ATHENS — Mississippi State quarterback Michael Van Buren is a true freshman making his second career start. His first came on the road two weeks ago against No. 1 Texas.
Now he faces the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs, armed with a secondary that is eager to take advantage of the inexperienced quarterback.
“Just, be aggressive, be who we are,” junior defensive back Malaki Starks said. And I think the fans play a big part of that too, you know, in the stadium, just making it loud for him. You know, he’s a really good quarterback. He played on the road already, had a really good game. So, you know, he hasn’t, it’s not like he hasn’t done it before, but I think just being aggressive and, you know, our fans being into the game, I think will be a huge deal.”
Van Buren completed 12 of 23 pass attempts for 144 yards in a 35-13 loss, though he did add a rushing touchdown.
Georgia knows it won’t be facing a dynamic offensive attack like it did against Alabama when Jalen Milroe torched the Georgia secondary.
The Bulldogs bounced back a week ago against Payton Thorne, as he threw for 200 yards and no touchdowns.
But Thorne didn’t turn the ball over either. And so Georgia will be looking to force Van Buren into some turnovers to better set up the Georgia offense.
“If you’re going to make people one-dimensional, then they’re going to throw it on you,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “We didn’t exactly make them one-dimensional from running it, so they had even more downs a lot of times. We got in some second longs and lost some of them. But I was pleased with the secondary because I think that Auburn’s a good team. I think Peyton Thorne’s a good quarterback. I think they have good skill players.”
One unique wrinkle that Mississippi State will employ is tempo. The Bulldogs are led by first-year head coach Jeff Lebby, who came over from Oklahoma.
The tempo should help Van Buren play fast and maybe find some mismatches in the Georgia secondary.
“It’s hard. It’s hard to simulate, you know, coming off the practice field,” Smart said. “And they do a tremendous job of going nuclear fast, like number one in the country fast, like ahead of Tennessee fast. But they don’t have to.”
A first-year head coach and a first-year starting quarterback shouldn’t be a problem for this Georgia defense.
But they know they’ve got massive games ahead, including a trip to Texas next week. And this game will represent a chance to further improve off what Georgia has done over the first five games of the season.
“I think you can always be more aggressive. But I think, you know, we got a very, I say young, but it’s not really young. I think it’s more new, considering the guys that left last year in secondary, just all of us playing together, just kind of gelling. I think that’s the biggest thing we’ve found, like the gel, that we mesh very well together. So just really kind of combining those two, and just going out there and being who we are.”
