Georgia football’s Smart play for Jim Chaney

The Tennessee Volunteers went deep with 4.8 million dollars to beat Georgia football for Jim Chaney. The Smart play was the victory formation.

Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney is off to Tennessee. The reason likely boils down to this – Smart and Chaney were just tired of each other.

Lured to Knoxville by Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt for a shade under a king’s ransom. Chaney leaves Georgia football as he came – widely regarded as one of the finest offensive minds in the country. But while Georgia won 76 percent of its games with Chaney drawing up and calling the plays, there was a reason Kirby Smart went into the victory formation when Jim Chaney received a 4.8 million dollar Tennessee offer.

There was also a reason Chaney gave up the reins on what will easily be one of the top five offenses in the country the next several years.

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Play calling funny business

For three years, key play calls by Jim Chaney seemed to serve an agenda other than offensive production. The disastrous 2016 fourth quarter fourth down run off tackle by Isaiah McKenzie, with Nick Chubb blocking, against Vanderbilt comes to mind.

Also coming to mind is the pair of near disastrous Terry Godwin end around passes to Jacob Eason against Auburn during the same season, plays which appeared nearly cut the starting quarterback in half and  resulted in an interception. In 2016, Georgia football fans also watched flop after flop out of the wildcat formation.

Great talent makes great coaches

In 2017, having the best college running back duo ever mitigated the poor play decisions. That running back duo’s greatness also invites the question – why, with the engraver poised to etch University of Georgia on the National Championship trophy, Sony Michel and Nick Chubb sat on the bench with Georgia possessing the ball and needing only half the field for a winning field goal try by Rodrigo Blankenship.

Georgia football quarterback strategy

On the flip side, Chaney was likely unhappy having a co-offensive coordinator assigned to his staff for the 2018 season. Chaney’s re-assignment from coaching quarterbacks to coaching tight ends also likely irritated as it coincided with the arrival of Georgia football’s most prized recruit of the century, quarterback Justin Fields.

Despite the positive attitude and comments by the players, it’s apparent that the offense in general, and the quarterback play in particular, did not benefit from the 2018 quarterback strategy. There were a lot of chefs in the offensive kitchen, and that appeared problematic for Justin Fields and his on field deployments.  Who to blame is a meaningless game of speculation, but Fields left the team, and it’s no surprise a coach left also.

Probably taken all together, the trust required between head coach – especially a defensive minded one – and offensive coordinator eroded. The head coach stayed and the offensive coordinator left. Such is the way of the world, and Jim Chaney is no poorer for it.