Georgia Red Zone

ATHENS — Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken is celebrated as one of the best in the business, for good reason.

The No. 2-ranked Bulldogs have thrived under Monken, with JT Daniels and Stetson Bennett producing the highest QB ratings in school history the past two seasons.

“Coach Monken’s offense has an answer for every play,” a past quarterback once said, referring to the flexibility to change and adjust plays at the line of scrimmage depending on the defensive alignment.

But as the field shrinks, the defense has less ground to defend, and adjustments and execution are at a premium.

And this is where Georgia has struggled, relative to the rest of the SEC, with its Red Zone touchdown ratio entering into Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. tilt against Auburn.

Coach Kirby Smart identified the Red Zone offense as the “Achilles heel” of the Georgia offense even before the team’s close call at Missouri.

“If it all had to boil down to one thing, I would say accuracy in the passing game,” Smart said. “And then being effective at running the ball at the heavy boxes.”

If the oddsmakers have it right, the Red Zone touchdown ratio won’t determine the outcome of this Georgia football game.

Auburn is a 30-point underdog, lacking the depth of high-level recruits Smart has brought to Georgia, and featuring a redshirt freshman quarterback making his first road start.

But you can bet Smart has Monken working overtime with Stetson Bennett on Red Zone offensive execution.

Georgia kicked field goals on its first four trips inside the Missouri 25-yard line last Saturday and found itself trailing by 10 points entering the fourth quarter.

It was the first time since 2019 that a Georgia football team failed to score a touchdown in the first three quarters.

Monday morning quarterbacks have asked why Darnell Washington, a 6-foot-7, 280-pounder with sticky hands, has not been targeted more in the Red Zone?

“We’ve called several plays in those situations for him,” Smart said this week. “Some of them are based on a look, and some of them are based on a protection. There are plays built for a guy to be a red-zone target, and he certainly is that.

“fI you miss a protection, miss a certain guy, or you miss a coverage, it can go to certain routes.”

In short, defenses have schemed up UGA in a way that leads Bennett to look elsewhere.

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Monken may, however, elect to limit Bennett’s flexibility at the line of scrimmage to eliminate confusion and funnel the ball more often to key players like Washington, Brock Bowers and Kenny McIntosh.

Georgia, which has allowed for run checks at the line of scrimmage, might also simply the run game to avoid potential assignment confusion.

“We got to do a better job preparing our guys, but

we also got to do a better job in-game of making good decisions and putting ourselves in a situation to be successful,” Smart said.

“Can they do a better job in the run game? Absolutely. But it’s not totally on the offensive line.”

Smart took his share of the blame and said “Coach Monken will take some of that,” as well.

Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said he has seen the influence of Mike Bobo on the UGA offense, but it’s not like Bobo holds any Red Zone magic.

The 2013 Bulldogs, with all-time SEC leading passer Aaron Murray, had a Red Zone TD ratio of only (.630) percent (46-of-73).

Jim Chaney’s 2018 Georgia offense was better than that with Jake Fromm (.667), and so was James Coley in 2019 with Fromm (.642).

The Bulldogs struggled to score TDs in the Red Zone last season, too, (.600), with Bennett only getting the team into the end zone at a .574 clip.

Bennett has improved as a quarterback, and so has the Bulldogs Red Zone TD ratio (.612), but it’s still not close to where Smart wants it.

Here’s a look at how Georgia’s Red Zone TD ratio compares to the rest of the SEC:

SEC Teams - Red Zone touchdown ratio

Mississippi State 15-17 (.882)

Vanderbilt 15-17 (.882)

Tennessee 18-21 (.857)

Ole Miss 20-24 (.833)

Alabama 20-25 (.800)

LSU 17-23 (.739)

South Carolina 18-25 (.720)

Florida 14-20 (.700)

Auburn 11-17 (.647)

Georgia 19-31 (.612)

Arkansas 14-23 (.608)

Texas A&M 7-12 (.583)

Missouri 11-19 (.578)

Kentucky 12-22 (.545)