Alabama coach Nick Saban made a comment during the broadcast of Monday’s national championship that made a lot of sense.

The gist of it was that RPO (run-pass option) offenses have brought the ability to create explosive plays. If coaches aren’t willing to adapt and employ similar techniques, they're going to get left behind.

After what we witnessed during this past season, that’s never been more apparent.

While you certainly need a good defense and a strong running game to be successful, if you don’t have the ability to consistently pressure teams from an offensive standpoint, then you’re likely never going to be holding the big, gold trophy that Ed Orgeron was able to hoist Monday night at the Superdome.

That’s now the challenge for Kirby Smart and his offensive coaches.

So where do we stand?

We do know offensive coordinator James Coley is not going anywhere. Actually, we’ve known that for a while. Whenever a team struggles, the first call of action by many fans is to fire the coach. Fire the coach and your problems will be solved. It's true not just for football, of course, but other things as well.

Smart understands that a knee-jerk firing isn't always the answer.

That doesn’t mean, however, that changes within the system can’t still be made. Smart obviously feels Coley can make them happen.

Coley himself acknowledged in New Orleans that there’s a lot more that he can do.

“I’ve got to do a better job, first and foremost,” Coley said. “It starts with me, right? So, I’m looking at myself hard, and criticizing myself, and busting my tail to get better.”

To be totally fair, all of Georgia’s offensive struggles can’t be placed totally on Coley’s shoulders. Injuries and the loss of some talented wide receivers to the NFL from the previous year didn’t help.

Although it’s still difficult to imagine a Georgia team with all its weapons being able to beat this year’s LSU juggernaut, the point many have made regarding the need to start implementing some different offensive ideas is a valid one.

To Coley’s credit, we started to see some tweaks in the latter part of the season. In the Sugar Bowl—with a depleted lineup, no less— he called arguably his best game of the season.

However, Georgia’s offense MUST continue to evolve, and that’s why this off-season will be imperative for Smart, Coley, and the rest of the Bulldogs’ offensive staff.

“We’re still a pro-style offense, and that just gives us the flexibility to do a bunch of different things,” Coley said. “But again, it’s who you have out there and who they have out there.”

Here’s where Wake Forest grad transfer Jamie Newman comes in.

Newman’s ability as a true dual-threat should give Coley the opportunity for more RPOs. It appeared he was tentative at times to have Jake Fromm attempt such plays with limited quarterback depth.

Georgia also needs to get more athletic on the offensive side.

We’ve already heard that new offensive line coach Matt Luke wants his players to be a bit more svelte than what we saw under Sam Pittman, and Monday’s addition of Tre McKitty as a grad transfer at tight end gives the Bulldogs more athleticism at the position. Physically, the former Florida State player with 50 career catches is reminiscent of Orson Charles, whose ability to stretch the field was certainly a boon during Aaron Murray’s time at quarterback.

At receiver, George Pickens has a chance to be one of the SEC’s best, but more explosive players are needed. Georgia hopes it started to address that with this year’s signing class.

It’s going to be interesting to see what unfolds.

Smart gets a lot of criticism for his stubbornness, and rightfully so, but I don’t believe he’s so hard-headed that he’s not amenable to change. He'll do what he believes it takes to win.

Nevertheless, keeping an eye on those offensive changes will be the storyline as we move into the off-season and into spring practice in a couple of months.

Of course, there’s also the not-so-small matter of Smart filling out his coaching staff.

As you know, there’s still a vacancy with former special teams coach Scott Fountain now with Pittman at Arkansas.

Although there's been no indication from Smart, it does at least give him the opportunity to bring in a new offensive voice should he so desire. Information regarding what he’s got in mind has been slow to leak out, but seeing the success enjoyed by LSU, don’t be shocked if Smart tries to take a page from Orgeron’s book and hire someone with the ability to import some fresh ideas.

As Saban said Monday night, if you’re not willing to adapt and adjust, you risk getting left behind.

The guess here is that Smart wants no part of the latter.