Is it time for Georgia to move on from Stetson Bennett? | Yahoo Sports College Podcast
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Pete Thamel, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde discuss Georgia’s 41-24 loss to Alabama, and if it’s time for Georgia to move on to J.T. Daniels after Stetson Bennett’s rough second half vs. Alabama.
Video Transcript
PETE THAMEL: Here's my like, big picture takeaway from that game. Georgia needs to get away from Stetson Bennett. They need to. They need to go to JT Daniels. Because Stetson Bennett looked like he should have been starting at Furman in the second half of that game. Right?
I mean, and it's no knock on Stetson Bennett. He's been a great story, the mailman. And, you know, the kid who went to JuCo and he came back. But like, his limitations, Nick Saban swallowed him whole, at the end of the day.
And when they needed the dynamic plays from a quarterback that you need to win in college football in 2020. Like, what we're seeing Alabama do right now is essentially the archetype of what LSU did. They are just streaking past people with, you know, with an elite talent at quarterback.
And I'm going to declare it right now. Mac Jones will be a first round pick in the next NFL draft. Like, I just don't think there's any doubt. NFL teams are going to look. And he's coming from Saban.
And those receivers are going to make anybody look great. But I really think, like, to me, he has made a leap through these first four weeks that I didn't expect. One of the scouts that I spoke with from my preview mentioned that to me.
And maybe that was, like, in the back of my mind as I talk. But like, don't be surprised if with the big three, that we obviously-- we obviously know about Lawrence Fields and Trey Lance. And then Zach Wilson, I think, has made his way into that group.
But I can't see Mac Jones having this type of success and not ending up on those radars. I can't see it happening. So to go back to it, like, Diamond isn't at the quarterback position. And really, Ariel Diamond isn't. Like passing, over the top vertical passing game, is what you need to win in college football in 2020.
DAN WETZEL: Look, For Georgia, Georgia is trying to win the national title. I think anything less than winning a national title is-- I'm not going to say disappointment, but that's the goal here. To do that now, they need to beat Florida-- November 7th.
They got to win a lot of other games. [INAUDIBLE] Kentucky in a couple weeks. But they gotta beat Florida, they going to win all the other games. Which I think you can do with Stetson Bennett. Can they beat Florida with Stetson Bennett? I don't know.
They would then eventually play Alabama again in the playoff-- in the SEC title game, and have to beat them. We did not see that. And eventually, they'll have to play Clemson, probably. So you have to score 40, 50 points to win these games.
Clemson is, I don't care how good your defense is. You know, you can't keep Alabama under wraps for that long. You're not going to keep Clemson-- You're not going to win a game 21-17--
PETE THAMEL: No.
DAN WETZEL: Against Alabama or Clemson. I just don't think that's happening anymore.
PETE THAMEL: Nope.
DAN WETZEL: And so then you look and go, is Stetson Bennett a guy who is gifted enough to do that? Probably not. I mean, he just-- he did well. But there were too many. Even, there was that one scoring driving. Just over threw wide open guy no end zone.
PAT FORDE: Oh my goodness. Yeah.
DAN WETZEL: And, you know, he can't run. He's going to get hit. It's just-- I agree with you, Pete. They're missing that key element there.
Because look, Alabama, they kind of sat on the ball late. Right? I mean, they took the gate. They just killed the clock. Really, really well coached. But, Georgia is in this game, but then a sprint went down and they couldn't keep up.
PAT FORDE: Yeah.
DAN WETZEL: And that's where you go to your quarterbacks. So I hate picking on him too because--
PAT FORDE: Yeah. He's done very well for himself.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah.
PAT FORDE: I mean, he's been a starter at Georgia and done pretty well. But that's the thing, you can't take a knife to a gunfight like that. If you're trying to win a national title. And that's, I mean, boy, if you're playing Alabama now, it's a gun fight. If you're playing at Clemson, it's a gun fight.
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