ATHENS — Surely Greyson Lambert had more important things to think about at halftime of Saturday’s game. But at least for a moment, maybe during that brief spell as he jogged to the locker room, maybe then he allowed himself to think it for just a second.
“What do you think of me now, Bulldog Nation?”
When Lambert hit freshman Terry Godwin on a slant pass for an 11-yard game early in the fourth quarter, it was his 20th completion in a row for the game. That broke the school record of 19 in a row held by Mike Bobo since the 1998 Outback Bowl.
When he left the game for good with 5:20 to play, he took the NCAA record for completion percentage in a game with him. At that point he was 24-of-25 (96 percent) for 330 yards and three touchdowns. The record of 95.8 percent was previously held by Tennessee’s Tee Martin and West Virginia’s Geno Smith.
Even Lambert’s lone incompletion might have been intentional. He threw high over the head of Jeb Blazevich in the back of the end zone. The Bulldogs settled for a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
The rest of the half was Lambert throwing darts. Like, all over the place.
The junior quarterback from Jesup by way of the University of Virginia was 14-of-15 for 190 yards and a touchdown in the first half. His completions went to eight different receivers. His first six receptions were by six different receivers. Not consequently, Georgia led 24-13 at the half.
It’s important to point out here, there were many and vociferous complaints within and without the Bulldog Nation about Lambert being unable to matriculate the ball down the field effectively via the pass.
Lambert thwarted that notion particularly well Georgia’s fifth possession of the game, right before the end of the half.
With 2:10 remaining in the second quarter and South Carolina trailing 17-10, Lambert commanded a two-minute offense that certainly made his NFL-pedigree offensive coordinator proud, not to mention former quarterback Aaron Murray, who was in attendance.
- On first down he boot-legged right and drew the defense to him before throwing to tight end Jackson Harris for a 15-yard gain.
- After a six-yard run by Nick Chubb, he read the coverage on dumped off to Blazevich for a seven-yard gain on a nice checkdown.
- On first-and-10 at midfield, he hit Reggie Davis with a perfectly-placed spiral on a streak down the left sideline for 19 yards.
- On second-and-short at the 23, he lasered a shot to Malcolm Mitchell on a quick slant for a 14-yard gain and first-and-goal at the 9.
- On second-and-goal from the 5, he nearly hit Mitchell on another slant. Touchdown. 24-10.
The best part about it was Lambert had a whole second half to play. Well, for Georgia at least.
