“Elite, indeed.”
That was CBS analyst and former college coach Rick Neuheisel summing up Kirby Smart’s Georgia team at the end of the Dawgs’ hard-fought but impressive 34-10 SEC road win over a feisty Top 20 Auburn team Saturday at Pat Dye Field.
Neuheisel’s words take on added meaning after college football’s Saturday night shakeup.
Despite the 24-point margin of victory (well in excess of the 15 or so points by which No. 2-ranked Georgia was favored by the oddsmakers), this was the Dawgs’ toughest game since the defense-dominated opener against Clemson. There were several reasons for that.
For one, this was the first game Georgia had played in a completely hostile environment in a couple of years, and, for many of the young Dawgs, the first time ever. Smart saw that coming, saying at the conclusion of last week’s win over Arkansas that Auburn is “probably, in my opinion, one of the hardest places to play on the road in the SEC.”
Also, the Dawgs came into the game with at least a dozen players hurt, including their starting quarterback and the majority of the receiving corps, and had another couple of starters go out with injuries during the contest.
Another factor contributing to this game being more of a challenge for Smart’s team was Tigers quarterback Bo Nix, whose scrambling is known to turn dud plays into spectacular gains — if he doesn’t make a boneheaded decision along the way. We saw examples of both Saturday.
However, neither the loud Auburn faithful, the injuries nor the elusive, playmaking Nix were enough to derail the Dawgs.
While Georgia’s No. 1-ranked defense did give up a few long pass plays (and its first touchdown since garbage time against the subs in the South Carolina game) … and the Dawgs did trail for the first time this season (by 3 points for just over 5 minutes in the first quarter) … and special teams had another so-so day … and the offense was a little slow out of the gate, the outcome never really was in doubt.
The Dawgs’ dynamic D held the Tigers to 318 total yards (the most Georgia has given up this season), but only 46 net yards of that was on the ground. Meanwhile, they sacked Nix 4 times for 46 yards; had 5 tackles for loss; and picked off one pass — business as usual, in other words.
The Georgia blitz on one Auburn third-down play, where linebacker Quay Walker shot up the middle and dropped Nix for a 15-yard loss, was a thing of beauty. (As Seth Emerson of the Athletic pointed out on Twitter, that made Walker the 12th different Georgia player this season to get a sack.)
Also, Georgia continued to show the sort of knack for overcoming adversity that tends to be the hallmark of “elite” teams (the standard to which Smart holds his charges).
All those injuries aside, the “next-man-up mentality” that Smart preaches prevailed — Georgia’s leading tackler was walk-on Dan Jackson (known primarily up until now for blocking a punt last week against Arkansas).
Speaking to DJ Shockley of the Bulldogs radio network after the game, Smart summed up Georgia’s day as one of “great composure.”
Backup QB Stetson Bennett, again starting in place of rehabbing JT Daniels, was his usual cool, collected self. Faced with a pretty stout Auburn defense that was loading the box to try and shut down Georgia’s run game and force Bennett to win with his arm, he made them regret that decision, completing several key long passes, including a 60-yard scoring strike on which he hit freshman Ladd McConkey (one of those “next men up”) in stride — probably the best ball Bennett has thrown at UGA.
The Georgia quarterback completed 14 of 20 passes for 231 yards and 2 touchdowns. Bennett also showed off the dimension he brings to the game that Daniels doesn’t have — his running ability. He kept the ball for 41 yards, including 30 on a third-and-2 at the Auburn 42.
Sure, there were a couple of hiccups — the lone sack the Tigers got against Bennett came on roll-out play that saw him hold onto the ball rather than throwing it away — but, generally, the Mailman delivered, as sportscasters love to say about him.
“Stetson played a hell of a game,” Smart said at his post-game press conference. “He made plays with his feet. If you go back to that game, there are one, two, three, four really big plays in the game that he made with his athleticism. That’s a dynamic that he brings; it forces teams to defend us in other ways. ...
“I don’t think people give him enough credit for that. This was his first opportunity to come into this environment and play Georgia brand football. He made a lot of plays. He hit the guys who were open and helped us in the second half by doing a lot of run checks. I’m really proud of the way Stetson has led the team.”
Bennett credited the Georgia linemen: “Any time you come over here and play this team, it’s a war,” he said. “Our O-line and D-line won the line of scrimmage battle. It was so much fun, and I had a blast.”
McConkey led Georgia’s receivers, with 5 catches for 135 yards (both career highs) and one TD. A couple of other freshmen followed him in the receiving stats, with tight end Brock Bowers having 2 catches for 43 yards and Adonai Mitchell catching 2 for 10 yards, including his second receiving TD. Hulking sophomore tight end Darnell Washington, who missed the first four games due to a foot injury, got his first catch of the season, a 25-yarder.
And, then, in the second half, Georgia’s rushing attack started to assert itself, with the Dawgs pretty much keeping it on the ground in the fourth quarter, which saw them ramming it down Auburn’s throat on their final scoring drive, with leading ground-gainer Zamir “Zeus” White breaking a tackle on a 10-yard burst up the middle to close out the day’s scoring.
Said my brother Tim after that TD: “That’s a championship drive.”
It was. Georgia was making no secret of the fact that it wanted to eat a lot of clock by sticking to the run game. Auburn knew the Dawgs were going to run it, and still couldn’t stop them. Even with Jamaree Salyer on the sideline nursing an ankle, the Georgia OL cleared the way, and the Dawgs’ bevy of backs (reduced by one this week, with Kenny McIntosh also on the injury list) ran hard.
That’s “man ball,” as Smart calls it.
Running particularly hard was White, who had 18 carries for 79 tough yards and 2 TDs Saturday. Kendall Milton ran 9 times for 43 yards, followed by Bennett’s 41. James Cook had 7 carries for 35 yards.
Speaking of White, I don’t think enough has been said about the improvement in Zeus’ game over the course of the season. He’s become Georgia’s go-to back when the other team knows the Dawgs are going to run, and he’s shown vision, patience and toughness.
Overall, the Dawgs amassed 432 yards of offense (201 on the ground). The Tigers, who came into the game averaging 238 yards on the ground, got 46.
And Georgia did all this while its injury list looks like a top-ranked recruiting class.
“You play to your strengths,” Smart told Shockley, adding with a laugh, “And, right now, we’re trying to figure out what our strengths are, with so many people hurt. We’ve got to get some guys healthy.”
With the news out of Kyle Field Saturday night of Texas A&M’s upset of the previous No. 1 team, Alabama, Georgia looks set to be the nation’s top team going into the second half of the season — a bit ahead of schedule, but there it is.
Now, the challenge is finishing in that spot in January.
If the Dawgs can win out in the regular season, and Bama doesn’t stumble again, they’ll likely meet in Atlanta for the SEC championship.
If Smart finally can get the monkey named Nick Saban off his back, and beat Bama, at least the Dawgs wouldn’t have to face the prospect of having to beat the Tide a second time, since a two-loss Tide would be unlikely to make the College Football Playoff.
Heady stuff, but the key is to take it one week at a time, and, first, Georgia must beat the latest in a seemingly endless line of “hottest” teams in the conference — the unbeaten Kentucky Wildcats, who pummeled LSU Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Smart said, “We’re hurting. We’re beat up, and we’ve got one of the most physical games we’ll have all year next week.”
Still, he said, Georgia will have one definite advantage as the Wildcats some to Athens to play Between the Hedges: “No matter how wounded we are as a team, we’ve got that 12th man in the stands.”
