Welcome to ‘Dawg Debates, in which we debate the issues of the day in Bulldog Nation with a mix of style, grace, and intellect that disqualifies Lugnut Dawg and I from ever running for higher political office.
Today’s topic: One that’s sure to unify everyone in these divisive times: Is Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo Under Appreciated?
Lugnut Dawg: Absolutely. This is some of Bobo’s best work. Give the man his flowers
The best way to start a heated argument at a tailgate in Athens? No, it’s not accusing the BBQ of being from Sonny’s. It’s not even trying to claim someone is a closet fan of former UGA President Michael Adams.
No, get together two people with differing opinions on how good or bad of a job they feel that Mike Bobo is doing as Georgia’s offensive coordinator.
Bobo was boxed into a corner from day one of his second stint in the OC role in Athens. You can argue that next to Erk Russell, Todd Monken, Bobo’s predecessor, is the most beloved assistant coach in Georgia history.
In short, Monken not only helped move Georgia forward as an offense, but his work was enough the earn a national title times two in Athens, leading to being hired by the Baltimore Ravens.
The criticism of Bobo has always been puzzling. His offense put up eye-popping numbers once Mark Richt gave him full rein of that side of the ball. He was a 2012 finalist for the Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant coach. The second time he was a finalist? 2023.
Being that revered is not an accident.
That brings things to this year.
You had a feeling that there would be some catching up to do for Georgia’s offense with two generational talents graduating in Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers.
In a perfect world, Rara Thomas and the arrival of Colbie Young via transfer would have helped soften the blow of those losses. As would a full running back room.
But as this season has gone on, both Branson and Roderick Robinson have been lost to injury. By halftime against Florida, Travis Etienne was down with a rib injury.
And with a quarterback that’s shown to suddenly have bad decision-making, it’s a wonder that this team can still put up points.
To use a family version of an abrasive statement, you can’t make chicken salad without the chicken.
Given Georgia’s offense being a shell what was expected in the spring, we may be seeing Bobo’s finest work as offensive coordinator.
Macon Dawg: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. Fix the dang quarterback, Bobo!!!!
Sonny’s barbecue is pretty terrible, on this we can agree.
I find that criticisms of Mike Bobo break down neatly into two camps: Mike Bobo the coach and Mike Bobo the play-caller. Bobo the coach has a historically unassailable reputation as one of the best developers of quarterback talent in football. David Greene, DJ Shockley, Matt Stafford, Aaron Murray, Hutson Mason, nearly every starting signal caller he’s ever developed in Athens has played up to or above his perceived talent ceiling. Bobo’s hit rate in turning out all-conference and even NFL-caliber quarterbacks for the better part of two decades is astonishing. It’s why any football coach with half a brain would want Thomasville, Georgia’s premier Michael Stipe impersonator in or around their quarterback room.
But then there’s also Mike Bobo the play caller. That’s the guy who has infuriated generations of Georgia Bulldog fans. The Bobo motif is instantly recognizable. An offense peopled with blue chip talent puts up astonishing numbers and seemingly moved the ball at will……right up until it doesn’t, usually as a result of an inexplicably cute play call.
Maybe it’s a tailback dive on 3rd and 8. Perhaps it’s a slow developing end-around on the goal line. Or the ever-popular “solid 4 yard run in first down, incomplete shot downfield on second down, run for 4 yards on third down, then punt” number. That last one’s a classic right up there with “Bohemian Rhapsody” in my book.
Some of the criticism of Bobo’s play calling is unfair. I take that back, a lot of it is unfair. No offense works all the time, especially in the SEC where most teams have the defensive personnel to make plays, even if by sheer luck. And Bobo suffers in comparison to Todd Monken, as Lugnut Dawg notes one of the all-time slickest play callers in college football. It’s like being Jimmy Page and overhearing people say “that guy’s a decent guitarist, but he’s no Jimi Hendrix.” The quest for the perfect can obscure the fact that excellence is sitting right there in the coach’s box.
But college football doesn’t give out lifetime achievement awards to assistant coaches. Just ask Erk Russell. And Mike Bobo currently finds himself beset by a challenge unlike any he has faced in his time under the headset:
The fragile psyche of one Carson Winnifred* Beck. The Bulldogs’ starting quarterback has thrown 8 interceptions in three games, 11 on the season, the most by any UGA signal caller since a young Aaron Murray was passing out picks like they were Pez back in 2011. Of course, Bobo turned that particularly generous young man into the SEC’s all-time leading passer. So there’s certainly hope.
But the challenge with Beck isn’t building an all–SEC quarterback. It’s taking a Heisman candidate QB who seems to be pressing and second guessing and getting him back in the right frame of mind during the heat of a national title run. That’s a different challenge, and one of great import.
Because if Carson Beck hadn’t thrown any interceptions against Florida the Bulldogs likely would have won this past weekend by 30. Instead he threw 3, and Georgia was in a dog fight into the fourth quarter against a team battling for bowl eligibility with its third string quarterback. Jaxson Dart and his Ole Miss teammates are the fourth ranked scoring offense in the nation, putting up 42.1 points per game. They’ll score points if you don’t give them extra possessions and short fields. If you do, they will absolutely embarrass you.
Even with attrition of an injury and judicial nature, Kirby Smart still has a team good enough to win a national title. But only if the quarterback who was supposed to be one of the squad’s greatest strengths can stop being far and away its biggest liability.
That task falls to Mike Bobo. It was his job as offensive coordinator to design an offense that can score in the absence of Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers. It was his job to prepare Carson Beck to lead that offense. He’s done a passable job on the former. But there’s growing evidence that the latter task hasn’t been accomplished. Mike Bobo has to figure out what broke Carson Beck before whatever broke Carson Beck breaks the Bulldogs. If he can’t, then it’s certainly fair to ask both “why not?” and “who else could?”
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
* As usual, not his real middle name, that’s “Raine”. Because Jacksonville.