Georgia players refer to their Monday practices as “going to the doctor.” It means they review how they played in their previous game and diagnose what they could improve upon
But before cornerback Julian Humphrey could do that, he had to go to the dentist on Sunday after he chipped a tooth in Georgia’s 13-12 win.
“Kirby told us that before coming into the game they’re a tough team, you see, I chipped my veneer on that first tackle,” Humphrey said after the game. “We just came out and we stayed composed.”
That tackle proved huge for Georgia, as Humphrey was the last line of defense on the play. It was an impressive open-field tackle for the redshirt sophomore, who has always been known more for his speed than his physicality.
Humphrey came up huge for Georgia, even while playing through pain. He had a key pass breakup in the win while playing a season-high 78 snaps for Georgia. He and Daylen Everette were the only two cornerbacks to play for Georgia on Saturday.
Humphrey saw an uptick in snaps after Daniel Harris was held out of the game by Kirby Smart following Harris’ arrest on Thursday night.
Even with Georgia thinner at cornerback, Kentucky still found little success throwing the ball. Quarterback Brock Vandagriff threw for just 114 yards on 26 attempts. He didn’t surpass the 100-yard mark until there were 10 seconds left in the game.
The Bulldogs did give up 12 points, a season-high. The Wildcats ran for 212 on-sack yards on Saturday, which forced Georgia’s banged-up defense to stay on the field more than it would like.
Yet time and time again, Georgia’s defense got the stops it needed.
“We stay composed,” Humphrey said. “We always, like, every time we face adversity, we always say blow by blow It doesn’t matter how many takes, blow by blow We just stay connected.”
Georgia coach Kirby Smart took the blow-by-blow mantra a step further.
“We said the first chop of the tree doesn’t chop the tree down,” Smart said. “It takes sometimes 272 ax chops, and it took every single one tonight to get the job done.”
Georgia is one of two FBS teams that has not yet given a touchdown yet this season, with Ole Miss being the other. Going back to the Florida State game at the end of the 2023 season, the Bulldogs have now gone four straight games without giving up a touchdown.
The last program to do that was Alabama, which did so back in the 2016 season.
“I mean, look, football’s hard these days. Our defense takes a lot of pride in how they play,” Smart said. “I think our defensive staff does an incredible job. They work really hard on game planning for people, and we’re going to play better and better offenses. We’ve got to get better and better, but it’s pretty hard to do.
“I mean, I don’t know if anybody in college football has been able to sustain that. It’s just hard.”
Keeping up that level of excellence will be a challenge for Georgia moving forward. The Bulldogs take on Alabama and Texas in two of the next four games. Both of those teams are ranked in the top 5 of the most recent AP Poll and each game will be played on the road.
If the Georgia defense continues to keep its foes out of the end zone, as it has done in every game this season, it’s going to give the Georgia offense an opportunity to find itself.
“I‘m proud of the way they played,” Smart said. “They bowed their neck when they had to, and we took away a lot of shots. They are a shot team and they have extremely fast wideouts, and I thought we covered the shots well.”
