Georgia’s offensive inconsistencies have been well-documented.

From slow starts to dropped passes, lack of a running game, to a midseason rash of interceptions, offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has endured no shortage of issues.

Will the Bulldogs finally figure it all out in Wednesday night’s Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame? We’re about to find out.

Georgia’s running game woes have been of particular concern.

The Bulldogs rank 15th out of 16 SEC teams in rushing, averaging just 123 yards per game.

While Georgia hopes a healthy Trevor Etienne will finally cure some of those woes, Bobo admits Georgia’s lack of ground success has not been up to standard.

“Obviously, it is frustrating. We pride ourselves on being able to run the ball. I can sit here and give you a lot of reasons, but all they'd be is excuses,” Bobo said. “Point blank, you can sit here and say injuries, you can say this, you can say that. But the bottom line is that’s an excuse. We’ve got to be able to run the ball if we want to continue to win in these playoffs.”

Bobo hopes to see a carryover from the second half of the SEC Championship against Texas when the Bulldogs were finally able to gain some consistency in running the ball against the Longhorns.

To give first-time starter Gunner Stockton his best chance for success, they’ll need to.

“One of the big things I said at halftime, I said, we're not just going to go out there and throw the ball. We got to get balance, and we’ve got to run the football. I think those backs and those linemen took ownership in that and played hard and blocked for those guys and we broke some tackles,” Bobo said. “We got to find ways to move the ball on the ground. I think we've got a good offensive line that I think we're the healthiest that we've been at offensive line, tight end, running backs. So, I think that's going to help us be able to run the ball and then the commitment to the run. But we’ve got to be committed to the run, whether things are going good or things are going bad, to still run that ball to help us be balanced and run and pass.”

Tight end Oscar Delp said the solution to running the ball effectively is an easy one.

“We just need to execute,” said Delp, who, along with the rest of the offense, took advantage of their extra week off to get back to focusing on the fundamentals.

“It was getting back to basics, not just for Gunner, but for this whole football team. We put him (Stockton) in a lot of situational football that we would have done for anybody, but it was a chance to get him more third-down opportunities, more red zone work, and more two-minute work for the end of the game against our defense,” Bobo said. “So, I think that extra time was beneficial that we got to kind of go back to camp mode and practice that situational football where he's got a lot of it, but not as much as your starter would get. For him to get those reps against our defense, a lot of situations that Coach Smart put us in, I think can only help us in the game.”

Hopefully, his receivers will give him a better hand.

Dropped passes have been a huge problem for the Bulldogs, with senior Arian Smith seemingly a weekly culprit.

“I take accountability for all my drops. I try to not make excuses; I never do that. A drop is a drop, coach always tells us,” said Smith, who, despite the miscues, leads Georgia in receiving yardage with 750 (on 47 receptions). “My job is to catch the ball regardless of how it's thrown. If it's short, if it's overthrown, if it's too high, make sure I make an effort to get it.”

Bobo said coaches have done what they can.

Fundamentals are taught daily, but ultimately, it’s up to the player to make plays.

“You want to continue to coach the fundamentals of whether it's fumbling the ball, how to carry the ball properly," Bobo said. "The specific question that you answered about dropping the ball, it's the fundamentals of two eyes, two hands, seeing it, catching the ball, catching the ball, focus on catching the ball and getting it tucked."

Making sure players stay confident is also part of the daily plan.

“Sometimes it becomes a confidence thing, kind of like my putting. If I'm missing short putts, then I overthink it, and then I can't make a short putt. But just the routine of catching the ball, day in and day out of what you do at practice," Bobo said. "Obviously, we've tried to catch more balls, whether it's jugs, whether it's throwing the guys, throwing to each other. Whether it's quarterbacks throwing them extra balls. But repetition is the mother of all skills. So, we're going to continue to rep, catching that ball, getting it tucked, and building that confidence in practice that'll lead to game day.”