Georgia QB discussion: who will it be and is he good?

Georgia Quarterback Controversy

 Submitted by Chi-Blue on December 6th, 2021 

If you are like me and know little about our next opponent then what better place to start than a QB controversy! Obviously we the fans have been through the discussion between Cade and JJ this year, but the nice part is that they have settled into their roles and we have played better as the year has gone on . . . arrow up!

Conversely, after the beatdown Georgia took at the hands of Alabama they have QB play directly in the line of fire, at least from the fan-o-sphere perspective. The difficult part for Georgia is that while there is plenty of time before they play us there are no more "cupcake schedule" games to build or restore confidence. This has been the argument against them all year in that they have played a very soft schedule - see Danny Kanell twitter. 

At any rate here's to hoping that their controversy continues and that Hutchinson,Ojabo and the defense make whomever they put out there look bad!

https://dawnofthedawg.com/2021/12/06/georgia-football-jt-daniels-situation/

I live in Atlanta and was listening to local sports talk radio (aka The Dawg Fellatio Network) and their consistent take (including the former UGA player insider) was that it'll be Stetson if for no other reason than that Kirby Smart is a little stubborn.  The general vibe of the whole show was "when we play Bama in the title game we're going to need JT as well so we should do some kind of rotation in the win against Michigan to get ready".  I can only hope their team is as dismissive of us as their local sports dudes.

As to what they actually DO - I don't care.  I just hope we win decisively.  And then win against Bama.  The sound of SEC heads exploding with ANY B1G team beating 2 SEC teams in a row to win the title would be so loud it could be heard around the globe.

I don't know why but the way this thread was written really annoyed me more than most bad ones. I think it is cause the prose is written like someone transcribing a morning shock jock sports radio talk show host.

There was also a post about Georgia QBs yesterday.

Almost sounds like a similar situation...

The QB "controversy" only exists in the minds of fans and talk show radio hosts. Much of the UGA fanbase is still mad that they played Jake Fromm over Justin Fields. And many of them see some resemblance to that situation here--the steady situational passer who accentuates their run game/defense-oriented mentality vs the talented playmaker.

But it would go against everything in Kirby Smart's nature to bench Stetson Bennett at this juncture in the season. The chances of JT Daniels starting are literally 0%.

I watched JT Daniels while he was the starter at USC.  He was very inconsistent his freshman year, even with the WRs they had. I think he got hurt the first game of his sophomore year, out for the year. Decent last year after the transfer to GA, all things considered. 

Only have seen Stetson Bennett this past game. Seems like a typical Harbaugh type of QB. Good game manager. But he's not mobile, and Alabama feasted on him.

I'm guessing Smart sticks with Bennett for consistency purposes.

I'm personally hoping to see Daniels. Bennett has a bit of Sean Clifford to his game when he uses his legs to escape pressure and can pick up a couple first downs per game by scrambling.

Daniels might have the better arm and size, but he's less mobile, struggled against Clemson, and makes just as many (if not more) poor decisions as Bennett.

I don't think there is much of a controversy.  Bennett is their guy.  He will start and finish unless they fall well behind.  He is more mobile than Daniels and given our pass rush they will need his mobility.  Is he good?  I'd say he is adequate.  He played his worst games in their toughest games unlike Cade who has seemed to rise to the occasion.  Let's just hope whomever they run out there doesn't step up to the challenge.

Seems like they'll run with Bennett unless something significant happens.  Daniels has been in college for 4 years now and hasn't come close to being the can't miss prospect they thought he was; I doubt Smart would change it up now.  

Georgia's last National Championship was in 1980. (Michigan 1997 - shared)

Georgia has 3 SEC titles this century 2002, 2005, 2017. (Michigan has 4 - 2000/shared, 2003, 2004/shared, 2021)

Georgia also lost to Alabama in the National Championship after winning the SEC title in 2017.

Several days ago someone posted about the recruiting rating averages. I believe since 2017 these were the numbers:

     Michigan - .9030

     Georgia -   .92 to .93 (can't remember the exact number)

Georgia also played Cincinnati in a bowl game on January 1st, 2021. They absolutely CRUSHED the Bearcats in a dominant fashion by having to kick a 53 yard field goal with 3 seconds left to win 24-21.

Georgia has proven again and again that it will constantly do LESS with MORE. I'm not biased enough to think Michigan will roll Georgia. I think Michigan will need to play their best game of the year to win.

As previous posters have said I hope the Bulldogs have this same overconfidence coming into the next game.

In my opinion, Bennett looked overwhelmed against Bama. 

I think he is surrounded by talent and had accumulated a lot of stats in the passing game with screen passes that end up being explosive plays.

JT is not a better option however, that would be like us starting JJ (JJ is better than JT). "Dance with who brung ya". Georgia is thinking they are better than Michigan at every position except DE, because they have recruiting stars, and they do not want to play high variance QB in this game. I do not agree with that assessment, but I think Georgia might. 

I think Michigan will have the advantage at QB in this game. Especially when you factor in JJ getting snaps. 

Stetson Bennett is not the reason they lost to Bama. And JT Daniels will never beat Bama. He might have an arm, but he's not as mobile as Stetson, which you'll need against the pass rushers in the CFP.

UGA is a more athletic version of Iowa or Wisconsin with a slightly better QB room. So stop worrying about who their QB is. Scoring on their defense will be the key.

Your QB gets you to a No. 1 ranking and undefeated season until Alabama overwhelms your team and “generational” defense.  And you panic and change QBs before the playoffs?  I would assume that if Daniels had been playing better QB, he would have been the one at the helm of the team all season long.

Personally, I don't care which of them ends up on his back first, staring up at Hutch and Ojabo in pain.

Looks to me like either of their QBs can be good if we can't pressure them. The OSU game showed me that we can stop a Heisman candidate QB with pressure, and I think our D will show up.

So I'm less worried about their QB play than whether our O-line will be able to keep pressure off Cade and JJ. Looks to me like we might need to put the passing game into high gear.

If we can somehow get past Georgia, the equation changes. 'Bama's QB gets the ball out fast and with great accuracy. Unless we can cover their receivers well, I wonder whether our pass rush can get to him fast enough to prevent big plays. That will be pretty interesting -- if we make it as far as the title game.

 Stetson is their Cade and JJ is there JT.   Bennett has been steady and gets wins but nothing spectacular and JT has more talent just like JJ has more then Cade.    Not knocking the guys just sounded like Michigan earlier in the season.

To be fair - Bennett had a better QBR in their blowout loss to Alabama than Cade did in their blowout win against Iowa. I don't think there is a controversy here - Bennett is solid and he's their guy.

I watched part of the Auburn - Alabama game, and that very middling Auburn team should have won. Then one week later, Alabama handled Georgia, which had up until then had a pretty easy schedule, pretty easily. I am surprised Georgia is favored but am cautiously optimistic that we will beat them. We have steadily improved as the season has progressed and will continue to improve between now and December 31. If Harbaugh was able to keep the Donovan Edwards pass play in his pocket for 7 weeks, I suspect he has a few other surprises in store for Georgia.

I’m married into a family loaded with Bama and UGa grads, and watch both teams every year. 
 

“The Mailman” Bennett will start for sure, unless he gets injured in bowl prep. Michigan fans should prefer JT (who I do not fear at all) over Bennett due to mobility, and Bennett is certainly mobile enough (and heady enough) to be disruptive with his legs. He’s very comfortable moving outside the pocket, and as we saw with Iowa between the 20s last weekend, Michigan can tend to bite pretty hard on misdirection plays built around that. Bennett will go deep in about the same way Cade goes deep.  If you play sound positionally he isn’t going to defeat you that way. But he can be very effective in the flat/short/mid game. 
 

UGa’s RBs are very, very good (Zeus White and Cook are 1-2 and both experienced and talented) but their TE is more likely to be the real challenge. He’s only a freshman but is very mobile, athletic, good hands and good after the catch. He makes plays, and is the Dawgs’ primary receiving threat. Not quite Kelce/Kittle but think of him playing that type of role. He’s a tough cover. 
 

Their WRs room, like ours, had been missing its presumed #1 all year: George Pickens. While not a particularly mature person (he’s the clown who infamously was squirting his water bottle on an opposing player on a tackle out of bounds last year), he’s a great talent and a tough matchup.  He came back from his ACL for some very limited action vs GaTech and Bama.  If he is a go, I’d say it’s very likely we put Dax on him often. The others are fairly talented, but hardly uncoverable superstars. 

I would really, really hate to play against a former top recruit who's been beaten out of a starting job by three stars twice in his college career.