Pound for Pound: Consistently inconsistent

Published 10:30 am Wednesday, January 8, 2025

I feel like this one’s going to be a little therapeutic.

But first a moment to address the tragedy that occurred in New Orleans during the early morning hours of New Year’s Day. An individual introduced more evil into the world when he killed 14 people, injured dozens more, and sought to surge his death toll even higher by planting explosives around a town that was experiencing one of its annual tourism peaks. How will our nation respond? The same divisiveness that has plagued our citizenry for the better part of the last decade, or unity and care for one another? Let’s hope for the latter.

Now for an awkward segue into a football game, the significance of which pales in comparison to the violence that took place only hours before. And that’s not to take anything away from Notre Dame.

The Irish played a cleaner ballgame on their way to the 23-10 Sugar Bowl victory, their program’s first-ever win over the University of Georgia. Marcus Freeman’s team got a touchdown off a turnover late in the first half and another on a kickoff return to start the second. ND otherwise had trouble moving the football against yet another vaunted Georgia D.

Don’t blame step-in starting quarterback Gunner Stockton and his throwing motion that takes longer than a Waffle House order to come to your table. He played well enough to win. The offensive line let him down, and a sure-tackling, fundamentally-sound ND defense was a tough assignment for the Rabun County product in his first career start. Maybe if a healthy Carson Beck had played he would have audibled out of some of those run calls where the Irish had 860 players in the box, but you can’t say for certain if that would have made a difference in the final score.

The wide receivers dropped the ball some more, namely Dillon Bell, who only a few snaps after dropping a deep pass that hit him right in the hands pleaded for the ball to be put out in front of him on a slant. The WR corps was an overall disappointment this season. The drops were momentum killers, and we learned why it took until his senior year for Arian Smith to see a significant amount of snaps.

The drops – the most in the nation, by the way – are a reason I’m bullish on letting Mike Bobo stick around while others are calling for his head. That and the fact that the talent level on offense was nowhere near what his predecessor enjoyed when the Dawgs won back-to-back national titles. The former Georgia QB also made incredible play calls this season when the team absolutely had to have them.

Perhaps the only position group more disappointing than the receivers to me in 2024 were the inside linebackers. Stiff, slow and just not great at tackling, they stood knees and feet below the greats that came before them. Aussie punter Brett Thorson could show those guys a thing or two about wrapping up.

And although he’s listed as an inside ‘backer on the roster, I don’t recall seeing Butkus Award winner Jalon Walker actually lining up there too often. I don’t lump him in with the ILBs. Walker was great and is deserving of everything that will come his way.

Thus ended an inconsistent, stressful 2024 season for the Bulldogs, one in which they only showed up for halves of games at a time. I don’t think widespread changes are needed for the program to remain in the upper echelon in the country. Welcome in the new signing class, further develop the players who are coming back, and Georgia should remain in the playoff picture for years to come.

In Kirby I trust.