Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / Tuesday July 28, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: Good morning, everybody. It is Tuesday, July twenty eighth. I'm your host, Greg Miller, and this is the latest edition of Beliefs, Ballots, and Bulldogs. Yesterday we ⁓ we we started our football discussion with kind of the big picture question of is Georgia still the standard or are we still the measuring stick in college football, so to speak? And I can tell you, someone who's been ⁓ preaching the gospel and and putting Bible messages out here for the last couple of months, throw a little college football on your on your TikTok and you get a lot more engagement. I got all kind of people engaging on the on the football topic telling me that Georgia may not even be a top five team this year. We'll see about that. ⁓ let's get into a little bit more specific. Today we talked about kind of the big picture, but but today I want to talk more specifically ⁓ about the offense. We we've we've got to become a little more explosive. And I think any of us as Georgia fans recognize that. And I'm not saying we we obviously don't need to turn into some cute, gimmicky style offense that throws it around the field sixty times a game. That's That's not Georgia football. That's not Kirby Smart. That's not who we are or who we're ever gonna be. We don't need to become Oregon. We don't need to become, you know, Joe Burrow in the 2019 LSU Tigers. We don't need to abandon our brand of football and abandon physical football just because college football landscape has changed. But we do need to be honest. We we do need to have an offense that scares people again. We need an offense that that doesn't just stay on schedule and march down the field. We need an offense that can flip the field. We need an offense that that can hit that big shot play ⁓ to really change momentum or gain momentum. We need we need an offense that can can turn a second and seven into an immediate touchdown in instead of a seven-minute field goal drive. You know, championship Georgia football back in the day, it doesn't just move the change. It it literally breaks your will. And and that's the difference. There's there's nothing wrong with with being efficient. There's nothing wrong with leaning on the defense and grinding it out. There's nothing wrong with being physical. There's nothing wrong with with trying to to play the Kirby smart brand of football and just control the game. Let's be honest, that has that has been a ⁓ a winning formula in Athens, Georgia over the last decade or so. But when we're talking about winning at the highest level, when we're talking about winning SEC championships, playoff games, and hopefully the national title, at some point you have to have some explosive plays. You have to be able to make safeties nervous. You have to be able to make defensive coordinators think twice before they load the box. You gotta have somebody you can rely on on the outside or in the slot or hopefully one of our tight ends will step up. Or you somebody who can who can turn a simple play into a game-changing moment. ⁓ last year for us, that was that was Zachariah Branch in the slot. We don't have him anymore. Somebody's gonna have to step up. And I think that's that's the question for Georgia this year is do we have enough guys who can who can make the game-changing play? And look, Gunnar Stockton is not gonna have to be superman. I and I think that's really important. The surrounding cast on this offensive team, he has got a deep backfield, deep weapons, unproven weapons at wide receiver, but the talent is there. And let me tell you that the tight end room is loaded. I I wouldn't trade our tight end room or our running back room for just about anybody in the country. ⁓ you may have some some running backs that are better than than our top guy, but ain't nobody deeper. You might have some tight ends better than our top guy. But a nobody deeper. So we don't need Gunner to to be some kind of hero ball quarterback turn into Johnny Manzell or Cam Newton, you know, where every snap turns into backyard football. We need him to be who he is. We need him to be tough. We need him to be steady. We need him to be accurate and smart with the football. But beyond that, this year we really need him to be aggressive when the opportunity is there. And that's the part that matters this year. Aggressive when the opportunity is there, because there's a difference between being reckless and being dangerous. Obviously a Kirby Smirk, Kirby Smart coach quarterback, is we we don't want reckless. That's that's not who we are. We don't need him to force throws. We don't need him to make turnovers, and we certainly don't need panic. But we do need him to be dangerous. We need to we need to see the ball push downfield a little bit more this year. We need to see wide receivers win some one-on-one matchups. We need to see the tight ends absolutely punish and take advantage of the mismatches they're gonna create. We need to see the running backs hit hit the creases and make some people miss and break off some big runs and some big plays. We need to see Georgia, the Georgia team that makes a defense pay when they guess wrong. Too many times in the last couple of years, you know, we've we've watched Georgia and and we've had better players. We we control large parts of the game and and we just seem to let teams, inferior teams in a lot of cases, hang around because we we didn't land that knockout punch when we had the chance. And that can get pretty frustrating. You know it, I know it. Every dog fan watching knows it where we we know we're the better team and we just can't put our foot on their throat and end it. And there's games where I find myself sitting there thinking, God, you know, we are we are better than this team. Why is this why is this still a one-score game? Why is this still even close? And that's where that's where those explosive plays matter. That's that's where it really makes a difference. Because explosive plays don't just put points on the board in a hurry. They they create momentum. Explosive plays, especially in college football atmosphere, can can completely change the emotional temperature of a game. It's a 12 play, demoralizing, you know, grinded out kind of kind of drive is is awesome. I look, there's nothing better than than watching Kirby go on that that fourth quarter death march where everybody in the stadium knows we're gonna run the football and we're just gonna run the football for four or five yards a clip until we run the clock out. That's who we are. That's Georgia football. But a 55-yard touchdown run or 75-yard touchdown throw, that that changes the the entire attitude of everyone in the building. It it makes the other sideline tighten up. It makes that defensive coordinator throw out half his call sheet. It it makes the crowd feel like, okay, here we go. This is what we came to see. And that's what we want to see this year from this Georgia offense. We we know who we are, and we're not trying to change that, but we just need a few more explosive plays. We just need a few more a few more guys to step up and and and be that threat to take it to the house at at any point. And listen, I'm not ⁓ let me re Preface this. I I am not I don't want us to lose our identity. I I want us to continue to play Georgia football. I just want to add a little teeth to it. I wanna I wanna be physical. I wanna dominate the line of scrimmage. I wanna be able to run the ball a hundred times a game if we if we need to. But I also want to be explosive because I know we've got the talent to do it. I want to be smart, but also wanna be aggressive on offense. And look, I I know Bobo's haters are gonna hate this. And and look. He he's gonna be under the microscope like he always is. And that that's just a reality when you when you're at a an offensive coordinator position playing big boy football at a high level. And that comes with the job. When you when you call plays in Athens, Georgia, especially with the recruiting we have and the talent we have, ⁓ people are just gonna judge the product, and every play that doesn't work is is gonna have people criticize him. And look, I don't think fans are crazy for ⁓ you know, for for being that way. We're we are a loyal and passionate bunch, you know. None of us. I don't think there's any fan out there that that expects Mike Bobo to go out there and completely change his identity. We're we're not we're not asking him to become some air raid circus show. We're we're we're just asking for a little bit of rhythm. We're asking for a little bit of creativity. You know, we're we're asking for for every now and then for Mike to just have the right play, just to have that play that that's the answer for what the defense is doing. We're asking for an offense that that doesn't feel like it has to fight uphill for every single first down and Frankly, the last couple of years, sometimes it has just felt like that. It is even knowing we're the better team and even knowing we're gonna win the game, it has just felt like a struggle and like a grind. And we're just asking for some explosive moments when they're there. And I and I think that's a fair request. Look, the the defense is gonna be good. This defense has the potential to be elite. Look at it. It's Georgia, it's Kirby Smart. We we know we've got the dudes. We know he can coach them up. The defense is gonna be what you expect it to be. The offensive line should be pretty physical. You know, the the backs are are solid. Frazier, Bowens, I I hate the Dowdell injury, but but Peanut and Phillips and and Jay Lamar, ⁓ Bo Walker, the the running back room is absolutely loaded. The tight end room should be should create mismatches all over the place. We got three or four tight ends that that should be should be an absolute mismatch nightmare for other teams. And And frankly, Gunner should be better this year. He we know he's gonna do the work. We know he's gonna be prepared. But we I I expect Gunner to take a pretty big leap in his productivity and his comfort level in in the pocket in in in year two as a starter. But somebody on this team, somebody on this offense has got to be the guy that that keeps opposed ⁓ opposing defensive coordinators up at night. Somebody's got to become a problem. It it might be a wide receiver that that takes the next step. It might be You know, Talon Taylor who's drawing all kinds of raids. It might be a true freshman like Caden Prothrow, who's who's a mismatch nightmare. It may be a big tight end like Elias Williams or or it may be Ethan Barbora. Who knows? Somebody's gonna become that guy this year. I just have a feeling. And you know, maybe, maybe it's one of the running backs breaks out and maybe Nate Fraser shows a little more home run hitting ability. Or maybe this year, maybe maybe it's Gunner just, you know, taking it upon himself to to extend plays and and punishing defenses with his legs when the opportunities are there. And And then again, it hitting the big throws when when the defense misses a coverage. We've got to have somebody where the defensive coordinators are are gonna gonna look at the film and go, we can't let this guy beat us, because that's that's what's gonna make us different. That's what's gonna make us not just one of the elite teams, but but potentially one of the teams that's still standing at the end of the year. When when Georgia football combines, you know, that physicality and that aggressive and that just relentless nature. With an explosive offense. That's when that's when other teams get get lowery. That's when we become a terrifying team to match up with. That that's when those those four yard runs in the first quarter become eight yard runs in the fourth, when the defense is just tired, worn out, and sick of tackling guys. That's when the play action starts to work and and those linebackers and safeties sneak up and bite, and then you can go over the top. You know, it that's when the safeties creep up and and suddenly somebody running wide open behind them. And that's that's when Georgia looks like Georgia. So As we get closer to the season, and and and I'm not asking whether or not we'll be good or whether or not we'll be talented. I I know we will. I'm not asking whether or not we'll even be tough. Kirby's not going to have a team that's not tough. We we should be tough and and and relentless and physical. Kirby will have this team prepared. It's it's who he is, it's what he does. He will have this team prepared. The the real question this year is can this offense become just explosive enough to match the the championship standard and and that defense. Because if the answer is yes, then then I don't think we're just talking about making a run. I I think, you know, we're we are reminding the rest of the college football world of who we are and we're just going to be that team that nobody wants to see on the schedule. Physical enough to beat you up if we need to, disciplined enough to avoid beating ourselves, and explosive enough to make you pay the second you fall asleep. That's that's the version of Georgia football I want to see this year. Nothing Nothing cute, not flashy just for the sake of being flashy. Just just a team that's that's gonna continue to to to retain its identity and grind it out and be a physical team. But a team that's dangerous enough to scare you, a team that's gonna hit some of those 40, 50 plus yard plays, because w when we're physical and explosive at the same time, then then the rest of the college football world is gonna have a problem. Go Dogs. All right, guys, as we get into the ⁓ the more serious message for the day, it's it's something that that we touch on on a lot here. It has to do with facts, truth, and reality. I I'm not sure when it happened. I don't think we can we can point our finger at an exact moment, but somewhere along the way, reality has become something that that people think they can negotiate with. And ⁓ think about that for a second. We we've started to believe as a society. That if something makes us uncomfortable, or if something hurts our feelings, or maybe if something challenges the the way we already believe, well then maybe it's just not true. We've we've reached a point where emotions and feelings often carry more weight than than evidence, and where opinions and feelings sometimes outweigh facts. You know, we we look at the way somebody speaks, and and somebody speaking with confidence. mistakes that mistakingly leads us to believe that just because they're confident they're correct. And and here's what I've I've come to to believe. And it's reality doesn't care how I feel. Facts will never stop being facts just because they offend me or bother me. And frankly, the truth never requires my permission to be true. Now, before anybody gets defensive and and I'm not talking about those people, I'm I'm talking about me. I'm talking about all of us because every one of us has had moments where ⁓ something emotional or our feelings tried to convince us to to believe in something that that our head knows simply isn't the truth. We've all been there. And let's let's be clear about something now. God gave us emotions and feelings for for a reason. They're they're part of being human. Joy, fear, anger, excitement, grief, love, all of those are are real and they're powerful and they matter. But just because a feeling is real doesn't mean that that feeling is telling us the truth. I I've felt like giving up when I shouldn't have. I felt like I I wasn't good enough when God has said otherwise. I had felt very afraid when there was absolutely nothing to fear. I felt anger when I should have felt humility. Feelings are are are wonderful servants, but they're terrible masters. Let's let's see what what God has to say about this. And and You don't have to take my word for it. We're we're always going to go to the Bible for for the truth. In the in the words of John in chapter eight, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. We've all heard this voice, this verse, but notice notice what Jesus doesn't say here. Jesus doesn't say your feelings will set you free. He doesn't say your opinions will set you free. And he certainly didn't say your version of the truth will set you free. He said the truth. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. The truth. Now, if let's listen to what the the prophet Jeremiah writes in chapter 17, Jeremiah 17, verses 9 and 10. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve. It almost sounds somewhat offensive in in today's world because you know we we are constantly told from the from the time we're little to you know to to follow your heart, trust your instincts, be true to yourself, and and all of that sounds wonderfully ⁓ inspiring and and connecting, but. But scripture offers a different warning, and it's it's not because God hates our emotions, it's it's just because he knows us better than we know ourselves. Jeremiah isn't say that saying here that we never have good desires. We all know that we do. He's just saying that that our hearts are capable of convincing us sometimes that the wrong thing is the right thing. That's that's He can I our hearts can convince us sometimes that that selfishness is is wisdom, that what we're doing for a self-loving nature is is actually the right thing for something else. It can convince us sometimes that that seeking revenge is actually justice. It certainly can convince us that that temporary pleasure is is the same or is equal to lasting fulfillment. Have you have you ever been absolutely locked down 100%? percent convinced that you were right about something. Only to look back years later and kind of wondered, man, what could I possibly have been thinking there? I know for a fact I have that. And when I was 17, 18 years old, I was the smartest man on the planet and I have only gotten dumber since. I know very little now compared to what I knew then. And I think that's the the point Jeremiah is trying to make here is, you know, our our hearts are incredible at making convincing arguments for the things that we already want. They can justify almost anything if if we allow them to do so. And I think that's why God calls us to never let our hearts be our compass. He calls us to let his word be our compass and to always override the feelings of the heart. A compass doesn't move when a traveler gets lost. God's truth doesn't change because our emotions change. It doesn't shift because the culture shifts. It doesn't evolve because public opinion evolves. If my heart disagrees with God's word, it's not God's word that needs to be corrected. It's my heart that needs to be transformed. And and that's the that's the beautiful part of all this. God doesn't expose the condition of our hearts to condemn us. He he exposes it so he can heal it. And that and that's why Jeremiah's warning here isn't hopeless. It's an it's an actual open invitation. It's an invitation to to stop trusting ourselves and stop trusting our feelings as the final authority. And start trusting the one who created us and knows what we're called to do. If you think about this in in in everyday life, you know, reality versus feelings. If I feel like I'm driving 45 miles an hour, but the speedometer says 82, reality wins. If I get pulled over, I'm getting a ticket. If I feel like I can spend money that I don't have, my bank account will tell me the truth and it matters. If I feel healthy, but I ignore some some serious symptoms physically, my body's not just gonna fix itself and adjust to match my opinion because I feel okay. Reality simply is what it is. Gravity doesn't negotiate, time doesn't negotiate, and truth doesn't negotiate. So so why have we convinced ourselves that that the moral truth should should be negotiable? I think is it's we've just become so in tune and so overly emotional that we've we've started treating emotions like they're some sort of authority. Instead of asking, you know, is this true? We ask ourselves, how does it make me feel? Instead of asking, you know, what do the facts say? We ask ourselves, who who does this benefit? Who's this good for? And more importantly, instead of asking, what does God say? We ask ourselves, what do I want God to say? And and that's two very different questions, and and they produce very, very different lives. The hardest sentence in the English language for most people might just be: I was wrong. Pride hates that sentence and fights that sentence with all it can, but humility will embrace that sentence. Humility understands something that pride never will. Reality isn't changed by denying it. Reality is discovered by submitting to it. Every major breakthrough in our lives begins with one honest admission. I need help. I made a mistake. I was wrong. I need you to forgive me. Those aren't signs of weakness. That's that's the doorway to growth. It ain't comfortable, but you gotta walk through it. The gospel itself begins with with a reality that that none of us should enjoy hearing. I am a sinner. Not because I feel like one, not because somebody called me one. Believe me, I get called one all the time. But because God's perfect standard reveals the simple fact and the truth that I fall short. And that's uncomfortable. But here's the beautiful part: the the same truth that assures me that I am a broken sinner also tells me that I have a savior who loves me. Jesus never watered down the truth to make anyone feel comfortable, but he also never used the truth to converse to crush people and harm them. He spoke the truth to people. Because he loved them. And then when he went to the cross to make a way for that truth to become our freedom instead of condemnation, that's the gospel. Truth doesn't exist to shame you, me, or any of us. The truth exists to save us. So here's here's the challenge. But before you react, pause. Before you post something or speak out of turn, pause. Before you assume that you know something, pause and ask one simple question of yourself. Not how do I feel or how does this make me feel. Ask yourself, what's true? Because feelings will change, headlines will change, politics will change, markets change, public opinion and the people around you will continue to change. God's truth never will. Reality remains, facts matter, and the truth is always true. And the God who calls himself the truth doesn't need our approval or our permission to be so. That'll do it for today, friends. As always, get in your Bibles, say your prayers, love one another, and God bless.