Winner: Brock Bowers
If Bowers keeps playing like he did against Auburn, internationally known pop stars might start showing up to Georgia’s games.
Bowers put forth a career effort against Auburn, racking up 157 receiving yards in the win. He was at his best in the fourth quarter, picking up 121 yards and the game-winning touchdown.
Head coach Kirby Smart is quickly running out of ways to describe Bowers. We’re getting to the point where calling him the best player in the sport might be the only proper way to recognize Bowers.
“Who can argue that there’s a better football player anywhere in the country? Just a football player,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “The guy has the greatest toughness and grit that I’ve been around. He’ll do whatever you ask him to do for this team. I’ve got a lot of respect for that guy as a competitor.”
Bowers is now tied with AJ Green for the second-most receiving touchdowns in school history. He’s eight away from the record, held by Terrence Edwards. Edwards is also the school’s only 1,000-yard receiver in program history. Bowers has 413 yards on 30 receptions through 5 games.
It might be somewhat concerning that Georgia has to be so reliant on Bowers to generate explosive pass plays. But that may help further establish Bowers as a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate.
Whether Bowers ends up in New York in December is inconsequential. The star tight end is unbothered by accolades and Taylor Swift questions.
It’s part of what makes him so great and watching him play for Georgia is so much fun.
Losers: Georgia’s inside linebacker play
Georgia gave up 219 rushing yards on Saturday. The last time the Bulldogs surrendered more than 200 rushing yards in a game came during the 2018 season. Justin Fields was an active member of the Georgia roster at that point in time.
The Bulldogs found a way to win in spite of their normally dominant rushing defense. That cannot be a recipe for success moving forward.
As for why the run defense was such a glaring problem on Saturday, it’s hard to place the blame on one area. Auburn did most of its damage rushing to the outside. Auburn quarterbacks Payton Throne and Robbie Ashford accounted for 125 yards on only 16 carries. Georgia’s edge/outside linebacker group isn’t a strength of this defense and Auburn seemed to exploit that.
But Georgia’s inside linebackers also shoulder some of the blame here. And this was thought to be one of Goergia’s stronger units.
Jamon Dumas-Johnson and CJ Allen both had their struggles on Saturday. Smael Mondon and Xavian Sorey played better but neither would be confused for Roqaun Smith or Nakobe Dean.
This group should be one of Georgia’s best units. It wasn’t on Saturday. As Smart has said, this defensive line doesn’t have a game-wrecker the way the two most recent defensive lines have.
With that being the case, Georgia needs its linebackers to be stars going forward.
Winner: Peyton Woodring
Neither field goal was of great distance, but it shouldn’t be overlooked that Woodring made both of his field goal attempts on Saturday.
He had misses of 28 and 43 yards in Georgia’s SEC opener against South Carolina. There was plenty of concern and Smart was asked if he considered making a change at the position and going with Jared Zirkel instead.
But Woodring connected on his attempts of 37 and 38 yards. Both kicks tied the game.
“We’ve been putting a lot of pressure on him in practice but I don’t know that simulates it,” Smart said. “There’s nothing that simulates what he had to do today. I told the team after the game, he begs to do the pressure kicks in practice and he made them in the game. I think the kid’s got something special to him.”
For Georgia, Woodring’s performance hopefully put his earlier misses to start his career in the review mirror.
The freshman kicker deserves credit for stepping up when called upon on Saturday. While Georgia still has many question marks, kicker may no longer be one.
Loser: Georgia’s “soft” schedule
For all the worries about Georgia’s 2023 schedule, it certainly looks tougher now than it did in August. Part of that could be chalked up to the fact that Georgia hasn’t looked like the overwhelming juggernaut everyone assumed it would be.
But other teams on Georgia’s schedule have shown to be better teams. Kentucky is now 5-0 and ranked No. 20 in the country. Most impressively, the Wildcats stomped Florida 33-14. Georgia’s run defense will be tested against an offense that ran for 329 yards on Saturday.
Ole Miss picked up an equally impressive win over LSU. Lane Kiffin and the Rebels responded to a loss to Alabama by beating LSU 55-49. Georgia will have to wait a while to welcome Ole Miss to Sanford Stadium, but the Rebels have already faced the two most talented SEC West teams and can rack up some wins between that Nov. 11 contest.
As for what all this means for Georgia? The Bulldogs must improve. Georgia is going to face better teams as it gets deeper into its schedule. The Bulldogs won’t be able to putz around as they did in the first quarter against Auburn or first half against South Carolina.
The Bulldogs still have time to grow. But it will need to make improvements, starting this week against Kentucky
Winner: Nathan and Ally Puckett
Nathan and Ally Pucket got married this weekend in Dahlonega, Ga. It was a beautiful ceremony in the North Georgia Mountains, and the couple brought together an even better group of people to celebrate them.
Nathan was my freshman roommate and has since grown to be one of my best friends. He. has moved around the country but Georgia football has always kept the two of us in touch. He was in Baton Rouge, La., for the 2018 game against LSU. He took a last-minute flight to catch Georgia’s national championship win over TCU last season.
Nathan is like an extroverted Brock Bowers. He’s kind, funny, sincere and every other great adjective you could think of. It helps that he’s a die-hard Georgia fan who spent part of the weekend pondering whether or not to attend Georgia’s game against Kentucky. We got matching tattoos of our freshman dorm number after the Bulldogs won their first national championship.
The idea of connection isn’t just limited to the Georgia football team.
Ally is every bit as wonderful as Nathan, and some might say even better. To know Ally is to love her. It also helps that she’s since become a big Georgia fan and the Bulldogs have won back-to-back national titles since she started supporting the Bulldogs. Those two things seem correlated.
Ten, 15, 20 years from now, I’m not sure how many people will reflect back on this Georgia-Auburn game. There have certainly been more memorable contests in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.
What I do know is that I will cherish the moments with Nathan, Ally, their families and our friends from this weekend. It was a wedding befitting of two special people who make me better every single day.
