Georgia’s 2021 campaign has reached the point where the Dawgs no longer are judged on the same basis as mere mortals. Thus, a 43-6 beatdown of Missouri can be rated a B-plus performance, with room for improvement.
The outcome of the game never was in doubt, but the early going was not strong on style points for Kirby Smart’s team, as the Bulldogs basically sleepwalked through much of the first quarter on a chilly day in Athens. Or, as Smart put it after the game: “a subpar outing for us, in terms of execution and play style.”
Now, keep in mind, Smart expects his team to perform at an elite level, to meet “the standard,” as defensive star Nolan Smith put it. At times, on Saturday, they did — but not all the time.
When I tweeted during the game about the Dawgs’ flat start, and how glad I was it hadn’t happened in earlier games, and hoped it doesn’t again, someone hit the nail on the head by replying, “It shouldn’t be happening now. #1 teams don’t come out flat.”
Still, Saturday’s game in Athens was a solid win — with moments of greatness.
For instance, freshman tight end Brock Bowers stiff-arming a Tigers defender to the turf on a 23-yard run after a reception, and then making a terrific catch in traffic later in the game.
Or some nifty, zig-zag running by tailback James Cook, and the Wild Dawg play where he took a direct snap and scored.
Or Smith making yet another big defensive play, this time blocking a punt for a safety (that almost was recovered for a touchdown by Dan Jackson).
Or the 35-yard pass perfectly thrown by Stetson Bennett on fourth-and-6 that Arian Smith caught over his shoulder to notch Georgia’s first points, with 42 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
And, then there’s flanker Jermaine Burton, who caught three passes for 76 yards and nearly had touchdowns on all three. On two of his big receptions, he was ruled down at the 1-yard line, leading to Georgia scores, but the third time was the charm, as he caught a scoring toss from Bennett in the third quarter.
Also, a highlight of the day for a large portion of Bulldog Nation was the return of former starting QB JT Daniels, who entered the game with 11:04 left in the third quarter.
The Dawgs already had a 33-3 lead at that point, thanks to starter Bennett’s efforts, but Daniels led them to another touchdown and a field goal.
However, he also threw an interception, which eventually resulted in Mizzou’s second field goal of the game. It has to be said, that errant pass, thrown behind the receiver and careening off his fingertips into the arms of a defender, was every bit as ugly as the two picks by Bennett that had so many people clucking disapprovingly after the previous week’s Florida game.
It’s good to have Daniels back (though I doubt he did anything during the game to wrest the starter’s job away from Bennett), but he looked a little rusty — not surprising, considering it was his first appearance for the Red & Black since the first quarter of the Vanderbilt game on Sept. 25, due to a lingering muscle strain.
Daniels completed 7 of 11 passes for 82 yards, with 1 TD (an inside screen to Ladd McConkey) and the 1 interception.
Bennett, meanwhile, had a pretty good day (13-for-19, 255 yards, 2 TDs) in his fifth straight start (sixth of the season), though some of his completions were due to the extraordinary efforts of his talented receivers.
Nine different Bulldogs caught a pass Saturday, with four of those plays covering more than 20 yards. Sophomore Arian Smith had a 35-yarder for a TD. The longest was a 47-yarder from Bennett to Burton, who was the day’s leading receiver. AD Mitchell was next, with 2 for 38 yards.
Bennett also extended some plays with his legs, including one shortly before halftime in which he rolled out under pressure until he found an open receiver.
Overall, it was a good day for the Dawgs through the air (337 yards and 3 TDs), but that was, in part, due to the troubles the UGA rushing attack surprisingly had against a Tigers defense that came into the game ranked worst in the entire country against the run.
Georgia had only 168 yards on the ground (with 2 TDs). Dawgs runners did have a decent 5.1-yard average, but, had very little success with the interior running game up the middle, as Mizzou decided to sell out against the run by bringing a safety up into the box.
Cook led Georgia’s tailbacks with 41 yards on 9 carries and a touchdown. Daijun Edwards had 3 carries for 29 yards and Zamir White had something of an off day, with 9 carries for 14 yards and a touchdown.
“We didn’t run the ball real well,” Smart said.
Of course, it didn’t help that the Dawgs’ offensive line was missing starting left tackle Jamaree Salyer, out with a foot injury, or that offensive coordinator Todd Monken made some very conservative, unimaginative play-calls deep in the red zone. A notable exception was the Wild Dawg play with Cook, and another was White’s TD run behind defensive giants Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter, brought in to clear the way.
Georgia also found success running on the outside, including a 37-yard end-around by receiver Kearis Jackson.
The Dawgs had a very respectable 505 yards of total offense to Missouri’s 273, which was well below the Tigers’ average, which was 452.8 yards per game before they met Georgia.
As for the Dawgs’ nation-leading defense, it did what it does, for the most part, including notching another pair of sacks. The Tigers came into the game averaging 34.8 points per game, but could manage only 6 points on 2 field goals. Mizzou’s SEC-leading tailback, Tyler Badie, the nation’s No. 4 rusher, came in averaging 123.6 yards per game, but finished with just 41 yards against the Dawgs.
Still, even the Georgia D came out of the game with an area it can work on: containing running quarterbacks. With usual starter Connor Bazalek out injured, Mizzou went with a pair of freshman QBs, Tyler Macon and Brady Cook, both of whom had some success keeping the ball against the Dawgs, accounting, respectively, for 42 and 32 yards of the Tigers’ 121 yards gained on the ground.
Smart summed things up after the game: “We started out kind of sloppy today. A little bit of a lack of focus early, especially on defense. Offensively, it took us a while to get going, but once we did, we really did some nice things. I was proud of the guys. We’re starting to get some guys back, and then we lost a couple of guys who are banged up. All in all, really pleased with the guys’ effort, but we have some things we have to clean up.”
Smart did tell ESPN’s Katie George after the game that he was pleased by his offense’s numerous “explosive” plays, but Bennett explained that’s just what you have to do when someone sells out against the run.
“I think Missouri came into this game, and their game plan was to not let us run the ball,” the Georgia QB said. “They were popping backers and had low safeties and were trying to stop our run game. When they do that, we have to be explosive to make them back up. If they do not, that is how we score points.”
“We were trying to stop the run; that is what they do,” admitted Mizzou head coach Eliah Drinkwitz. “When you don’t do that, you are susceptible to the pass yards. Credit to them, they made a couple really good plays and a couple of really good catches.”
Let’s wind up with several feel-good moments from the day.
First, Mizzou tried to pull a Kentucky and drive for a late, meaningless score against the Dawgs’ defensive subs, including calling 2 timeouts in the final 23 seconds of the game in an effort to get into the end zone, but Georgia nixed that, thanks chiefly to a great pass breakup by defensive back William Poole.
Secondly, it was more or less Mark Richt Day in Athens Saturday, with the former Georgia head coach all over the video screen in the pre-game, down on the field leading the fans calling the Dawgs during the Redcoats’ pre-kickoff performance, and being honored at halftime, accompanied by wife Katharyn and a bunch of his former players.
Richt drew the biggest ovation of the day from the Sanford Stadium crowd, even bigger than that for outfielder Joc Pederson and mascot Blooper from the world champion Atlanta Braves. (Blooper also donned a pair of spiked pads to cheer with the student section during the game.)
Finally, stadium announcer Brook Whitmire got the crowd to celebrate longtime radio sideline reporter Loran Smith’s 50th anniversary with the Bulldogs by yelling the the catch phrase that legendary play-by-play man Larry Munson used when he’d cut to Smith’s reports.
It was pretty cool hearing an entire stadium of fans yelling,
“Whaddaya got Loran?”
