ATLANTA — Stetson Bennett has made a number of defenders look foolish this season. Mainly it’s been with his arm, but when necessary, he’s shook defenders with his feet.
He’s run for seven touchdowns this season, with ones against Auburn, Mississippi State and Tennessee being particularly highlight-worthy.
At least one Ohio State defender is determined not to let that happen on Saturday.
“Stetson Bennett is a great player,” linebacker Steele Chambers said. “He’s got this weird little dead leg thing he does, that’s annoying, whenever he is out in open space. But he’s a great player, and I think it’s going to take 11 guys to really stop him and stop that entire offense.”
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Chambers and the Ohio State defense will be tested by Bennett and the Georgia offense, which is the best Ohio State will have seen in terms of yards per play this season.
Georgia ranks seventh in the country in that metric and 11th in points per game at 39.2. The Bulldogs would likely be higher had the Bulldogs not built up such huge leads that didn’t require Bennett to throw a fourth quarter pass in six of the 13 Georgia wins this season.
“I think we have to do our job and trust in each other,” Ohio State defensive end J.T. Tuiamalo said. “He has shown times he can be very elusive, and I think we have to stick to the game plan and trust one another and do our job.”
The Ohio State defense is coming off its worst performance of the season, as the Buckeyes gave up 45 points in a loss to Michigan that they would very much like to stop getting asked about.
A win against Georgia and Bennett certainly helps change the narrative surrounding the Ohio State program at this point. Despite being nearly as talented as Georgia, and having a talent edge in some areas, Georgia is seen as a 6.5-point favorite in most sports books at this point.
The Buckeyes have not yet played a complete game this season. They’ve still found a way to win 11 games by double digits this season, but to beat Georgia and Bennett the Buckeyes will need to play their best game of the season on Saturday.
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That starts with the pass rush getting after Bennett in a disciplined way. The strength of the Ohio State defense is its defensive ends, led by Tuiamalo, Jack Sawyer and Zach Harrison. All three of those players were 5-star recruits and have played like it at times this season.
The Buckeyes will surely test right tackle Warren McClendon, who has been dealing with a knee injury that knocked him out of the LSU game. If McClendon is compromised — he is expected to start still — Georgia will turn to sophomore Amarius Mims to protect Bennett.
“They try to cause havoc. They can come from a lot of different places,” Bennett said of Ohio State. “They do their assignment, and in order for us to be successful, we have to do ours.
“We’ve got a really good football team, and it’s going to come down to who executes better on Saturday.”
Stetson Bennett knows Ohio State will try to make things difficult on Saturday.
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