ATHENS — Daylen Everette couldn’t offer up an explanation as to what happened to Georgia in the second half. The Georgia defensive back was speechless when asked to explain what happened as Georgia saw a once commanding lead shrink to a rather uncomfortable margin.
It was a telling moment. Even as Georgia won 41-31, the game was far more uncomfortable than it should’ve been.
“I don’t think we’ve played a complete game of football yet. And that’s really frustrating,” safety Malaki Starks said.
Georgia finished with 605 yards of offense. Arian Smith and Carson Beck both had career-best days in terms of yardage. KJ Bolden came down with his first career interception.
And yet none of those positive marks accurately paint a picture of what happened on Saturday.
That much was evident in Kirby Smart’s exasperated tone when addressing reporters afterward.
“It’s like they didn’t beat us. We gave them two plays,” Smart said. “The play down our sideline and then the touchdown. And then the other drive was the third downs. There’s two third downs on that one drive. I mean, we’re off the field, and we have, I don’t want to say undisciplined penalties, but they’re just bad timing on them.”
Georgia was a much better team than Mississippi State on Saturday. A drive into the third quarter, the Georgia Bulldogs led 34-10. You could understand why some fans started to head to the exits.
But then a Chris Cole pass interference penalty and a Chaz Chambliss facemask extended the Mississippi State drive, which led to a touchdown. Both those penalties came on third downs. In the second quarter, Damon Wilson had a roughing the passer penalty that turned Smart into an abrasive drill sergeant out of a Vietnam War film.
In the fourth quarter, Smart was desperately trying to get the attention on defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann. But Smart ended up shoving Mississippi State quarterback Michael Van Buren in the process. Smart was unaware after the game that he even shoved Van Buren.
Much like the shove, Georgia will want to put the Mississippi State game behind them. The better team won on Saturday.
But Georgia is going to have make noticeable improvements heading into next week’s game against No. 1 Texas if they’re to be the better and winning team.
“Obviously getting to play on the road in a big environment is always fun,” Beck said. “I mean, that’s what you play in SEC for. That’s why you come to Georgia for, is playing big-time games. You know, we’ll watch the film from tonight, get better, work out the little things that maybe we went wrong, the things that we went right, and try to pursue forward and be ready for next week.”
The Georgia offense produced its own moments of frustration on Saturday. The Bulldogs had to settle from some early field goal and Beck was intercepted on Georgia’s first drive of the game.
And with a chance to extend the lead back to 24 points in the third quarter, he threw a red zone interception on first down. That’s something one would expect the freshman Van Buren — making his second career start — to do. Not someone like Beck who made his 20th career start on Saturday.
“Things are going to happen, ball’s going to get batted in the air, guys are going to make plays on defense,” Beck said. “I mean, we’re playing against an SEC defense, you know? Guys are going to make plays. They’re talented, athletic, so it is what it is. Just keep playing the game.”
Georgia did and came away with a win. The Bulldogs went on a 16-play, 81-yard drive that sucked 7:26 off the clock. Even that drive was emblematic of the night for Georgia.
Running back Trevor Etienne appeared to get stuffed short on fourth and goal, which would’ve given Mississippi State the ball back down 10.
But Etienne kept driving his legs and the Georgia offensive line carried him into the end zone. It pushed the score to 41-24 and Georgia to another win.
Even if this team has yet to string together four great quarters of football.
“Our offense got on rhythm, did a really nice job with pass pro,” Smart said. “Carson was in rhythm, which was great to get those guys going. But we’ve got to continue to get better at frustrating some of the things”
