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A normally dominant stat for Georgia has just enough cracks for DJ Lagway to exploit

Georgia is normally top 10 in opponent yards per passing attempt, but that is not the case in 2024

By Benjamin Henderson

Oct 19, 2024; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway (2) looks to throw against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
Oct 19, 2024; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway (2) looks to throw against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images / Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
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Entering this Saturday's contest, the great hope for Florida Football to pull off the double-digit upset of Georgia is whether or not DJ Lagway has enough magic in his arm to drag Florida's offense into the endzone. The freshman QB has given the Gators a vertical passing attack and shredded Kentucky coming into the bye week.

Coming out of the bye week, one would assume Georgia has been scheming up ways to take away Lagway's deep ball. But unlike past seasons, Georgia has been a bit more vulnerable to teams going long.

Florida Football: Crack In The Armor

During the 2020 season, Georgia was number one in the country in yards per passing attempt against, giving up just 5.5 yards per attempt. The Bulldogs were 5th in this category in 2022 and 6th in 2023.

But midway through the 2024 campaign, Georgia has been a bit more prone to getting beat deep, and the Bulldogs are only 43rd in this category this season.

The game against Alabama is a big reason why this number is inflated for Georgia. Jalen Milroe was 9/12 on passes over 10 yards in the air.

Against Texas, the Bulldogs were able to clamp down a bit better and gave up just 5/12 on passes over ten yards.

So the gambit for Billy Napier and DJ Lagway is whether or not they can exploit what Alabama did when going long. It helped that the Crimson Tide had Ryan Williams in that game, and while Florida has liked their receivers, they still haven't flashed the magic Williams showed that night.

Conventional wisdom would say that Georgia should play Cover 4 to take away the deep shot of Lagway. Kentucky trotted out Cover 3 and was shredded in the seams.

Of course, playing Cover 4 opens up the intermediate part of the field, but Napier's base offense doesn't do great to ever take advantage of that space.

Georgia historically plays a decent amount of man, and given that when Napier does go long, it is often three short routes with one guy going deep, it wouldn't be surprising for Georgia to play Cover 1 man with the safety rotating to whichever guy is going deep.

If Georgia feels like they have a good read on which guy is going to deep pre-snap, it also wouldn't be shocking to see some Cover 6 mixed in.

Either way, Florida is going to need to find ways to set up their deep shots on Saturday. Alabama showed it is possible in 2024. Even Mississippi State was 8/14 on passes over 10 yards.

If Florida can get some form of a running game going and find a couple 8-12 yard windows for Lagway to hit, it might cause just enough impatience in Georgia defense to enable some shots deep.

If Florida comes out and just starts chucking it deep from the get-go, we would be surprised if Kirby Smart doesn't have his guys pre-positioned to defend it.

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