It was one of those stats that I had to check 3 different times to make sure it was right.

Before Georgia’s showdown against Tennessee and the nation’s top offense, I had a question that I’m sure plenty in the outside world had. That is, can Georgia actually win a shootout? Better yet, when was the last time they did that?

In order to find a Georgia game in which both teams scored at least 30 points, you had to go all the way back to the 2017 season. Specifically, the Rose Bowl. I expected Tennessee-Georgia to be the first instance in 5 years that UGA played in a game where both teams scored 30 points (swing and a miss on that).

In digging that stat up prior to the Tennessee game, I realized that in games that Georgia allowed 30 points under Kirby Smart, it was 1-9. In games when it allowed less than 30 points, it was 73-6.

Of course, Georgia didn’t come close to allowing 30 points against Tennessee. The Dawgs didn’t even allow their first touchdown in that game until there was 4:15 left in the 4th quarter. So I simply filed that “UGA when it allows 30 points under Smart” stat away because I figured at some point down the road, it would be put to the test.

That prediction, however, I didn’t whiff on.

In the SEC Championship against LSU, Georgia allowed exactly 30 points and won convincingly. In the Peach Bowl, the Dawgs surrendered 41 points and overcame a 2-score deficit in the 4th quarter to survive Ohio State.

Two shootouts, 2 UGA victories.

Smell ya later, 1-9. That 2-0 mark in shootouts in 2022 is the only thing that matters heading into Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship against TCU. No longer should we be asking whether Georgia can actually win a back and forth game. If this turns into a track meet on Monday night — TCU is 5-1 when it allows 30 points in 2022 — the Dawgs can win that style of game.

History suggests we could be in for that. The losing team in the College Football Playoff National Championship averaged 25 points. There’s also the fact that Georgia’s defense looked vulnerable in the past 2 games and now, it gets a challenging matchup against Heisman Trophy runner-up Max Duggan and TCU’s No. 4-ranked scoring offense.

While this 2022 squad might not be revered in the same way as the 2021 Georgia team that ended the program’s 4-decade long national title drought, it’s fair to say that this year’s group showed it could win in more ways. Are we sure that the 2021 squad would’ve been able to climb back after CJ Stroud delivered a performance for the ages? And if your response to that is “they wouldn’t have ever been in that spot,” might I remind you what Bryce Young did to Georgia’s historic defense in the 2021 SEC Championship.

There’s no way to answer that question definitively. What we can answer is why this Georgia offense has taken that next step.

Obviously, Stetson Bennett IV’s growth and ability to deliver lights out performances is a big part of that. He had a quarterback rating of 180.0 or better in 5 of Georgia’s 6 games against teams who are currently ranked in the AP Top 25. The comfort level of the 25-year-old signal-caller appears to be at an all-time high, which feels like the byproduct of being in Year 3 in Todd Monken’s offense.

Compare how much better off Georgia is in 2022 compared to 2019, which was the final year before Monken arrived:

UGA offense
2019
2020
2021
2022
Scoring/game
30.8
32.3
38.6
39.4
Pass yards/game
223
249.9
251.9
293.0
Yards/play
6.1
6.2
6.98
7.09
Scoring vs. AP finishers
20.8
25.3
28.0
43.5

For what it’s worth, if you take away the 39 non-offensive points from the 2021 totals, the scoring per game drops to 36.0 and the scoring per game vs. AP Top 25 finishers drops to 24.5 points per game. The 2022 group’s only non-offensive points of the year was the 7 points that came via Christopher Smith’s blocked field goal return against LSU in the SEC Championship. That means UGA’s 2022 offense averaged 38.9 points per game and against AP Top 25 finishers, Georgia averaged 42.3 points per game.

Yeah, UGA’s offense is roughly 18 points per game better against ranked finishers than it was last season. There’s your big difference.

Monken deserves a ton of praise for the offensive progression in 2022. Looks are more varied with tempo, Georgia can utilize 2-tight end sets more and doesn’t show its hand based on the tight ends and running backs who line up. Hence, why Georgia is on track for its highest scoring offense since 2014, which, based on scoring average, was the most prolific attack in program history at 41.3 points per game. (With 551 points, this offense has a chance to break last season’s program record of 579 in a season.)

But again, let’s take a closer look. If you take away the 56 (!) non-offensive points from that season, Georgia’s 2014 offense really averaged just 37 points per game, which was less than the 38.9 points/game adjusted total for the 2022 UGA offense. Even if we wanted to include the non-offensive points, 2014 Georgia averaged 34.8 points per game against AP Top 25 finishers, which is nearly 9 points less than this year’s group. And for the “yards/play” enthusiasts, it’s also worth noting that 2014 Georgia’s 6.79 yards per play wasn’t as good as the 2022 offense’s 7.09 yards per play.

That’s a long-winded way of saying that this is shaping up to be the best offense in Georgia history.

Never mind the fact that the Dawgs are likely going to end a 15-game season without a 1,000-yard rusher or a 1,000-yard receiver. What Georgia does have is 3 players with at least 500 receiving yards and 3 players with 500 rushing yards. It has 3 running backs who average between 5-10 carries a game and it has 3 pass-catchers who average between 3-4 catches per game.

There’s versatility for Georgia to attack TCU’s 3-3-5 depending on what’s working or not working. If TCU’s Jim Thorpe Award-winning corner Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson shuts down a healthy AD Mitchell or Arian Smith, Monken can utilize the tight ends (we’re still not sure what Darnell Washington’s availability will be). If that mediocre TCU run defense is surrendering chunk plays, Georgia can turn to a combination of Daijun Edwards and Kenny McIntosh, who sort of epitomized the versatility of UGA’s 2022 offense.

McIntosh is Georgia’s leader with 1,285 scrimmage yards (779 rushing, 506 receiving) and 12 touchdowns. He easily has PFF’s best receiving grade for an FBS running back (87.8 and the next closest is 83.7), and he’s 2nd in receiving among Power 5 backs. We saw McIntosh’s versatility in the Peach Bowl when he took a screen play to the house for a 25-yard score, and he would’ve had a 62-yard touchdown run, but he tripped himself at the Ohio State 10-yard line.

You win shootouts when you have versatility. Georgia has that in 2022.

That’s a big reason UGA has more wins in games surrendering 30 points in the past 2 contests that it had in the previous 93 under Smart.

Call it offensive evolution, call it schematic progression, call it whatever.

I’d call it a monumental factor in determining whether Georgia becomes the first team in a decade to repeat.