Georgia football: Plenty to like after Dawgs' blowout win over Missouri
Well, I guess I was wrong. I took the bait of essentially putting Georgia on upset alert against Missouri.
In my defense, the Tigers looked like a confident bunch coming into this one, having won 3 straight and appearing to hit their stride toward the tail end of Year 1 of the Eli Drinkwitz era. Perhaps the memories of the Dawgs’ loss to South Carolina last year was another factor that led me to tag this as a possible letdown game.
And it looked as if Mizzou was looking to get off the mat after going down 14-0 to start the game, as they eventually tied it late in the 2nd. As it turned out, it was the last time they’d score. And it turned out to be a comfortable victory for the Bulldogs ahead of a final tuneup against Vanderbilt before a sure New Year’s 6 berth.
There were a few quick hitters to glean from the game:
- Georgia’s run defense was its usual self, allowing 22 yards on 22 carries.
- Their 3rd-down offense, converting at a 47.7 percent clip this year, was 8-of-13 against the Tigers.
- JT Daniels didn’t need another 400-yard passing game, but 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions will do.
But there were 3 things I wanted to dig into in particular that stood out to me, notable not only because of their impact on the game itself but as strong signs of what could equal a dangerous offensive unit in 2021:
1. George Pickens playing the way we expected him to play all along
It wasn’t so much Pickens’ production as the types of catches he made against Missouri. For example, this, somehow, was a touchdown:
After only watching this guy for 1 half, I am incredibly impressed. George Pickens has the making of a future first-round wide receiver pic.twitter.com/uCb5q2mQQd
— Hashing Out the Draft (@ITHBenschwartz) December 12, 2020
Sure, there are still signs of his immaturity — such as his water bottle stunt against Tennessee that drew the ire of Kirby Smart — and a minor injury that hampered his progress a little. But you’d like to think that he is looking to turn the page and commit himself to realizing his full potential. And since the installation of Daniels as the starter at quarterback, Pickens is starting to resemble the player who went off for 175 yards in the Sugar Bowl against Baylor.
That George Pickens guy is pretty good
— JT Daniels (@jtdaniels06) December 12, 2020
It’s safe to say that Georgia will be set at wide receiver next season. Don’t count on Pickens being here past 2021 with more games like the one he had.
2. The developing chemistry of Daniels with Darnell Washington
Washington is hard to miss on the field at 6-foot-7 and 260 pounds. And as Daniels continues to develop chemistry with his receiving corps, I think that his ability to get the Las Vegas product involved is equally as important, as a reliable pass-catching option at the tight end spot has been something the Dawgs have been missing in past years.
Is Washington going to be Kyle Pitts good? It’s too early to tell, but seeing him continue to be targeted as the 3rd quarter progressed — he tried to outdo Pickens with a pretty catch of his own — means that he isn’t just out there for looks and will be a major X-factor for this offense moving forward.
JT Daniels gaining some chemistry with Darnell Washington is bad news for the SEC next year.
— Sydney Hunte (@SHWrites) December 12, 2020
3. The running game continuing the momentum it gathered against South Carolina, including the younger players
Missouri had done reasonably well against the run in previous games, outside of allowing 232 yards to Tennessee and 292 to Arkansas. Still, the Tigers were yielding just more than 144 yards on the ground per game.
Georgia, though, picked up right where they left off against South Carolina with their 2nd straight 300-plus-yard rushing game, adding 4 rushing touchdowns in the process. It’s the first time the Dawgs have reached the 300-yard plateau on the ground since doing it in 3 straight against Auburn (331), Kentucky (309) and UMass (426) in 2018.
Zamir White fronted the effort with his 10th rushing touchdown in 9 games — matching D’Andre Swift’s number through 14 games in 2018 — on his way to his first 100-yard game since Nov. 7 against Florida and 3rd this year. But seeing Daijun Edwards, getting more playing time after the injury to Kendall Milton, continue to gain confidence and make the most of his opportunities bodes well for a potent running attack in 2021. The fact that Georgia did all this against a fairly decent run defense makes it even better.
Yeah I’m glad I didn’t buy into the upset alert stuff as I said GA was more talented pretty much across the board and didn’t see an upset here in write-ups leading up to the game. I didn’t expect a blow out, but the talent gap was obvious and GA hit on all cylinders and gave us an old-fashioned butt kicking.
Daniels couldn’t get it done at USC. Why are people saying he can do it in the SEC.
There are 3 really good teams right now in the SEC, 4 if you count Florida who just got torched by a freshman QB. Everyone else is mediocre to not very good at all. Why are people acting like the SEC is full of top 20 quality teams when it clearly isn’t?
He’s 3-0 as a starter with 9 TD’s and 1 INT with 67% completion. Against 3 SEC teams and averaging 280 yards/game.
What exactly is your definition “get it done”?
poptiger, Daniels graduated a year early and was the USC starter as a true freshman, when he would’ve been playing his senior year of high school.
He had a knee injury early in his second year and had looked good up until the injury.
Daniels has been money on 3rd downs. UGA’s offense (with Daniels – last 3 games) is averaging 41 points per game. Florida’s averaging 42.
I see no reason to not believe in Daniels.
Also that was a terrible supporting cast around him and a bad bad coaching job.
well he was a freshman who skipped his senior year in high school and he did not do that bad ..if you watched him play you would see why he is rated so high it was not just this game this only his third game in over a year not to mention USC is not good Georgia surrounds him with much better players
No one’s projecting him to be the next Burrow or anything like that. Calm down and allow us to appreciate serviceable QB play after the half season of hell we just endured.
“And it looked as if Mizzou was looking to get off the mat after going down 14-0 to start the game, as they eventually tied it late in the 2nd.”
It sure did look like it was going to turn into a battle at that point. Mizzou had all the momentum and their defense was playing well.
Then Monken made his second half adjustments, and the Mizzou defense had no answers.
It looks like Kirby made a Smart choice by hiring Monken as OC.
Honestly I think it was more the Tiger offense had no answers. The defense did about everything you could expect them to do in the 1st half minus the crazy TD at the very end. In the 2nd half the offense couldn’t stay on the the field and the defense wore out. I’m not sure what adjustments if any GA made, they ran first and ran often just like they did in the 1st half. Mizzou tuckered out and the running game blew it open well before the 3rd QTR was over.
We whine about Kirby a lot but there ain’t hardly a single guy in CFB better at making halftime defensive adjustments.
Saban
“I’m not sure what adjustments if any GA made”
More qb rollouts (moving the pocket from the tackle box) , more quicker developing routes. That was a slant to pickens with a blitz coming that ended up for a touchdown. Also having daniels throw from shotgun more (that same play was from shotgun) to give more time to survey the field. Running out of shotgun/spread more (Since the D was spread out).
I mean..I can sit here all day and point out second half adjustments.
The slant was on 3rd and long after two runs on 1st and 2nd down. They were running first and passing second just like they did in the 1st half. Like I said, the game plan didn’t change much for GA, they simply wore Mizzou’s defense down, that was the difference in part because our offense couldn’t stay on the field.
Booches94, Saying ” they simply wore Mizzou’s defense down” is far from what happened.
Teams don’t wear down with 1:20 or whatever it was left on GA’s final drive of the second quarter.
That late second quarter scoring drive was when the GA offense took over. If the Mizzou defense had held strong until the 4th quarter, I could see it.
HOW they ran the ball. HOW they passed the ball was the adjustment. Christ. The slant came on third down..but it was PICKENS..on a slant. Not a corner route, not an out route, not comeback on a back shoulder, not a fade route, not a post…a SLANT on third down. I’m not sure why you don’t get the significance of that.
And as Tim said….two straight scoring drives.. one into the half, and after the half are not reminiscent of “being worn down.” Just outplayed, out schemed.
LMAO, so no you guys are saying it started before halftime, which I guess eliminates your “halftime adjustment” theory. Yeah, lets call this play that will cause Mizzou to jump offside so we can just have a free play to chuck it in the end zone in double coverage and see what happens. Great game planning adjustment there guys, bravo.
Booches, in the 2nd half Missouri didn’t score a single point while UGA more than doubled their score. While conditioning and roster depth were factors, to completely disregard adjustments and coaching is just plain wrong.
1980.
Pacha wins the butt hurt UF fan trolling a UGA article with 1980 redundant award! Good job buddy, you’re there first UF to comment that. How’d you come up with something so original??
What could have been had Mullen not sat Kyle Pitts out? Just like with JT, you get to sit and wonder while you watch your team play at some bowl game in December.
Shut up…Threw Shoe U
Good one Paca Chunk!
Pacha….thank you. 1980 Belue to Lindsay. 2020 Marco and Cade York.
Good game UGA. Well performed. I’m still not high on White. He carries the mentality of a good running back and he has a killer jab step but he’s not even close to one of the best RBs in the country. I mean, heck, Tank is just as good as White as a freshman.
Daniels looks good. Really good. Which means Kirby is a flat out idiot.
And none the less, Pickens played well. Finally got his salary’s worth…
Do you feel good about your comment? throwing shade to a team that just beat you 27-6 and it wasn’t even that close. throwing shade to a coach that is 5-1 against your tigers.
as for bigsby, yeah he’s good, but aub doesn’t typically beat uga unless they drop over $180K for a player. cam newton says hi.
Buddy, you know how much money was paid to George ‘overrated’ Pickens?
He displayed his football IQ yesterday. It’s very low.
You’re one to talk.
White tore two ACLs in less than year’s time, so yeah, he’s not really where he was in high school. Shocker.
While we are parsing two very different 5-star RBs, it’s important to note that Zamir hasn’t been the same since his 2 ACL surgeries. And Tank is a very good player. UGA really wanted him. But White has spent a good portion of the season running into loaded boxes. The past 2 games with JT as a more known commodity, he’s ripped off 100 yard games and several TDs.
I understand White had surgeries, but it’s in the past. he’s 100% healthy this year and should be more impressive than he is.
Oh, so you still think JT was ready to play this entire time and Kirby simply benched him for no reason? I know it’s difficult to keep abreast of other teams’ news, but you probably should before spouting off opinions like that.
I know JT was banged up, but it’s apparent that he could’ve played much earlier.
As a fan I would have liked to see an upset but I didn’t see any Mizzou fans calling for one. We’ll beat good teams but we’ll get beaten by great teams this season. Drink’s post game comments is what Mizzou fans already knew. We don’t have the bodies, we’re beaten up and it’s the end of the season. Georgia looks great as usual and hopefully this is year one of at least five years with Coach Drinkwitz, and hopefully longer. Mizzou likes/loves Coach Drink.
Drink is a very good coach. Give him some time and he will have his team up challenging for East titles.