championship game as the quarterback of the Alabama Crimson Tide. As such, it’s not all that surprising that McElroy is being critical of UGA after a demoralizing 28-10 loss to Ole Miss.
McElroy has been at ESPN since 2014, and he’s become one of the more respected analysts in college football circles. He calls it like it is, with not much Alabama bias getting in the way, so his scathing take on 7-2 Georgia after the loss does have some merit.
Speaking on the “Always College Football” podcast, the former quarterback questioned Georgia quarterback Carson Beck’s decision-making. Beck completed 20-of-31 passes against Ole Miss for just 186 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. He’s thrown nine interceptions in Georgia’s past four games, but McElroy thinks the problem goes deeper than that.
“It’d be easy to say, ‘Well, it’s just Carson Beck’s fault.’ I’m telling you, it’s not. As someone who’s watched every single offensive snap of Georgia this year, their problems extend far beyond Carson Beck. They don’t have a true No. 1 wide receiver. They lead the nation in drops. Their two best true wide receivers were kicked off the team earlier this year,” McElroy said “This group of wide receivers, they can’t separate, they can’t explode downfield. Their routes are terrible. I see on several occasions they don’t stem routes, they’re not setting up defenders. It’s just a lack of attention to detail at wide receiver. … The drops have been backbreaking.”
That’s a scathing review of the wideouts, but McElroy also went in on the running backs and offensive line.
“Trevor Etienne, he had six carries for 24 yards. Most of the game he was on the sideline because of the rib injury he suffered against Florida, so Nate Frazier had to go in. He averaged less than 4 yards a carry. I mean that’s not going to get it done,” McElroy said. “They’re mixing and matching pieces [on the offensive line], and frankly I think the offensive line is what lost them the game, as much as anything. The offensive line was just flat out not good.”
Despite all these problems, Georgia is ranked No. 12 in the nation and has a legitimate shot to stay in the College Football Playoffs race, and with a win over No. 7 Tennessee next weekend, all these sins could be forgiven. It’s not going to be easy, though, because UGA does certainly have problems this season. This isn’t the back-to-back championship squad of 2021 and 2022.
“They need to have a good, long, hard look in the mirror about how they’re attacking opposing defenses and how they’re attacking opposing quarterbacks,” McElroy said
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