re: Georgia would've steamrolled Michigan like a can of beer....

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2023 Georgia defense was not incredibly stout as a run defense.

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Yes and no.

UGA's run defense was pretty solid at stopping RB's. It was very weak at stopping QB's running the ball. That's why Bama was a much tougher match up than Michigan would have been.

Bama was one of the few opponents where UGA's defense had better numbers against the QB, but that was more due to sack yards than overall run defense. Bama's RB's had 3.5 yards per carry with a long of 12 yards. While Milroe ended up with 2.1 yards per carry, that was mainly caused by UGA's sacks. His long was 30.

Judkins had 3.4 YPC against UGA. For auburn their RB's averaged 3.5 while their QB's averaged 7.9.

Mizzou was really the only game where the RB really hurt UGA in the running game consistently, and their QB ran the ball well too so the threat of the QB run was still a factor.

UF and UT each had a RB with one big run but overall kept in check during the game.

While stat wise you can say "UGA was not stout against the run", the more accurate statement is "UGA was not stout against the run against teams with a QB who runs".

And Michigan didn't have a running QB.

As for Beck flourishing, while stretches might happen, the reality is against Bama he was 21/29 (72%) and threw for 8.4 yards per attempt.

His big wart from that game was the fumble that gave Bama 3 points. The bigger problem for UGA was on defense not stopping at least one of the 2 bama 4th down conversions and getting some key penalties to aid Bama drives and on special teams missing a relatively short FG attempt.

I don't think calling out Beck's performance against a team like Bama is warranted.

Where UGA would have done very well against Michigan is that they have a very good OL combined with Beck being VERY good at getting rid of the ball to avoid sacks. While Bama got some pressure against UGA, they only got 2 sacks, largely because Beck was very good at getting rid of the ball to outlets when the pass rush came.

And having that outlet be a (likely) fully healthy Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey after a month of rest can make some of those short plays into big plays.

Beck (like Nix) is great at check downs to avoid pressure. Unlike Nix, he also throws the ball downfield more when pressure isn't there. He's been inaccurate on a few of those which has irked UGA fans and there's hope from us he'll improve that next season, but he's great at avoiding sacks. He was sacked 11 times on the season, less than once per game. THe most he was sacked was 3 times (Mizzou).

None of this matters of course, it's all "what-if". I just disagree with your analysis of UGA, probably because I paid a lot more attention to them than you did. I feel like non-mobile QB's are UGA's bread and butter as a defense and UGA's pass first approach on offense combined with a stout OL and a QB who avoids sacks made Michigan a great matchup for UGA (just like it did the last time they played).