Georgia's Offensive Mess More Than Just Nick Chubb's Absence
It'd be easy to look at last night's 9-6 win over Missouri, see the absence of an offensive touchdown for the first time since its Liberty Bowl loss to UCF following the 2010, see its first win without a touchdown since beating Kentucky 12-3 in 1995 and assume that Georgia misses running back Nick Chubb badly.
That's only half-true.
Chubb, who injured his knee on the first play from scrimmage in the loss to Tennessee the previous week, is not easily replaced. Fellow sophomore Sony Michel did his best to carry the load for the 5'10", 220-pounder, rushing for 87 yards on a career-high 26 carries.
"It's not going to be pretty all the time, but the victory is pretty," head coach Mark Richt said according to Georgia's official site. "The bottom line is everyone kept battling, kept fighting, kept believing. I'm just really proud of the job everybody did. Sometimes the toughest ones are the best ones."
Chubb's absence is only one piece of a more concerning puzzle for Richt and first-year offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.
Georgia currently ranks 12th in the SEC in red-zone scoring percentage (80.77 percent), 10th in red-zone touchdown percentage (50 percent) and 12th in third-down conversion percentage (33.33 percent).
| 2008 | 65.31 | 83.67 | 42.04 |
| 2009 | 62.86 | 94.29 | 39.52 |
| 2010 | 61.82 | 89.09 | 40.49 |
| 2011 | 61.82 | 81.82 | 42.66 |
| 2012 | 76.00 | 86.00 | 47.49 |
| 2013 | 63.01 | 86.30 | 41.57 |
| 2014 | 67.16 | 85.07 | 49.39 |
| 2015 | 50.00 | 80.77 | 33.33 |
Chubb still played in four full games, the offensive line is still one of the best in the nation when it comes to run-blocking, and there are plenty of talented backs like Michel and Keith Marshall behind Chubb to pick up the slack.
Numbers like that should not exist for this Georgia team. Not this deep into the season.
For comparison, Georgia's worst red-zone touchdown percentage since 2008 was 61.82 percent (2010 and 2011) and its worst third-down conversion mark over that same time frame was 39.52 percent (2009).
On Saturday against Missouri, Georgia entered the red zone five times and came away with just nine points.
"I felt like we were able to move the ball here and there," quarterback Greyson Lambert said, according to Georgia's official site. "We had some drives that did not end the way we wanted them to. We just were not able to keep them alive. We had a first down here, a first down there, but we just couldn't finish."
Do you miss former coordinator Mike Bobo yet?
It's not new coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's fault that he inherited a mess of a quarterback situation, a wide receiving corps, Chubb got hurt and wide receiver Justin Scott-Wesley's career is in jeopardy.
It is his fault, though, that the players who are in spots to contribute haven't developed and the play-calling in critical situations is as predictable as the sunrise.
All Georgia needs is a threat in the passing game to make the offense click, and that's on Schottenheimer as well as Lambert.
Whether Lambert can't or Schottenheimer won't let him, it's simply not happening.
Lambert is currently 10th in the SEC in passing yards per game (182.3) and tied for ninth with six passing plays of 30 or more yards with Florida's Treon Harris and South Carolina's Perry Orth—both of whom started the season as backups and have been thrust into action due to starters being out of the lineup.
Chubb or not, there's not even a threat downfield for the Bulldogs—which shouldn't be that hard to accomplish even with roster question marks at key positions thanks to the presence of a stout running game.
Georgia's offense was conservative but effective. Now, it's simply the former, and that was the case even before Chubb's season-ending injury.
That doesn't place Richt on the hot seat, because he has built up enough equity and has been so successful over a prolonged period of time that he has earned the right to fix things.
But as an offensive guy, he'd better step in quickly. Otherwise, all of that equity will go for naught and Georgia's first SEC title since 2005 will be Richt's version of Sasquatch in Athens.
A myth.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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