Georgia football: Plenty to like about the Bulldogs' win over Missouri
CFP No. 6 Georgia hasn’t officially clinched the SEC East yet. But after a 27-0 win over Missouri on Saturday night at Sanford Stadium, it might as well be making its plans to head to Atlanta on Dec. 7. The Bulldogs sit at 5-1 in conference play, 1.5 games ahead of of Florida, which shut out Vanderbilt. One more SEC win — or another Florida loss — will give the Bulldogs their 3rd consecutive division title and a spot in the SEC Championship.
Looking more short-term, could Georgia crack the top 4 of Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings with 2 of the nation’s unbeaten teams handed their first losses? No. 3 Alabama fell to No. 2 LSU at home while No. 4 Penn State suffered a road loss at No. 17 Minnesota. Alabama’s loss likely won’t knock it down too far, while an impressive win by No. 5 Clemson on the road at N.C. State could likely confirm its own top 4 ranking. There’s sure to be plenty of debate leading up to Tuesday, but whatever the rankings say, there will still be some disagreement.
All that aside, the Dawgs are simply left to control their style of play down the stretch, starting Saturday at Missouri. Winning their remaining regular-season games and the conference championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium next month looks to be their most direct path to the Playoff right now.
As for Saturday’s win, there was plenty to like:
1. Georgia’s suffocating defense
With all due respect to the shutout it pitched against Arkansas State and its performances against Murray State and Kentucky, this might have been its best defensive performance this season. Outside of a final drive that was led by 3rd-string quarterback Connor Bazelak, it just never looked like Mizzou was really a threat to do much of anything on offense as backup Taylor Powell started behind center in place of the injured Kelly Bryant.
You can basically take your pick from a host of stats. Mizzou’s rushing attack was rendered ineffective, picking up just 50 yards on 24 carries. Powell was just 10-of-22 for 84 yards. Mizzou made it past midfield just twice: in the 2nd half on a drive that ended with a Richard LeCounte interception, and on its final drive of the game that saw it fail to get it into the end zone despite ending up at Georgia’s 1-yard line. It was just 4-of-14 on 3rd down and ended the night with 198 yards of total offense, by far the fewest gained by a Georgia opponent this year.
We’ll never know how much having Bryant healthy would have helped, but Dan Lanning’s defense put on a master class Saturday. And on a night where the offense probably left more points on the field than it should have prior to the 4th quarter, the Dawgs’ performance on the other side of the football more than made up for it.
2. George Pickens puts on a show … again
Last week’s shining star on the receiving corps against Florida in Jacksonville was Lawrence Cager. On Saturday against Mizzou, it was George Pickens.
The true freshman, who came in with 3 games of 75 yards or more in receiving, didn’t quite get to the 75-yard mark on Saturday, but he finished with 5 catches for 67 yards and his first multiple touchdown game. (He would have topped 100 yards, though, but he lined up incorrectly, which wiped out a 68-yard TD catch.)
His first TD came on a nice pass over the middle from Jake Fromm, which Pickens was able to stretch past the goal line for Georgia’s first touchdown of the game. His second came early in the 4th, as he was just able to get a foot inbounds while making the grab just inside the left portion of the end zone. And it looked like he’d have a 3rd as Fromm hit him in stride on the Dawgs’ very next possession if not for a formation call that killed the play.
It’s easy to see Pickens develop as a top receiving threat not only further along in his career but throughout the remainder of the season if Cager is out for any length of time. He has looked sharp as a freshman. Imagine him in 2020 with a year under his belt.
3. Lawrence Cager’s massive first half
Cager, unfortunately, didn’t see this game out after sustaining what appeared to be a left arm injury before halftime, but he deserves plenty of accolades for his incredible abbreviated stat line: 6 catches for 97 yards. After his 7-catch, 132-yard and 1 touchdown performance against Florida, he appeared to be on pace for yet another career game.
The Bulldogs still cruised to victory thanks in part to Pickens and a stellar showing from the defense, but you can’t help but wonder about the numbers the grad transfer from Miami would have finished with. Fortunately, according to Kirby Smart in his postgame press conference, Cager “will be fine” and ready to go for Auburn.
Defense is great. Too many field goals. Not gonna cut it going forward.
I agree. Defense is on fire. Offense gotta get it together.
if anyone will go back and watch the play at 2:52 left in the 1st quarter——ask if tua or burrow would have thrown the ball away since there was time maybe not a lot but is coley not letting fromm take the chance or is fromm not seeing there was reciever right before his eyes——-yes there was pressure but i watched burrow deliver over and over with same pressure—–we need to know now if the dogs will have a chance against lsu which depends on decision to take all risks not try not to lose ala mark richt bless his soul
No need to panic. Jeez. We still have games to win.
Huh? Cruised? This Mizzou team got trounced by Kentucky, beaten by Vandy, and stuffed by MIzzou. Their offense is a joke, just like ours. If a bunch of 3-star CBs can effectively lock down everyone on our team on man coverage thanks to these IDIOTIC route trees, then God only knows what Auburn or LSU’s guys can do.
Every route consists of 3 levels of curls/hitches, where the receiver is standing completely still when they receiver it and then YAC is zip. No imagination. Every play, Charlie Woerner jogs from one end of the LOS to the other, and then we watch Jake sit in the pocket for a full five seconds while he waits for somebody to get open. Either he hates throwing it between the hashes or no one is ever open there, because I don’t remember when we had a slant connection across the middle. You’d think that’s where the passing game’s bread and butter would be, thanks to the continuing opposing mantra of 8 men in the box and man coverage to shut everything down. The run game was unstaisfactory, nobody was open, and even then Jake still missed a TD, Cager dropped a pass, and Landers bobbled a ball and let it get swatted out of his hands. Unless I’m mistaken, we did not convert a single TD in the red zone unless Picken’s 2nd was inside the 20.
Defense was fine. The tackling is starting to clean up, but we had trouble with a couple of dump off passes.
The team that played last night would be in deep trouble inside Jordyn Hare against a team desperate for a NY6 bid. That team would also get shredded by LSU, in like a 31-13 game. If last night’s matchup doesn’t get Coley fired by the end of the season, then next year’s offense will be even worse, with Swift, Thomas, Cager, maybe Fromm, and Woerner all gone.
*stuffed by Wyoming
Truvol, time to stop hiding behind the KirbySmart name.
Oh shut up with that nonsense. It’s frustrating, because this team’s defense can PLAY (knock on wood). And yet, the offense is always just a tick off. They’re always one inept playcall or barely overthrown pass from breaking one open, 2017-18 style, and it’s not happening yet.
Something I can say with total optimism is that I absolutely love Kirby’s avid defensive rotation. Guys like Stevenson, Smith, Dean, etc., are all out there as true freshmen in crunch time minutes, making legitimate plays. We’ve managed to stay healthy on defense and we have really good depth.
Just think, Ojulari plays like a senior, season captain type OLB, but he’s just a redshirt FRESHMAN. If we can just find an OC who actually knows how to use three 5-star receivers, a 6’5″ receiver with a 40 vert, and the best running back in the country, then we’d be a legitimate threat. Right now, I can just hope that Cager gets healthy and Fromm & Swift can work some magic despite Coley’s best efforts to hold them back.
I actually agree
It’s as much, if not more about execution than play calling. UF game was called masterfully and mostly executed as called. Fromm might be smart, he just doesn’t consistently play on an elite level. That said, Saban has won some Rings with worse QBs. Maybe Kirby can pull it off this year. Maybe.
I disagree about the Florida game. The fact that we were in 3rd down 18 times shows how little success we had on the early downs. Florida’s defense was just inept on 3rd down, but when they knew we would run it or try short, no YAC catches (1st & 2nd) they stacked the box and shut us down.
There was good playcalling (and execution) consistently and during key times against Florida. Yes UGA was in third and medium/long way too many times and that is a real issue, but the right plays were called to navigate that reality ultimately and score points. However, we settled for way too many FGs in the red zone (against Missouri too) and that is likely the biggest reason we would struggle mightily to beat LSU, Ohio State, Clemson, etc. Coley clearly is not the long term answer, though. I very much agree, additionally, about your observations about the defense. This is becoming I think a prototypical Smart defense and I also think this is the start of an era of truly great defenses.
Kirbysmart, you have some good observations. But, you’ve let your fears get the best of you. Don’t lose sight of the fact that Coley’s frustratingly limited play book that focus on ball control still has us ranked top 4-6 in the country. We all wish our O could impose it’s will in any fashion, at any time it wants, against any defense. We have young receivers, TE’s that arent agile route runners, and an extremely effective OL. With that, it’s not a bad game plan to keep the risks and complexity low in the passing game until our receivers get experience.
Sad day when our fans are upset after a 27-0 win that Vegas only saw as a 16 to 18 edge…
I love our offensive patience and time management, physicality and body shots. I love the way our OC sucks those 8 guys into the box. We aren’t RPO or run n gun. We’re physical. We’re patient. We’re sorely missing a difference making tight end and receivers who can can seperate, so we do what we gotta do. No eye candy, no flash. Just mano y mano old school sluggomatic football, imposing our will, and I love it. We saw what happens when we go helter skelter slinging it all over the yard…23-20 loss.
We’ve been given the second most skewed unfair schedule in the history of the SEC this year having to face 5 bye teams, rested and hitting on us, and for the most part we’ve weathered their best shots quite admirably. I’m pretty Sick and tired of the unwarranted attacks on our OC and our offensive team. They are attempting to overcome obstacles unseen since the 2010 Bama team, yet here they are 1 win away from competing for another SECCG. Not even the greatest coach of all time could accomplish that. Alabama finished 3rd in the SEC West that year, 3rd! Our Leghumpers deserve our support and admiration, not our disdain and skepticism. We have to dance with the partner we have this year. No one saw Hardman, Nauta and then Luke and Holloman leaving our receiver corp depleted. Kirby will restock the shelf but until then we’re a snash mouth old school football team and we’ll go as far as our defense takes us. Support and enjoy the ride. In this new age of giddy up offenses this is probably one of the last years you’ll ever have an opportunity to see it, GO DAWGS!
Rico, spot effing on brother…great post! Go dawgs!
Georgia has beaten two teams in the top ten at the time, Alabama has been beaten by the only top ten team it has played. So the result? Bama is 4th and UGA is 5th in the latest polls. Typical.