Offensive failures in short yardage have been an area that’s hampered Georgia on more than one occasion through the team’s first five games.

So, what’s up?

Head coach Kirby Smart was asked that very question after practice Tuesday.

“A lot of it has to do with tempo. A lot of it has to do, if you remember correctly, we were under center at Vandy and y'all all asked me why we were under center,” Smart said after practice Tuesday. “Then, when we go to shotgun, why are you in shotgun? You can get stuffed under center and you can get stuffed in shotgun. So, it works both ways.”

Figuring out how to correct the issues, however, continues to be a problem.

“There's a lot of trains of thought on that. I know defensively, it eliminates a lot of plays once you're under center. It allows the defense to be a little more aggressive, and they don't have to defend as much area and there's a lot of teams that teach submarine, cut techniques where they go down low and they try to submarine you, and it doesn't allow you to use your advantage, which is your size,” Smart said. “At the end of the day, we've got to do a better job as coaches. We're not getting it done in those areas, and we've got to improve, but it's not something we're not working on."

Smart said he expects the Bulldogs to be better than what they have been.

Although failures to convert have yet to cost Georgia a game, Smart knows his team might not be so lucky the next time.

“We say that third-and-one and fourth-and-one, we want to be 100 percent. We have some pretty lofty goals here, so it's the same way that we want to give up zero explosive plays every game. We want to give up zero turnovers. I don't know how realistic giving up zero explosives is in this day and age,” Smart said. “I don't know how realistic 100 percent on third-and-one and fourth-and-one is, either. We obviously have not attained that goal. We look at things from a standpoint of efficiency.

“We've done a lot of off-season work on it, and we look in the season at every team in the country that's converting those. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what other people are doing, what you're doing, it's what you're able to execute and what your players can handle. Our guys have done a good job in a lot of situations, and the ones that stick out are the ones that stuck out last week that we didn't convert."

Smart said starting cornerback Tyson Campbell (turf toe) is improving, although the fact he still hasn’t had any contact sounds like the sophomore will remain questionable for Saturday’s game against South Carolina.

“Tyson is running really well. He hit some really good numbers on the GPS today. As the practice went on, he got better and better and better,” Smart said. “I don’t know. He still has not had contact, and the pressure you need from getting some contact out there.”

Smart was much more precise when asked about nose Jordan Davis, who came out on Georgia’s second defensive snap at Tennessee with a sprained ankle.

“We think Jordan is going to be fine. He was able to run and move around, and do some things,” Smart said. “He continues to improve. If he continues at the rate, he’ll be fine, he’s ahead where Solly (Solomon Kindley) and Isaiah (Wilson) were each one of their weeks that they were cleared to play.

…Smart was very vague when asked about freshman defensive lineman Travon Walker, who has not been seen at practice for two days in a row. “Yeah, he was getting something worked on, I think, during indy (individual drills) or something. I'm not sure,” Smart said. …Kindley was once again at practice, but continued to rep with the second team behind Justin Shaffer.

Smart seemed to take exception to a question about freshman cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, who has continued to work behind DJ Daniel since the injury to Campbell.

A reporter phrased his question as it pertained to Campbell, who started 10 of the 13 games he played last year.

“Tyson’s situation was completely different. We didn’t have DJ Daniel here; we had a young Eric Stokes. Eric was still getting better; Eric ended up playing more than Tyson anyway, but it was a different situation,” Smart said. “Tyrique Stevenson is growing up, he’s working hard, he’s starting on a couple of special teams, and he’s making some spectacular plays at times.

“But he’s still learning our defense and understanding what he’s got to do for leverage. He’s just as talented as when he came out of high school, but sometimes I don’t believe you guys actually believe there’s curve, a learning curve that he has to go through.”

● Smart on how much offensive coordinators script plays:

"It just depends, each coordinator is different. Some guys script the first half and second half, some guys script two minutes. I think everybody in America scripts the beginning of the game, but that can be changed by where you started field position-wise, and a punt backs you up, and then you’ve got come out of script,” Smart said. “First play is inside the red area, because your defense got a turnover, you’re not going to be on that same script. Pretty much everybody has one, and everybody follows one, and every coach I’ve ever been with has one.”

● On finding the correct balance in practice:

“That’s hard. It’s just a balance of how hot is it, how tired are you, how many reps did they take last weekend, how many reps did they take yesterday. Every night I stay up and I go through the practice schedule for the next day, and I probably spend an hour going over every detail of what we want to do in practice. Do I want this guy to get scout team reps, or do I want this guy to do scout team reps?

“Do I want to get him to get 15 reps today, do we do 12 7-on-7 reps, or just eight 7-on-7 reps? It could be, ‘Hey, this team is really good on third down defense,' so we’re going to spend a little more time doing good on good on third down.

“Everything matters on the practice field, and you’ve got to take advantage of it because every rep you give them, it’s taxing, and you can only tax them so much before there’s the law of diminished returns from their legs. We look at their GPS every single night, who’s not hitting their numbers. You’ve got to do that knowing they’re going to get Friday off. and Saturday they’ve got to go play. So, that’s what the offseason is for, to make sure they can recover and come back. I still don’t think I’m comfortable figuring it out. I think it’s an evolving thing and what does each team need.”