3 hours ago 1

Alabama Football 2025 vs Georgia: Previewing the Bulldog Offense

Look, it’s Georgia, and Mike Bobo is still the offensive coordinator after taking over in 2023. Bobo has a long history with Georgia fans as the guy who was the OC under Mark Richt and took a lot of flak, then his second stint saw him taking over from Todd Monken right after UGA won back to back championships - an impossible act to follow.

Despite UGA fans all seeming to hate him (slight exaggeration, but only slight), Bobo had UGA at 5th in the country in scoring in ‘23 before a fall to 38th last year, though the Dogs were riddled with injuries, to be fair. Coming into 2025, Bobo’s squad is averaging 39 points per game so far, with a rough 28 point outing against Austin Peay. On the other hand, they hung 44 points on Tennessee. Like Alabama, and like most teams, the season is still too young to know what we have in the Dogs this year.

When I first previewed Bobo back in 2023, this was my quick blurb on the offense:

Their offense is pro-style spread that’s focused mostly on inside zone runs, quick screens/swings, and short-to-mid seam throws across the middle- slants, crossers, posts. The slot receiver and TEs get a huge workload here, while the outside receivers have a diminished role outside the hashes unless they are part of a crossing concept.

There’s been some shift in the playcalling with Gunner Stockton rather than Carson Beck at QB, but it’s mostly still the same offense. The Dogs are rushing the ball at a heavy rate - well over 60% of the time - and much of the passing game is built on quick outs, comebacks, and WR screens. They REALLY love WR screens.

Stockton has been fairly effective with the gameplan, completing 70% of his passes with no interceptions, but only 4 TDs and a very weak average depth of target of 5.5 yards. They did hit a couple of bigger shot plays down the right sideline over Tennessee’s true freshman cornerback, but outside of that, the passing game has been largely a dink-and-dunk kind of thing. And again… WR screens. There are so many.

Speaking of the WRs, USC transfer Zachariah Branch seems to be taking the mantle as the lead playmaker on offense and leads the team with 181 yards out of the slot. He’s extremely speedy and major threat on the screen plays and WR handoffs. Outside of him, London Humphreys and Colbie Young return from being rotational players last year and seem to be getting a bigger share of targets. Dillon Bell also returns, but seems to be losing some of his snap share from a year ago. Bell was more of a gadget player for the Dogs last year, and Branch’s presence has cut into his role. Still, he’s a veteran with the ability to block and make defenders miss in big moments, so he’s an important guy.

The tight ends are also an important part of the offense, with Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie both returning from last year as do-it-all players.

Overall, Stockton spreads the ball around to all of these players with a wide distribution. There’s a not a big focus on any one pass catcher. If he doesn’t take the quick throw on the first read, he’ll usually scramble and look to make a 7-yard toss to someone making a scramble drill comeback to the sideline.

The run game is a typically Kirby Smart zone blocking scheme with plenty of inside zone, outside zone, and the occasional counter play. Nate Frazier is the lead back as a well rounded guy who excels at the 4.5 yard carry up the middle. That said, he’s regularly spelled by Chauncey Bowers and Dwight Phillips, who have a little more speed and wiggle to them. Then Cash Jones returns as the 3rd down pass blocking and receiving back, while Josh McCray is something of a hybrid 240-lb fullback that gets the short yardage work. It’s a big stable of backs, and UGA has no issue swapping them out on a play by play basis all game long.

And then there’s Stockton - the QB has 28 rushes for 124 yards and leads the team with 3 rushing TDs. He’s not the fastest, but he’s fast enough and does a great job of somehow always getting 2-3 more yards than he should. Bobo has no problem calling plenty of designed QB runs, especially on 3rd downs and in the redzone.

The UGA offensive line also has lacked some of their previous star power. Earnest Greene was a freshman all-american a few years ago, but has been in and out of the lineup this season with an injury. Center Drew Bobo and guard Micah Morris have been the best of the bunch, but the right guard has been extremely underwhelming with some freshmen rotating in.

This one is an interesting matchup with Alabama’s defense. The Tide secondary should hold a strong advantage over UGA’s passing game, especially with their forward-breaking zones designed to jump on the quick routes that UGA likes to run. Alabama’s DL and Georgia’s OL likely hold a stalemate of meh on the standard rushing plays. And then there’s Gunner Stockton’s rushing ability. To this point, rushing QBs have eviscerated Alabama’s defense for two seasons, but there’s very little misdirection in Stockton’s runs, which may limit the damage.

I think Alabama’s defense overall holds the talent advantage here, but I don’t trust their discipline over UGA’s, and I could see some breakdowns in the run game. I think the Dogs score somewhere in the neighborhood of 31 points.