Jim Chaney: Better Blocking Leads to Better 2017

[jbcarol]

Jason Butt‏Verified account @JasonHButt

"You can't look at our success and say, 'Oh, Chaney went to the RPO. The dumbass didn't do it a year ago, now he is.' I wish it were that easy. Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your article."

Los Angeles

It wasn't lost on Jim Chaney that his offense didn't produce to anyone's standard a season ago.

The Bulldogs found it problematic to run the ball against a lot of teams and didn't display much offensive consistency.

"I remember, in my disappointment, I just don't think we blocked really well the whole first year at Georgia," Chaney said. "And you say, 'What do you want to change?' People think change is putting a wideout over there and a tight end over here. Hell, I want to block better. I just wanted to block better. I sit here a year later and if you asked me, 'What's the difference from last year to this year?' We blocked better."

So while some people may think that Georgia's improvements on the offensive end had to do with implementing more run-pass option plays, Chaney said the improvement up front has made all of the difference in the world.

"You can't look at our success and say, 'Oh, Chaney went to the RPO. The dumbass didn't do it a year ago, now he is,'" Chaney said, drawing laughs. "I wish it were that easy. Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your article."

Chaney said his team has employed a "bully-bully" mentality this season, meaning that with strong blocking and a deep stable of running backs, the Bulldogs will run the ball regardless of the defensive alignment. And in 12 of Georgia's 13 games, that strategy has worked.

[jbcarol]

LOS ANGELES – The whole thing started in the offensive line room. Sam Pittman didn't realize he said "yessir" a lot. But others did. Then a Georgia staffer thought they would capitalize on it.

Why did Pittman, who was with Arkansas, make the jump to join a rookie coach?

"You saw all the success they had at Alabama. I wanted to be around a young, energetic guy," Pittman said.

Recruiting was a consideration, too.

"I knew you could recruit in Georgia," Pittman said. "At Arkansas we went to California, to Florida, to Minnesota, to Colorado, and here you can go to Atlanta. So I figured that we could eventually develop a good offensive line here at the university because a) we are the University of Georgia and b) Georgia is such a rich state in athletes that we could stay in the state and hopefully get them but get who we needed to win."

But Pittman's move left some ill feelings. Arkansas coach Bret Bielema made his bitterness clear, claiming Pittman had assured him he'd never leave so he didn't need a non-compete clause in his contract. Bielema also said he took the O-linemen to Pittman's house to make him tell them personally he was leaving for Georgia, a claim that Pittman later disputed.

Bielema replaced Pittman with Kurt Anderson...

It was also hard leaving his players at Arkansas. Hard. Terrible. Awful. Difficult. Those were the words Pittman used in successive sentences to describe leaving the players he had recruited and coached at Arkansas for three years.

"But I just felt like this was where I was supposed to be," Pittman said. "Whether I was right or wrong, I don't know, but it feels good right now."

The upshot: reuniting with Jim Chaney, his offensive coordinator at Arkansas and Tennessee and a good friend. Now that Georgia's offense has turned it around, Pittman said he is happy Chaney is getting credit.

[jbcarol]

AL.com sports‏Verified account @aldotcomSports

Georgia OC Jim Chaney gets another swing at Nick Saban with a bigger stick

Scarblog: Forget the four jobs in the last six years and a career full of rollercoaster numbers. All you need to know about Georgia's Jim Chaney as an offensive coordinator heading into his first National Championship Game is this:

Nick Saban thought about hiring him at Alabama. Lane Kiffin at Tennessee and Kirby Smart at Georgia did.

Saban and Smart are two of the sharpest defensive minds in college football. Kiffin is one of the sport's brightest offensive lights. It's hard to imagine a better seal of approval for a veteran offensive coordinator with major college and NFL experience.

An Alabama staffer from that time said Saban considered hiring Chaney after the 2013 season but chose Kiffin instead.

"We don't want to get into all that," Chaney said at Saturday's Media Day. "I'd rather not even discuss it. Thank you, though."

Come Monday night, Chaney and Saban will cross paths again, and Chaney will try to do something he's been unable to get done since arriving in the SEC in 2009. It'll be his job to dial up the right calls to beat a Saban defense.