DawgNation’s “Cover 4″ concept is a timely content piece on DawgNation.com. This edition continues a series of posts where DawgNation staffers Brandon Adams, Mike Griffith, Connor Riley and Jeff Sentell hit on a bunch of key talking points regarding the back-to-back national champions.
The DawgNation team has seen seven football games so far this year. We’ve already learned a lot about the 2023 Bulldogs and there will be more discoveries over the next four games of the season.
That leads this specific train of thought into a DawgNation “Cover 4″ bye week edition.
The timing feels right to kick this unique DawgNation Georgia football “Cover 4″ topic around the horn. These takes are designed to come out faster than everyone gobbled up the food at the Mark Richt Chick-fil-A Dawg Bowl last Wednesday night in Athens.
This “Cover 4″ topic is:
What’s the one question you’d love to get the real answer to over the last few seasons of Georgia football?
Brandon Adams: What would George Pickens have done if healthy?
Why: “Pickens is arguably the most exciting UGA player of my lifetime, but injuries limited his production at UGA. The Bulldogs still won a national championship without him playing much in 2021, but it’s hard not to think we were all robbed of some thrilling highlights if he’d been fully healthy.”
Mike Griffith: Which 2018 CFP committee member lobbied most against Georgia to keep it out of the playoff?
Why: “Was it the Oklahoma AD, whose Sooners ended up getting the fourth spot (and were down 28-0 to Alabama in 16 minutes). Was it the Florida AD, whose school would have gotten a bigger revenue share had UGA made CFP? Or was it the former Georgia Tech AD?”
Connor Riley: Why wasn’t the 2020 defense better?
Why: “For as much as we talk about these last two defenses, most of them were on that 2020 team. The one that gave up 40-plus points in losses to Alabama and Florida. With a handful of players still in school, there were still 22 players drafted off this defense, including 8 first-round picks. For as much as we talk about the offensive issues that season, it was the 2020 defense that proved to be an outlier.”
Jeff Sentell: What was the whole A-to-Z behind Jamie Newman’s brief time at UGA?
Why: “Perplexing. That’s the word to describe that saga. Why did it not work out? What drove him to leave the program prior to the 2020 season? Was it related to health concerns around the pandemic? Georgia went from Newman to D’Wan Mathis to Stetson Bennett IV to JT Daniels at QB during that abbreviated season. How would things have gone had he stayed around? Do we even see Bennett that fall? What did he see in young Carson Beck that he liked so much? What are his big regrets today after seeing the ‘Dawgs go 44-3 with two national titles after he left the program?”
