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Published Oct 23, 2019
Smart and company self-scouting to find answers
Anthony Dasher  •  UGASports
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Week to week, game to game. Kirby Smart says he and his staff take self-evaluation very seriously.

That includes the offensive side of the ball.

“We’re always looking to see what compliments something we’re doing well,” Smart said after practice Tuesday. “Let’s say we’re doing some good in the Red Zone. What’s something we can to do try and complement that because people are going to try and attack you on what you’ve done as your strength.”

Smart said the process itself is more detailed than many might think.

“We meet in the morning for two to three hours. We have quality control guys come in, give presentations—this is what so-and-so is doing, this is what they’re doing. They might not fit us, but they might, and we try to use those things,” Smart said. “Same thing for me. I’m looking at the quality control of the offense, the quality control of the defense, what’s been the most successful run, what front have we struggled the most against and I’m looking at it from a defensive coach, saying, ‘What is Todd Grantham, what is Kevin Steele, what is the next guy going to do to stop us?’ ”

With Florida up next in Jacksonville, there’s obviously some offensive areas that the Bulldogs need to improve. Smart will also search aspects of the Florida defense that will be more susceptible to attack.

While Smart obviously won't disclose those areas, the self-scouting that he and his staff are doing this week will go a long way toward assuring the Bulldogs achieving success.

“Again, you look at formation tendencies; you look at different things that can complement what you’re doing—we have run efficiency stats that we look at,” Smart said. “You can look at NCAA.com and get those same stats, but we’re looking at it more in detail of what specific front it was versus. Nobody else looks at that, they just look at was he successful, did he get 10 yards, did he not get 10 yards. That’s not what we’re looking at. We’re looking to see what was the reason why it worked or it didn’t work.”

One area that did gain traction in the 21-0 win over Kentucky was Georgia’s success enjoyed by D’Andre Swift running the outside zone.

Although the particular play has always been part of Georgia’s offensive arsenal, the Bulldogs in recent weeks had seemingly gone away from many of its perimeter runs.

“We opened the game with an outside zone play that was successful. I think sometimes what the outside world thinks an outside run is, and what an outside run actually is, are two different things,” Smart said. “So obviously, if a play works, we're going to try to repeat that play. That would be not very smart not to repeat that play. But we also have certain things we have to do to keep play action involved, to keep balance in our offense.”

Having that balance will certainly be required against the Gators, a fact Smart doesn’t deny. Finding the right answers could well determine the outcome.

“You have to ask yourself, if the outside zone was most effective later in the game, was it because you chopped wood early in the game?” Smart said. “You're always trying to keep the defense off-balance. We ran some swipe plays, some perimeter plays, and some work, some don't; sometimes they don't work because people don't block right. Sometimes they don't work because the defense is in there. We're trying to run the plays that work."

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