Kirby Smart tried to clear up what he considers some misnomers regarding his offense heading into Saturday’s game in Jacksonville against Florida (3:30 p.m., CBS).

Yes, when it comes to consistency, the Bulldogs (4-3, 2-3) have been anything but, and with the Gators (5-1, 3-1) boasting what statistically is one of the best defenses in the SEC, Georgia must figure something out quick.

In conference play, Georgia ranks ninth in the SEC in rushing offense (182.6 yards per game), eighth in passing offense (212 yards per game) and ninth in total offense (394.6 yards per contest).

While those numbers could obviously be better, Smart disputed the notion that his Bulldogs’ pro-style philosophy has become too predictable to be as effective as it needs to be.

“I think the word I've used is balance, and balance is not necessarily … I think people might mistake that for I (formation), but we really haven't been in the I much this year,” Smart said. “I think we've been in the motion shift, motion team. We have been diversified in our personnel groupings because we have some personnel groupings that make us better week to week.”

But right now, the results just haven’t been there. There are a couple of big reasons why.

Georgia’s offensive line has been extremely inconsistent which, as we saw against Vanderbilt, was a huge reason the Bulldogs were only able to muster 75 rushing yards in the loss to the Commodores.

Another is freshman quarterback Jacob Eason. While Eason has shown flashes of what coaches feel he will eventually become, the Washington native has endured his share of growing pains.

Eason’s best games, it seems, have come when he’s been allowed to work out of the shotgun, something he did extensively in high school. While his work under center has improved, it doesn’t take a genius to see that Eason is more comfortable at this point working out of the shotgun.

Could the Bulldogs opt to go that route the rest of the year? Certainly. But since it’s so imperative to have a semblance of a run-pass option, Smart said for the offense to ultimately have success the rest of the year, having a good balance – no matter what the set is - will continue to be key.

“Balance to me is a run-pass balance. It's not necessarily whether you're spread or not. We've shown those looks because we think there are some advantage to those looks based on who you play,” Smart said. “We've been in the RPO world this year and done more of those than probably people even know we've done. There's been a lot of them done in tags, so it's becoming more of what we do. But it's not going to be our sole identity. You’ve got be able to run the ball out of both looks.”

Against Florida, running the ball out of both looks will be a key.

Against SEC foes, the Gators are third in the conference in both total defense (318.8 yards per game) and scoring defense (16.2 points per game), while their pass defense ranks second in the league. And, last week in a 40-14 win over Missouri, they recorded a couple of pick-sixes, courtesy of Jalen Taylor and Quincy Wilson, two of the best cornerbacks in the country.

“They don’t use a lot of elaborate schemes; they just go out there and cover you and whip you up front physically, and they've got good players doing it so it's a credit to those guys,” Smart said. “I think for us we've got to be able to hit some plays in it, which a lot of teams haven't been able to do, and we’ve got to be able to run the ball, because if you can run the ball, then you can create situations where they have to put extra guys in the box.”

Ultimately, however, Smart said whatever success his offense can have will be determined by how physical his team can be up front which, again, has been a big issue at times.

“It’s no different than any game - blocking, tackling, breaking tackles. We're going to have some one-on-one tackles,” Smart said. “Can our backs beat their one-on-one tackles, and that's really what it boils down for our offense against their defense. It'll be interesting to see how they play us in some personnel groupings. Be interesting to see how they play us outside; do they have respect for our receivers. I don't know. They don't usually … they just let their guys go play on an island, and we'll see if we can continue to do that.”