How are you feeling today, Georgia fans? Comfortable? Confident? Dare I say, maybe even a little bored?

Is the water cooler as fun to visit when there’s nothing to complain about? Find yourself stuck at your desk searching for something interesting to talk about?

A friend of mine, a Bulldogs fan, announced early in the third quarter of Georgia’s win on Saturday that he didn’t really know what to do with himself.

“Is it weird that I kind of miss the anxiety?” he asked with a laugh. (Maybe a little bit.)

It’s true, it feels like there’s just not a ton of uncertainty hovering around the Bulldogs after Week 1. Even a year ago after Georgia outlasted Clemson in a 10-3 slugfest, there still were offensive questions – J.T. Daniels’ health; the real starting quarterback; the running game’s lack of explosiveness; Clemson’s apparent downturn?

This season, none of that is the case.

Even if Oregon isn’t quite as good as its No. 11 ranking suggested, no one will question a dominating performance like Georgia’s. The Bulldogs checked just about every box available, and it feels like a foregone conclusion that they’ll be in the hunt for the long run this season.

But maybe Georgia fans aren’t used to this kind of serenity. Perhaps years of waiting for the other shoe to drop has them hooked on the anxiety. Like Dave Chappelle in the classic meme of a junky, maybe Georgia fans are out there asking, “Y’all got any more of them question marks?”

You ask, I answer.

Here are three that are still on my mind.

Should Georgia worry about its pass rush?

I get it. It seems like nitpicking after allowing only 313 yards and 3 points. It may even be a good sign that Georgia accomplished that without establishing much in the way of a pass rush on Saturday.

But you wanted a question, here’s a question:

It’s true, the Bulldogs did not record a single sack against the Ducks. In fact, they didn’t even get credited with a quarterback hurry. For context, the 2021 unit opened the season with seven sacks, eight tackles for loss, and two more quarterback hurries in the opener against Clemson.

In fact, in the 2021 regular season Georgia recorded a sack in every game and multiple sacks in all but one. The only team to keep it off the quarterback in the entire season was Alabama, and that didn’t come until Georgia’s lone loss of the season in the SEC Championship.

So, how much of a problem is the lack of pressure now.

I think it’s clear that the Georgia defense passed the test after losing five players to the first round of the NFL draft and eight defenders overall. But while the lack of a consistent pass rush didn’t hurt on Saturday, there are games on the schedule in which it could.

Quarterbacks Hendon Hooker (Tennessee), Anthony Richardson (Florida), Will Levis (Kentucky), and Will Rogers (Mississippi State) all pose threats to the Georgia defense if – and it’s a big if – they don’t make some strides in that area.

Will the Bulldogs improve? Maybe. Probably. This may be nothing to worry about, and there were plenty of superlatives in other areas of the defense to mitigate any potential concern.

Still, it’s something to keep an eye on.

Is Arik Gilbert really the No. 4 tight end?

I’m going to answer my own question before I get into the details and say “no.”

I don’t think Gilbert is fourth on the depth chart, and I don’t expect him to be relegated to mop-up duty for long this season. Still, it was a bit of a surprise to see true freshman Oscar Delp on the field in the Georgia blowout before Gilbert.

I get it, Gilbert sat out all last season. That alone is enough to temper early expectations. I said as much in the lead-up to last week’s game. I didn’t expect him to be a high-impact player. I also didn’t expect to see him on the sideline all game until there was little doubt who was going to win. And I certainly didn’t expect to see a freshman take a snap before him.

The takeaways:

  • Georgia is loaded at the position and the gap between starters Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington and everybody else might be even bigger than we thought.
  • It’s hard to justify taking players like Bowers and Washington off the field. Bowers figures to command many double teams, and did you see what Washington can do with a head of steam?
  • Gilbert, despite looking like a star again in Georgia’s spring game, is still getting used to game action.

I don’t think this is cause for concern yet. Obviously, the Bulldogs would like to see him progress and figure into this already-loaded offense, but it’s more of a luxury than a need at this point.

Perhaps a game against Samford will offer some good opportunities for Gilbert to get his legs back underneath him and gain some consistency in the offense.

Were 6 passes enough to settle questions at backup quarterback?

Quarterback Carson Beck was the beneficiary of Georgia’s easy win against Oregon, getting a whole quarter’s worth of work to start the season.

We’ve been told for a while that Beck was No. 2 behind Stetson Bennett, and maybe we should listen. Still, most people I spoke to were not convinced. It still feels like there’s concern among Georgia fans about who to trust with the offense should anything happen to QB1.

But maybe there was nothing to worry about. Beck was solid.

Yeah, it’s mop-up time, but we’ve seen him come out for the Bulldogs in the past and the results have been, well – mixed might be putting it lightly. On Saturday, though, he completed 5 of 6 passes for 71 yards and a touchdown. He hit running back Kendall Milton for an 18-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter. Four of his 5 completions went for more than 10 yards, and he slung a nice pass to receiver Kearis Jackson for 23 yards late in the third.

It’s a small sample size but it offers some sense of confidence the Bulldogs might not be without a paddle should anything happen to Bennett.

I think everyone would like to know the progress of third-string quarterback Brock Vandagriff’s development.

But I guess that’s a question for another day.