Georgia paid Samford $500,000 to play at Sanford Stadium Saturday.

Only “play” really means “serve as a sacrificial lamb in order to rest up for the SEC opener next week against Mississippi State.” And in that regard, the game went according to script. Georgia was up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. It was 21-7 at the half.

By the time the clock struck zero in the final period, Georgia had picked up a 42-14 victory to improve to 3-0 this season.

Now on to some takeaways from Saturday’s game, bullet-point style:

  • Many thought Georgia would go a bit pass-heavy Saturday in an effort to get quarterback Jake Fromm more comfortable heading into SEC play. Those who thought that would be wrong. Fromm attempted just 13 passes, completing eight of them for 165 yards and three touchdowns. So what he didn’t do in volume, he made up for in efficiency.
  • On the other side of the coin, that meant Georgia’s offensive game plan featured Nick Chubb. And plenty of him. The superlative senior running back had another banner outing, carrying 16 times for 131 yards and two touchdowns before calling it a day. It also gave fellow senior Sony Michel a chance to rest up. Michel, who suffered an ankle injury in last week’s victory over Notre Dame, did not log a carry Saturday. Michel’s absence, then, opened the door for the Bulldogs’ less-heralded backs. Highly touted true freshman D’Andre Swift showed off his skills, running eight times for 57 yards and a touchdown. Brian Herrien (9 carries, 45 yards) and Elijah Holyfield (8 carries, 28 yards) got into the act as well. All told, the Bulldogs finished with 284 yards rushing in Saturday’s win.
  • Georgia’s defense performed exactly as expected, playing lights-out against the lower-division foe. Samford finished with just 249 yards of total offense. We’ll know far more about how good Georgia’s unit truly is next week, though, when Nick Fitzgerald and the high-powered Mississippi State offense come to town.