Will Georgia football get over the hump with Kirby Smart in 2020?
The Jake Fromm era for Georgia football is officially over and, with the quarterback’s departure, also goes an incredible run of success under head coach Kirby Smart. With Fromm as the primary starter over the past three years, the Bulldogs won the SEC once, made a National Championship Game appearance and won a total of 36 games while losing only seven.
Fromm’s final year in Athens, which was also the final year for standout running back D’Andre Swift fell somewhat short of expectations in that the Bulldogs failed to make it to the College Football Playoff and fell short against LSU in the SEC Championship Game. That was largely all a result of an upset loss to South Carolina midway through the year.
At the same time, there were plenty of positives about what Smart’s club accomplished in 2019. After all, they made it to the conference championship game, had the best scoring defense in the country, and, with their 26-14 win over Baylor in the Sugar Bowl, they finished as the No. 5 ranked team in the AP Top 25 poll.
With both Fromm and Swift, among others, now gone from the Bulldogs, though, this is near-uncharted territory for Georgia football under Smart. He has to transition the offense at two critical position in addition to finding new starters on the offensive line. The good news is that he’s consistently recruited as a top-five level in Athens, meaning there is talent lying in wait.
But Smart is still looking to get over that hump; he has yet to beat Alabama and has missed out on the College Football Playoff over the past two years. So will that change in the 2020 season as the Bulldogs enter a new era? Let’s take a deep dive into what this team has before them.