A sloppy game marred by injuries wasn’t enough to derail the undefeated Dawgs.
However, the nature of Saturday’s UGA win in Nashville does make you wonder which side of the 2023 Bulldogs’ split personality is going to dominate in the stretch run of the season.
On the one hand, there’s the team that showed its championship pedigree against Kentucky last week by walloping the only ranked team it has played so far.
Then there’s the team that has messed around far too much in vanquishing the lesser opponents on its schedule. That’s the team we saw fall behind 0-7 to the Commodores in Saturday’s noon contest.
With what’s expected to be the toughest part of its schedule still ahead, Bulldog Nation fervently hopes the team that romped over Kentucky returns for an extended engagement after again going MIA during an uninspired 37-20 win over conference doormat Vanderbilt.
Dawgs fans also are crossing their fingers that the three offensive starters who left the game Saturday with injuries — offensive lineman Xavier Truss, tailback Kendall Milton and all-purpose weapon Brock Bowers — can take advantage of the coming off week to get game-ready again.
Saturday’s game against Clark Lea’s Commodores was a little weird from the get-go, taking place at the construction zone known as FirstBank Stadium (where the visiting locker room was a tent), and with more than half the crowd cheering for the Red and Black. “It was different,” as Georgia receiver Dominic Lovett put it.
The opening of the game couldn’t have been much uglier for Georgia. On the opening drive, Vandy quickly zipped its way downfield, scoring on a 49-yard pass to a wide-open receiver. Then, on the Dawgs’ opening drive, quarterback Carson Beck was strip-sacked, giving the Commodores great field position at the Dawgs’ 32-yard line. Fortunately, the Georgia defense held and Vandy missed a field goal in what Smart called a “big stop.”
Dawgs defender Tykee Smith graciously took the blame for Vanderbilt’s first long touchdown pass after the game, saying he misplayed it. Smith made up for it later in the game with five stops and a key interception (his fourth of the season) that allowed Georgia to tack on another touchdown in the waning seconds of the second quarter, for a 24-7 halftime lead.
Defensively, it was a mixed day for UGA. They forced some three-and-outs but also let Vandy get within 10 points in the fourth quarter. One of the things you can bet the Dawgs’ defense will be working on during the off week was the way Vandy QB Ken Seals exploited the softness in the middle of Georgia’s zone, including on his team’s long first TD pass.
Although Vandy only got 18 rushing yards on 15 attempts Saturday, Smart demurred: “They didn’t try to run it much.” And, noting the lack of consistent pressure that Georgia’s defensive front got on Seals, he added: “We’ve got to affect the passer better.”
Smael Mondon had a team-best six tackles for the Dawgs, who held Vandy to 219 yards of offense on just 44 plays.
It was a mixed day for Georgia’s offense, too. The running game roared to life, with Daijun Edwards coming on strong in the second half, winding up with a career-high 146 yards and 1 touchdown on 20 carries, including a career-long 62-yard gain on a fourth-quarter drive in which he carried the ball all five plays. Edwards’ total for the day was the most rushing yards by a Dawg since D’Andre Swift ran for 179 against Kentucky in 2019.
Before getting hurt, Milton also made a strong showing in the first half, with 5 carries for 53 yards and 1 touchdown (for a 10.6-yard average), including a 28-yard run to set up the Dawgs’ first touchdown. Cash Jones had 3 carries for 65 yards, including a 57-yard run late in the game.
Although the passing game still was the foundation of Georgia’s offense, the Dawgs had a season-high 281 rushing yards on 39 attempts for a 7.2-yard average, and accrued a total of 542 yards on 78 plays, possessing the ball for 37:19.
However, three times Georgia got inside the Vandy 30-yard line and had to settle for field goals.
It wasn’t Beck’s greatest day at QB for Georgia, either. He overthrew an open Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint on one long pass and underthrew Arian Smith on another (though Smith, who appears to be struggling with drops, probably still should have caught the ball).
Beck also failed to get rid of the ball on a third-down play where he had no receivers open, taking a sack that meant a 19-play Georgia drive that took 8:38 off the clock resulted in only a field goal. And he later threw an interception on a tipped pass, though give him credit for throwing his body at Vandy’s CJ Taylor to force him out at the 1-yard line. (The Commodores scored on the next play, though.)
Beck finished 29-for-39 passing for 261 yards, with 1 TD and the interception. Lovett led UGA receivers with 9 catches for 72 yards and a TD. Ladd McConkey had 4 receptions for 58 yards. Asked by D.J. Shockley of the Bulldogs radio network after the game how Beck did, Smart said: “I didn’t think he played his best game. I thought he was a little sloppy.”
And though Smart was very pleased with the play of placekicker Peyton Woodring, who kicked three field goals, including a career-long 44-yarder against the wind, the head coach wasn’t pleased that those kicks were necessitated by three of Georgia’s 7 drives stalling out. (The Dawgs did not punt all day.)
“You can’t have 17-, 18-play drives,” Smart told CBS. “We gotta hit some explosives.”
Indeed, finishing in the red zone is likely to be a topic of team discussions this coming week.
Another area where Georgia’s coach would like to see improvement is turnovers. He’s said several times this season that he would like to see Dawgs defenders getting more takeways.
On the other side of the ball, there were the interception and fumble chalked up to Beck. The Dawgs also fumbled it two other times, but kept the ball. One was an incredible play on which the snap was botched and center Sedric Van Pran picked up the ball and ran 6 yards for a first down on Georgia’s first scoring drive.
The other came when kick returner Mekhi Mews muffed a punt reception but fell on it.
While the loss of Truss on the offensive line did contribute to Beck throwing that interception under pressure, the OL did a great job of protecting him much of the time, allowing the QB to find receivers open on third-down conversions. (Offensive Coordinator Mike Bobo also had some really good play designs in in those instances.)
Neither team seemed to be in the mood to play hurry-up (which was a bit strange on Vandy’s part when it had nearly made it a one-possession game in the fourth quarter). In fact, there were only two possessions in the entirety of the third quarter, more than half of which Georgia ate up on its drive.
Overall, the Dawgs suffered from inconsistent performances on both sides of the line of scrimmage, but with the offense having had three starters (including its best all-around player) leave the game, some of that was to be expected.
When it comes to special teams, Woodring, as I said, had a strong day placekicking, which is great considering the rough start he had this season. But kick returns are bit more of an adventure this year than I’m sure Smart would like to see. In addition to ball security, Mews has some work to do onn when to return, catch, let it go, etc.
Really, the biggest story of the day — besides the Dawgs winning on the road in the SEC and managing to stay unbeaten — was those injuries. While the indications immediately after the game were that none of them is considered extremely serious, the amount of time those players spend away might loom large down the road as the Dawgs face stiffer competition.
Still, the outcome of the game never truly was in doubt, and it was good to see the running game playing a more prominent role for the Dawgs.
Smart’s plan for the off week? “Try to get healthy; try to get better.”
We also should note that the No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs now have won 24 games in a row (the school record continues to grow), 40 of their last 41 games, 13 in row on the road (another school record), 23 SEC games in a row (ties the school record) and 34 regular-season games in a row (also a school record, and it leads all of the FBS).
It wasn’t always pretty, but the glory days continue!
