Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / Wednesday July 29, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: Hey, good morning, everybody. It is Wednesday, July 29th. I'm your host, Greg Miller, and this is the latest episode of Beliefs, Ballots, and Bulldogs. ⁓ today we're gonna ⁓ dog fans, we're gonna we're gonna touch the third rail. We ⁓ we're gonna discuss one, Mike Bobo. If if there's any one topic that can can get Georgia fans arguing in in July and August, it's it's the Georgia offense, in particular our ⁓ our offensive coordinator, the man calling the plays. Former quarterback at the University of Georgia, Mike Bobo. Kir Kirby has continued to back Bobo. He's he's made it clear that he believes that that we've got the right guy calling the plays and and in the coordinator booth. And obviously that's that's all that really matters. Kirby's Kirby's not some clueless CEO sitting in the sitting in the office disconnected from the football field. Kirby knows football, Kirby knows winning football, Kirby knows what championship football looks like. And Kirby knows what the standard at the University of Georgia is. Kirby knows what this roster is capable of and what the expectation will be this year. So when when Kirby continues to bat Bobo, I think we have to we have to at least acknowledge that. And look, I I'm partial, I'm emotional, I get it as a fan. There are certain Saturdays, there are moments during games where you almost feel like you as a fan care more than the players and coaches. You don't, trust me. ⁓ they they live and breathe for this. They they bleed, blood, sweat, and tears during practices all year long. These guys are getting after it. Nobody wants to win more than Kirby Smart. And if Kirby Smart trusts Mike Bobo to get the job done, to some degree we should all tip our cap and go, okay, coach, we trust you if you trust him. ⁓ but the other side of that is is is this that we're we're we're not crazy. We're not totally irrational for for wanting more production and and wanting wanting more from the offense. And that's where I think that's where the conversation gets interesting because look, Mike Mike Bobo is one of us. Georgia fans don't hate Mike Bobo. I I think what we hate is watching what we believe to be elite talent struggle sometime to to land those knockout punches or look the way we think we should look. That's that's the difference. This is it's not a personal attack on Mike or at least it shouldn't be. Look, Bobo knows football. No nobody with any sense would pretend he He doesn't. You you wouldn't have hung around as long and and had the career he's had if he didn't know football. He played quarterback at Georgia. He's coached in the SEC. He knows and understands this program. He knows Kirby. He understands the the identity and the type of ball that Kirby wants to play. And and and to some degree, I think that is that is part of of what he's trying to mesh his identity with. And let me clearly say this. Look look Play calling is the easiest thing in the world to criticize from your couch on Saturdays because none of us really know what the concepts are, what the plays even call, what the routes are, what the first reads are. We know very little about what they're even trying to execute. We just get to see whether it works or not. Every incomplete pass looks like a bad call. Every time you run into a loaded box, you look like a stupid idiot after it gains two yards. You know, and then every third and long failure turns into, you know. We're all throwing our hands up in the air going, what what are we doing? Are we even trying here? You know, but this is this is real football. This isn't this isn't madden on the PlayStation. Sometimes the call is okay. Sometimes the call may even be brilliant, but but the execution is bad. Sometimes the the quarterback may miss the read. Sometimes the receiver doesn't win the one on one he's supposed to win. Sometimes the protection breaks down or a guy gets beat. Sometimes the defense just makes a play and you got to tip your cap. So I I'm not I'm not sitting here pretending that that every offensive issue isn't automatically Mike Bobo's fault. That I mean that would be lazy. Look, he's got to be better, he's got to do better. But also I don't think as as Georgia fans that that we're wrong to ask some hard questions. Th this is Georgia. We have high expectations. We're I remember the days fifteen, twenty years ago and look, I I love Coach Mark Rick as as he As a representative, as an ambassador, and as a man at the University of Georgia. But during the Rick's tenure, my my mentality was: hey, we're going to win nine, maybe ten games in a good year, gonna have a lot of fun Saturdays. And it's a good, it's it's a good gig being a Georgia fan. We'll never win big, we'll never, we'll never go indefeated, we'll never win championships, but we're gonna win eight, nine, maybe ten games a year. That's no longer the goal. That's we're not trying to to win eight or nine games and make a good bowl. We're not trying to be respectable. We're not trying to be a pretty good offensive football team. We are trying to win championships. We're we're trying to collect trophies. ⁓ and and that mentality changes the standard and changes the expectation. So the question is not whether Mike Bobo can can coordinate a good offense. we know that Georgia can be good on offense. Georgia can win games with their offense. We can line up with with better players than than most of the teams that we're gonna be see on the schedule. and and just physically overwhelm people on offense. The the the question is is bigger than that. It's it's will the offense be dangerous dangerous enough to win the big games? When we get into games where where the other sideline has has dudes on their roster too, when we're when we're playing Alabama or Texas or we get down to Ohio State or Oregon or whoever shows up in the playoffs. That's when we need to know can can our offense go toe to toe and go win those games when we need them to? Can we hit the explosive plays? Can we punish the the aggressive defenses. Can we adjust if the if the initial game plan isn't working? Can we make somebody pay for loading the box against us? Can we can we score touchdowns and finish drives instead of settling for for field goals? Can we stop letting teams hang around when we have all the momentum and we have a better roster and we have the opportunities to land that knockout blow. That those are the moments where the frustration comes from. It's not that i I said it yesterday, it's not that Georgia fans want to Want to trade our identity and become some cute air raid circus. No, we we don't want that. We don't want to throw the ball around 50, 60 times a game just because it looks like modern football and that's what everybody else is doing. I I don't I don't want us to get soft. I I want Georgia to still be Georgia. Physical, tough, disciplined, just nasty up front, built in the trenches. But I also want us to have have answers when needed on offense. I want us, I want that offense to have some teeth. I want us to be able to line up and run it down your throat, but then the second you try to bring the safeties down or start creeping up a little bit, I want to be able to hit that big shot over your head. I I want the defense to feel helpless. I want them to feel stressed out like nothing they can do will work. I want coordinators on the other sideline to know that they they can't just sit on the tendencies from Bobo and and wait for us to grind our way down the field. Championship Georgia football shouldn't feel like we have to fight uphill for every single yard. I think that's the that's the part that bothers fan. It's that visual of it just looks ugly sometimes. We we've we've watched games where Georgia's clearly the better team, but but the offense just lets other teams hang around and and stay alive emotionally. And and then when that happens, you know, people look at the play caller. We we we look at Bobo for not putting points on the board. And, you know, fair or not, that's that's the job. That's that's the role he signed up for. And Look, if you call plays at Georgia, especially under Kirby Smart's leadership, especially with the talent we have and the expectations we have, you're going to be judged against some pretty high championship standards. You're not going to be judged against decent standards or or the league average. You're not the well, we we still won by 14 standard. You're going to be judged by the championship standard. Are are we dominating the the execution in all phases of the game? And that means offense too. The the championship standard says this. At some point, the offense has to help the defense. At some point, the offense has to be the team that the part of the team that flips the momentum for us. At some point, the offense has to go win a game and instead of just hoping the defense can can keep bailing water. And and frankly, that's that's I think how we have felt at times, where where we just feel like the the the defense is the one that's grinding out and pulling out the wins. And That's that's why this Mike Bobo debate's not gonna not gonna go away, because there are there are two things that can both be true. Mike Bobo can be a very good football coach, and Georgia fans can still be right to wonder if if something's missing or if maybe there's there's another gear that this offense needs. Both of those ideas can can live and exist in the same room and in the same body. But Kirby can trust him, but as fans, we can we can still say, Hey, Shovy, prove it to me. And that's I think that's where I am rolling into this year. I'm I'm I'm far from anti-Bobo. I'm a Mike Bobo fan. I'm just anti-boring. I'm anti-predictable. I'm anti-wasted talent on offense. And I'm anti-letting teams hang around when we should be, you know, winning by you know 20 or 30 points. I'm anti-driving the ball 70 plus yards to settle for field goals. And and I'm anti-looking like we're trying just so hard not to mess up. And instead of playing to rip somebody's head off. And I think that's that's what summarizes the way a lot of dog fans feel ⁓ the you know, the last couple of years. And we don't we don't need fireworks for the sake of fireworks. We need purpose. We we need we need logical and rational aggression. We need explosive plays. We we need red zone answers when we get down there. We need we need Mike to to tailor an offense around what we've got with Gunnar Stockton and and not an offense that asks Gunnar Stockton to to be somebody he's not. Mike Bobo needs to needs to make his make life easier on the quarterback with with the play calls, with the rhythm, with the design and the the run game and the protections and all the things, all the nuances of offensive play calling, Mike Bobo needs to needs to nail it this year because if if he relies solely on Gunner to to be Superman, then that's at some point that's gonna blow up in our face. That's that's desperation. But if if Bobo can can build this thing around around the the identity of Georgia football, around being physical, around smart quarterback play with a few explosive shots mixed in here and there, and and just enough creativity to keep the defensive honest, then then I'll say it right now. I will I will sit down, I will shut up and and I'll just enjoy the ride. I I don't care who gets the credit. I don't care if the play caller is Mike Bobo, Todd Munkin, Mike Leach's ghost or somebody drawing plays in the dirt behind the hedges. I don't care. I just want the offense to look like it belongs on the national title stage. That's it. That's the standard, and that's the standard that we've set. We know Kirby's going to have the defense ready. We know George is always going to recruit. We know we're going to have our physicality and our toughness. We know that, you know, when the season ends, we are going to be in the conversation. But if we want to get back to the absolute very top, the offense has to be part of the answer. The offense has to be part of the success. You know, so is is Mike Bobo the problem? Maybe not. Probably not. Is he the scapegoat? In most cases he is. But i is he the man that's responsible for for making sure that this Georgia offense has enough punch to win the big games against against the other top level teams. Yeah, that's his job. Absolutely. And that's why I think this this season is such a big season. That's why this season matters so much. It's i if this offense is is physical. and efficient but but also aggressive and explosive, I think the dog fans this year will rally behind this team really fast. It's it's a good group of guys. But if we get in that same rut where where things feel predictable and and conservative and we feel like we're playing not to lose and just stuck in the mud, that that chatter and that noise is going to get real loud on on Mike Bobo's end again. And that's that's not hate. That's just that's the Georgia standard talk and that's the expectations that that we've set. So We're not asking for cute. We're certainly not asking for reckless and crazy. We're just asking for something that's a little bit more dangerous. And look, if if Mike Bobo can can give us a little bit more dangerous of an offense, then I think we've got a real shot this year to to make the rest of the college football world just a little bit uncomfortable again and to get to the point where they just don't want to see us on the schedule anymore. Go Dogs, let's get this season rolling. All right, we roll into the the more powerful message of the day. Have have and I know we've all done this, but have you ever actually wondered if if what you're doing actually matters? You know, in in the big s the grand scheme, the big picture. You you go to work, you pay the bills, you raise your kids, you you try to show up at church regularly, you try to take care of your family. And you know, most of us we we're trying to do the right thing. And then we wake up and do it all over again tomorrow and then the next day. And Frankly, I think sometimes if if we're honest, maybe maybe it all just starts to feel a a little ordinary. Maybe it's just starts to feel like like our life isn't making much of a difference. Our our culture has taught us ⁓ something that thinks it's a little dangerous here, and that's it's almost like we've been taught that if if thousands of people don't see it, then it must not matter. If if it if it doesn't go viral and get attention, then then it doesn't really have any value. If if your name isn't known by people, then then therefore your life must not be significant. But what if what if heasure heaven measures success completely differently? And and I think it does. What if God never asks us to be famous? He only asks us to be faithful. And and that's the reality. We're we're not asked to be popular or famous or powerful. We're just asked to be faithful and obedient. Let's look, let's look and see what God has to say for it. It's Well one of my favorite stories, and this is this is not a well known story, it's about it's actually about somebody that most people and most of you listening, all four of you, probably have never even heard of or don't remember if you have. His name was Shamah. Chapter ⁓ Second Samuel chapter twenty-three, this is one of David's men. Next to him was Shama, son of Ajae the Herodite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel's troops fled from them. But Shama took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory. You catch the ⁓ the part of the story there where the ⁓ the army ran away, the the Israel army ran away, and this guy stayed. Shamah Shama stayed, and and and what was what was he staying to defend in this in this instance? It it wasn't It wasn't the palace. It wasn't even a a city. It wasn't, you know, a mountaintop that that he had secured. It was actually it was a bean field. And if you think about it in modern, you know, modern phrases today, like think of Hollywood to try to make a movie about that, they they'd have to glorify it a little bit. It it wouldn't be about a bean field. They'd probably leave that detail out because it frankly it doesn't sound big enough. It doesn't sound important enough, but it's in the Bible. God left that in. And I think that's because God wants us to know that that faithfulness is never determined by the size of the assignment. It's it's determined by the faithfulness of the servant. I I've often wondered why why that part was included and some of some of the smaller details that the that the Bible does include. And you know, why did in this case, why is it why is it referred to it as a bean field and and not like a just a battlefield? Why does why was it tell us it was full of lentils? I I think it's I I think that's somehow God trying to get through to us because he he knows how we think and we assume that that significance requires standing on on the biggest stage. And I think this is God's way of telling us that sometimes the the significance can begin in a very small, insignificant place. Shama wasn't protecting the beans, he was protecting what God had entrusted to him. I think that's the lesson. It's not God isn't asking you to defend someone else's field. He's asking you to be faithful in yours. For some of us, you know, may maybe the bean field in in your life is is your marriage. Nobody applauds you for being faithful every day. For others, it's it's just raising children who love Jesus. For some of you, it's it's caring for aging parents. For some of us, it's just showing up to work with a with a sense of integrity when when taking shortcuts would be easier. For some it's it's teaching a Sunday school class with with six people in it. For some of us, it's doing a podcast every day that nobody listens to. It's quietly encouraging somebody who who may desperately need hope. And you know, the the world will say, hey, that's that's not very impressive. It didn't have a big impact, nobody even knows about it. But heaven says and God says, I see it, I love it. We we measure influence by by worldly standards, by the number of followers you know. how many how many likes. You know, God measures your your influence by by your sheer faithfulness to him. We celebrate the the size and scope of the platforms and the reach. God's just celebrating the the sheer obedience. We're chasing applause and recognition. God's just gonna honor the perseverance and and the dedication. I think that's what that's what Jesus says in in Luke chapter ⁓ sixteen verses ten. Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with with much. ⁓ and and notice what he doesn't say here. He doesn't say who whoever is successful. He said whoever is faithful. And they're not always the same thing. it's it's remarkable to me. You know, Jesus, and I think sometimes people r really overlook or maybe even forget this fact. Jesus spent about 30 years of his life just living an ordinary earthly life before he began his his public ministry. 30 years just just working, learning, serving, and being faithful. And then he only spent, you know, about three years or so in the public ministry. If if the Son of God wasn't in a hurry to chase public recognition, why why would we be? Why would we think we should? Faithfulness in his case, and and will so in ours, faithfulness prepared the way for his public mission. And and maybe God's doing the same thing in us. Maybe, maybe your time just hasn't come. Maybe, maybe the little things God is entrusting you with these days is what's preparing you for that bigger stage down the road. So, you know, that's that's the question today is, you know, what's what's your bean field? What has where has God placed you that even though it may seem sort of trivial and ordinary, it may actually be sacred. Don't don't underestimate the the valued importance of just quiet obedience. It don't despise or resent ordinary day-to-day faithfulness and and don't believe the lie that the world tells you that if nobody notices what you're doing, that it doesn't matter. God sees everything, and the God who sees the sparrow certainly sees you. And I think one day he's gonna ask us, you know, What did you do with what I entrusted you with? He's not going to ask you how many followers did you have. He's he's going to ask you, did you stand in the bean field where I placed you? Did you protect it? Did you love the people that that I entrusted to you? Those are the questions he's going to ask us one day. Honor him in your ordinary moments, because ordinary faithfulness is always the way that God accomplishes extraordinary things. That'll do it for today. As always, guys, get in your Bibles, say your prayers, love one another, and tell the truth. God bless.