georgia took advantage of some exceptional absences. Missouri was a more respectable defense with a top 40 SP+ ranking and a rush defense comparable to a team like Auburn.

I mentioned before the season that one of the biggest challenges in 2020 was “getting their ass ready to play,” to use Kirby Smart’s warning before the 2019 South Carolina loss. With an early road kickoff, bad weather, and the season’s goals out of reach, many previews of the game questioned Georgia’s mindset against a motivated Missouri team on a bit of a roll. That doubt seemed to be put to rest early as Georgia jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead. But Missouri tested Georgia’s composure with a scoring drive of their own and then capitalized on a rare Georgia special teams miscue.

Georgia’s quick start was halted as Missouri’s defense turned up the pressure in the second quarter. This pressure suffocated the Georgia running game and began to affect Daniels. Following Missouri’s first touchdown, Daniels went on a 3-for-10 stretch and was sacked twice (and nearly a third time). The pivotal play came on a 3rd and 10 with just over a minute left in the half. Rather than continue with a stationary pocket, Daniels was rolled out to the right, giving him time he hadn’t had in a while. He found Kearis Jackson along the sideline for a first down, and that completion was the first of four straight to end the half which allowed the Dawgs to retake the lead going into the half.

That drive to end the half reignited the Georgia offense, and it began a 17-minute stretch of game during which Georgia scored a total of 35 unanswered points on five consecutive drives. Better protection and offensive line play in the third quarter led to explosive running and passing plays. On those five drives alone, Georgia had four runs of 10+ yards and five completions longer than 20 yards, and the first three touchdowns came on plays of 36, 31, and 43 yards. By the start of the 4th quarter the game was in hand, and there was ample time to empty the bench.

The offense’s explosive game shouldn’t overshadow the most complete game by the Georgia defense since the Auburn game. Missouri came into the game on a hot streak with 91 points over their past two games. The Tigers had settled on young but effective quarterback and had found success with an effective, if not explosive, short passing game. The backfield featured Larry Rountree, one of the most prolific and versatile backs in program history. Rountree had rushed for 345 yards in the past two games. Georgia has faced better offenses this year, but maybe only Alabama has done a better job of testing defenses with both the run and the pass.

Unlike Georgia, Missouri was unable to use their balance to strain the defense. Thanks in part to the return of Jordan Davis, Georgia was able to limit Rountree to an inconsequential 16 yards on 14 carries. That success against the run didn’t open up many receivers for Connor Bazelak. Without a credible downfield threat, Bazelak only managed 5 yards per attempt. Mizzou had no runs longer than 9 yards and only three completions longer than 20 yards including the receiver pass. Without many explosive plays, the Tigers weren’t able to sustain drives and generate many scoring chances, and they had just one drive longer than 30 yards. While the Georgia offense was stretching its legs, Missouri managed just 69 yards of second half offense.

It wasn’t a great day for special teams – there was a punt blocked, a punt muffed, and a missed field goal. Those were some of the bigger blemishes on a game that was nearly complete in other phases. The team emphatically answered any questions and doubts about its focus, desire, and preparation, and it heads back home on as big of a late-season roll as we’ve seen since 2012 or even 2007. It’s unfortunate that it took most of the season before the offense began to realize the payoffs from the offseason moves and additions, but it’s a much better place to be in than last season when the need to start over again was sadly obvious. Georgia has a system that works, the players to make it work, and the job of the offseason is making sure those pieces stay in place.

• One of the highlights of the second half was the reception Daijun Edwards received from his fellow backs after scoring to start the fourth quarter. There might not be a surefire first round talent among the group, but all five (including Milton) bring something to the table.
• Perhaps the most impressive thing we saw from the tailbacks across the board was patience. McIntosh and White had big runs down the left side as they allowed the blocking to arrange itself and then took off.
• The passes to Washington got people talking about the tight ends, but they also had some impressive blocking. Watch the touchdown runs by White and Cook, and you’ll see multiple tight ends clearing the way.
• One of the next steps for the offense is efficiency. It’s great that Daniels has been effective on third down, and he was again in this game, but it’s playing with fire to be in so many 3rd-and-long situations.
• Pickens has had a good run with 16 receptions, 238 yards, and 3 TD since Daniels took over. He’s getting more one-on-one matchups as receivers like Jackson and Burton emerge. When Pickens does draw double coverage, you end up with something like a wide-open middle of the field for Cook. Pick your poison.
• Yes, everyone knows you can take a shot downfield when you have a free play from a pending offsides penalty. It’s another thing to execute it. No one gave up on the play, Pickens took off, and Daniels put the ball where his star receiver could do his thing.
• I’ll talk about it every time it happens – it doesn’t get much better than bookending halftime with scores. Georgia turned a tie game into a 28-14 lead before Missouri had a meaningful possession. Good clock management at the end of the first half helped make that possible.
• Lewis Cine was victimized on Missouri’s biggest pass play of the game, but his value as a tackler has only grown this season. Offseason improvement in pass defense should turn him into a very good safety. Latavious Brini saw far more time than usual after Christopher Smith was dinged up. Missouri couldn’t take advantage of Brini, and the junior actually had a good game and stepped up nicely. Brini had one impressive play in particular where he sprinted in from a deep safety position to stop a jet sweep before it turned upfield. His 1.5 tackles for loss were second on the team behind only Malik Herring.
• The return of Jordan Davis was a boon for other defenders like Herring. Georgia had only a single sack due to Missouri’s quick release passes, but they ate up the running game and made Bazelak uncomfortable. Over 15% of Georgia’s tackles resulted in a loss.

There’s good reason to be frustrated by Friday’s decision to postpone the Vanderbilt game. Vanderbilt is one of many SEC programs dealing with player shortages due to a combination of COVID testing, tracing, and opt-outs. Other programs, including Kentucky, Mississippi State, and South Carolina recently fielded teams with fewer than 50 scholarship players in order to finish out their seasons. This has been a difficult season requiring a lot of creativity, patience, and flexibility. Three months ago the prospect of even having a season was in doubt, and we’re on the verge of possibly completing a reconfigured ten-game schedule.

Timing was the biggest issue with Vanderbilt’s inability to play. This was to be Georgia’s Senior Day, and a group of seniors who might leave as the program’s winningest deserve their moment. I truly hope they get that recognition on the 19th. The late announcement also meant that many families of these seniors had already left for Athens. Travel during the pandemic is already stressful enough, and a family like Mark Webb’s had to make an unnecessary trip from Philadelphia. Had the circumstances changed all that much from Wednesday to Friday when an earlier announcement might have allowed fans and family members to alter their plans? I get the desire to postpone the announcement as long as possible to allow for every possible chance to play the game, but it wasn’t as if Vanderbilt suddenly discovered an outbreak on Thursday or Friday. There are questions about Vanderbilt’s ability or desire to field a team to finish out the season, and we’ll see whether they show for scheduled games with Tennessee and Georgia. If they can’t, hopefully we’ll get a little more notice this time.

Greg McGarity went a step further and directed his frustration at Vanderbilt and other unnamed schools he believes are not following COVID protocols.

“It’s just so frustrating when you have coaches and players and support staff that make significant sacrifices to stay safe, and they do so, and then they have no competitive benefit other than their health. We have shown the ability to stay healthy by being disciplined…We are an example of what can be done with discipline and a desire to play college football.”

I’m writing this post because McGarity’s statement reminded me of an unfortunate aspect of our national conversation this year. This is an easily-transmitted airborne respiratory virus. There is no moral vector to a virus, but that’s become a part of how we talk about it. When we learn of a positive test, an instinct is often to ask “what were they doing?”. We approach it as if contracting the virus is a consequence – if you get sick, you must have been doing something wrong. Deep down, it’s a way to assuage our own fear – if we can pin someone’s positive test on an activity that we avoid, we will remain safe. If you don’t get sick, your choices are validated.

Certainly some activities and behaviors are riskier than others, and some people even choose to flaunt that behavior. But we also know that there are plenty of people who try to “do everything right” who still contract the virus. There are states and communities whose leaders “follow the science” which have seen outbreaks every bit as bad as locations taking different approaches. There are of course risk mitigation strategies that we’re all familiar with, but there is no risk elimination. Even if we grant that McGarity and his fellow ADs put in place the most well-thought-out protocols and safety measures to protect the season, their plans rely on student-athletes exposed on a daily basis to fellow students, family members, and the local community. More schools than not have had players or coaches miss time due to testing or tracing results, and we’re glad that Georgia is an exception. There is a whole range of risk and probability, and we should be grateful when the numbers work out in our favor and prefer grace towards those with different outcomes.

McGarity should acknowledge that reality because he’s seen it within his own program. Football might have largely avoided COVID issues so far, but other Georgia programs have not. At least three Georgia head coaches have tested positive for the virus. The Georgia soccer team had to cancel its regular season finale due to COVID tests and tracing within the program, and it took a shorthanded roster to last month’s SEC Tournament. Were the protocols for the tennis, equestrian, and soccer teams different than they were for the football team? If Georgia football is an example to emulate because it has been spared, what does it say about these Georgia programs?

Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity announced his retirement this week, effective at the end of 2020. Senior Deputy Director of Athletics Josh Brooks will step in on an interim basis until McGarity’s successor takes the job. McGarity has served in the role since 2010 and has presided over a large increase in the department’s revenues and budget, and he’s overseen coaching changes in nearly all of Georgia’s major programs.

It’s possible that Georgia’s next athletic directory is already part of the organization – Brooks himself is expected to be a candidate. It might also be a man or woman with no ties to the school. Familiarity with certain candidates might bias us one way or the other, and it would be doing Georgia a disservice not to consider qualified outside candidates for a job that will surely attract attention from across the nation. How many lists did Dan Lanning or Todd Monken appear on before Kirby Smart selected them as coordinators? So rather than get bogged down in the pros and cons of name that might or might not exist on Georgia’s list, I’ll focus more on the issues waiting for the AD and what might be expected from the ideal candidate.

Maintaining the strengths: Before getting on with grandiose plans for the future, the next AD must identify and maintain the areas in which Georgia athletics is strong. That goes for personnel but also processes in areas like athletic performance, academic support, compliance, and financial responsibility. Georgia has largely avoided scandal under McGarity, though the 2014 NCAA reprimand of the swimming and diving program wasn’t a good look for anyone. It’s a low bar to expect character, transparency, and consideration of the student-athletes from an athletics administration, but have you looked around lately?

The bank account: Georgia’s reserve fund has been a point of contention for years, but that financial strength has allowed the athletic department to weather the pandemic without the cuts to personnel or programs that we’ve seen even at other P5 schools. The introduction of the Magill Society has been a success to the point that even that exclusive group of donors has been subdivided into still higher tiers of support. Private funds were successfully raised for three major facilities projects. We won’t pretend that these projects didn’t happen without some conflict, and hesitation to invest in the football program was a major friction point towards the end of the Mark Richt era. McGarity’s legacy must own that period too. The need for a healthy reserve has to be balanced against securing the resources Georgia’s programs need to be competitive. On the whole, the next AD will be starting on a firm financial footing.

Performance: You play to win the game, and on that front Georgia hasn’t been doing as well. Sure, football seems to be in great shape, and that ends the discussion for a lot of stakeholders. Other sports haven’t been doing as well, and that includes sports that have traditionally propped up Georgia’s all-sport ranking. The new AD won’t have long before there are decisions to make from the basketball programs on down. Even within successful programs like football, coaches and staff must be identified, retained, and compensated. An AD’s legacy is often shaped by the personnel decisions he or she makes, and it doesn’t just affect wins and losses. A series of poor hiring decisions can leave even SEC programs responsible for large buyouts and without financial flexibility.

Advocacy: Representing Georgia’s interests beyond the hedges is an important part of the athletic director’s job. Whether accurate or not, the perception is that McGarity was often too deferential and unwilling to stand against scheduling changes and other policies that affected Georgia. This is touchy – we see the outcomes, but we frequently don’t know the discussions that went on and options for alternatives. It wasn’t McGarity’s style to raise a stink in traditional or social media, and I suspect that’s what some critics would have preferred. How assertive will the next AD be with the conference and NCAA, and how visible will that advocacy be?

Leadership for change: Some major change could soon be coming to college athletics. Name / Likeness / Image (NIL) policies and laws that allow student-athletes to earn money are already being crafted and passed. More universal and permissive transfer policies are being discussed, and we could soon see a one-time transfer allowance. More importantly, 2020 has raised the profile of college athletes as agents for social change. How will the next AD position Georgia in these areas? Will Georgia be one of the driving forces at the forefront of change, or will it be dragged along? Support for initiatives like “Dawgs For Pups” and voting registration on campus was impressive this year, and the next AD should continue that support.

Facilities: McGarity completed or began several significant facilities projects, and those projects included several highly-visible (and arguably long-overdue) buildings. The indoor practice facility is the obvious example. The West Endzone project at Sanford Stadium addressed needs for recruiting and locker room space. The under-construction Butts-Mehre annex will provide room for the football program’s growing footprint. Stegeman Coliseum, Foley Field, and the tennis complex have seen or are undergoing significant renovations. It’s been an impressive investment in facilities that will benefit many of Georgia’s programs.

What’s left to do? That’s kind of the point. Seth Emerson and others have beat the drum for several years about the need for a more comprehensive master plan to serve as a vision going forward. Such a plan would provide a clearer vision to potential donors and guide future spending. As Emerson put it, the goal of a master plan “is not to go willy-nilly into the arms race and waste money.” We’ve seen Alabama take a step in this direction a couple of years ago with their $600 million facilities plan. Georgia will have different needs and priorities, but that’s the sort of focused vision that’s necessary in the next generation of facilities projects at Georgia.

Customer Experience: It’s likely that any facilities plan will include the crown jewel itself: Sanford Stadium. In the past a stadium project meant increased capacity. That’s no longer the case. Even before the pandemic, the growing appeal of watching from home was eating away at the demand to attend games. New stadium construction now focuses more on amenities rather than capacity, and renovations are following suit. Recent work on Bryant-Denny Stadium at Alabama resulted in a modest decrease in capacity. As the report notes, “Alabama’s shift to a slightly smaller capacity follows the trend of colleges pulling back from the arms race for the biggest while shifting to emphasize the premium experience.”

That “premium experience” is the watchword now. Georgia clumsily dipped its toe into the premium experience game last year with the Magill-only beer garden. It’s likely that any significant project at Sanford Stadium will include (if not exclusively) amenities aimed at enhancing the experience for high-dollar fans. That’s not meant to be cynical. If there’s a softness in the demand for stadium expansion, revenue growth is most likely to come from the top levels of donors, and keeping those donors happy will be a high priority. Any modern stadium or arena is built with that consideration in mind, and now renovation projects like Alabama’s are attempting to retrofit older stadiums with similar amenities.

But beyond that we know there are improvements to be made that can benefit all fans, and many of them don’t require construction equipment. Josh Brooks, McGarity’s interim replacement, spearheaded several of those improvements. Grab-and-go concessions has been a big improvement. We can also expect to see a deeper dive into paperless tickets and moving other elements of the game experience onto mobile devices. That’s the norm now for professional sports, and the pandemic has hastened a move towards a touchless experience. Brooks and McGarity have both been willing to listen to and engage with fan feedback. That’s to their credit and a good first step. We know all of the familiar complaints about Sanford Stadium from parking to bathrooms to crowded concourses to poor cell service. The next AD will hear about them too. Will there be action?

Let’s get the obvious out of the way – Georgia easily handled a shorthanded opponent and took advantage of mismatches at several positions due to players that were injured or had opted out. But the situation was similar a week ago, and Georgia had to fight until the last possession against Mississippi State. Saturday’s much easier result against South Carolina is progress if only because of how Georgia took care of business this time. They took control of the game with 21 first quarter points, held off South Carolina’s attempt at a comeback, and closed the door in the second half.

If last week’s game was about the emergence of J.T. Daniels and the passing game, the win at South Carolina was about the resurgent running game. Mississippi State bottled up the Georgia rushing attack, but it didn’t take long for the Dawgs to show that things would be different in Columbia. An early seam pass to McKitty warned South Carolina about selling out to stop the run, and Georgia’s four-headed tailback position took over. Three of the four tailbacks had carries longer than 22 yards, and all four rushed for at least 77 yards. Edwards got most of his carries in the fourth quarter and was instrumental on Georgia’s final possession that consumed the last nine minutes of the game. The running game was bolstered by a much better performance from the offensive line – especially the interior of the line. Ben Cleveland was the SEC OL of the week, and Hill and Shaffer were much better. The line is still chasing consistency, but this was about as good as it gets.

Though the running game was dominant, fans still wanted to see whether J.T. Daniels’s debut was a fluke. He wasn’t asked to do nearly as much and completed 10 of 16 attempts for 139 yards. 71 of those 139 yards came on two long completions to McKitty and Arian Smith. Otherwise Georgia’s explosive plays came from the running game, and the pass was primarily used to move the chains. After spreading the ball around last week, only five Bulldogs caught passes against South Carolina, and for the first time in a while no tailbacks caught passes out of the backfield. They were a little busy running the ball.

Daniels played well and under control. His lone interception was no shame – just a nice play on a tipped pass that could have been caught. He had another pass in the second half that was a much more likely candidate for an interception, but fortunately that forced pass was dropped. Daniels picked a bad time to have his worst sequence of the game. Following a South Carolina touchdown, Georgia gave the ball right back on a three-and-out that featured two bad plays from the quarterback. First Daniels underthrew an open Burton on a sideline route. The play likely would have scored if Burton were hit in stride, but the ball fell harmlessly behind the receiver. On third down Daniels simply held the ball too long and took a sack. It was an issue we saw last week, and he’s still learning timing and decision-making.

So we’ve seen Georgia break 30 points in each of the past two games with unbalanced offense. Balance for its own sake isn’t the objective, but the next step is for the offense is to put these pieces together in more of a cohesive attack. We know the running plays are there, and now we know the elements of a big passing game are in place. There won’t be much of a test until the Missouri game is rescheduled, but the Vanderbilt game should be a chance for continued progress and not a perfunctory effort to run out the clock.

Georgia’s defense, and its coaches, had to feel more comfortable going against South Carolina’s offense after playing the unconventional Mississippi State offense a week earlier. We know that Mike Bobo is a capable coach of offense, but his scheme is nothing unfamiliar and more along the lines of what Kirby Smart has made a career out of defending. Take away some of South Carolina’s top receivers, and the Bulldog defense felt a lot more at home against a physical run-based Gamecock offense. Kevin Harris, the SEC’s leading rusher, was limited to 53 yards and 3.1 yards per carry. Dual-threat QB Luke Doty carried the ball 15 times (including sacks) and ended up with a net of -15 yards. Without having to respect South Carolina’s deep threat, players like Lewis Cine could look to attack and make plays closer to the line of scrimmage.

That doesn’t mean it was a clean game for the Georgia defense. Poor tackling was an issue all night and helped South Carolina’s first half scoring drives. A missed tackle allowed the Gamecocks to convert a fourth down that led to a scoring opportunity. Doty was able to complete 18 of 22 passes even without a dynamic receiver like Shi Smith, but Georgia’s pass rush was at least able to keep Doty from becoming too comfortable in the pocket. South Carolina’s tight end was not Kyle Pitts or even Hayden Hurst who was a particular thorn in Georgia’s side while at South Carolina, and that’s fortunate. The Gamecocks had success working TE Nick Muse against Georgia’s linebackers. Muse came into the game with 294 yards all season and added 131 yards on 8 receptions.

• Jalen Carter became a sensation for his role as a fullback in the Auburn and Tennessee games, and this win showed what fans have to look forward to from Carter the defensive lineman. He and Travon Walker are two of the more athletic defensive linemen Georgia has seen. The line is still missing the physical presence of Jordan Davis in the middle, but Logue and other young players have held their own.
• Special teams won’t get much attention in a lopsided win, but Georgia’s advantage there was impressive. A 50-yard punt, solid coverage, several touchbacks, a long punt return, and a blocked extra point only made things easier for the rest of the team.
• Welcome Arian Smith! The freshman has been recovering from offseason surgery, but his potential was on full display as he blew by a defender to get open for an easy touchdown reception. That’s just one more weapon for this passing attack.
• Yes, Prather Hudson is still on the team. He entered the transfer portal after the 2019 season but remained with the team. He moved to defensive back and has been a regular on special teams, but the coaches gave him another carry at tailback on the final drive while Edwards caught his breath. Hudson had a nice 7-yard run around the right side that moved the chains and kept the drive going.
• I was surprised to see that this series was 5-5 over the past ten games; surely Georgia had a better decade than that against South Carolina. I shouldn’t be surprised – South Carolina won four of five in the early part of the 2010s even while Georgia won two division titles. Last season’s upset pulled things back even after Greyson Lambert’s record-setting performance in 2015 began a run of success for Georgia. Now the Dawgs have won five of six including the last three in Columbia. Georgia has outscored the Gamecocks 86-33 in the past two games at South Carolina.