Rapid Reaction: Georgia uses big 2nd half to race past Missouri
Georgia’s dominance of Missouri continued for yet another year.
Facing a 25th-ranked Tigers team that was out to spoil the Bulldogs’ New Year’s 6 résumé, the Bulldogs turned a 14-14 game into a blowout as they eventually cruised to an 49-14 win, their 7th straight over Mizzou and 9th in 10 all-time meetings.
JT Daniels threw 3 touchdown passes — 2 to George Pickens — with 0 interceptions, finishing a yard short of the 300-yard mark before giving way to Stetson Bennett IV in the 4th quarter. Daijun Edwards, James Cook, Kenny McIntosh and Zamir White each added scores on the ground as UGA enjoyed another solid rushing day, running for well 300 yards. White led the way with 126 yards. Edwards added a career-best 101.
It was also a masterful performance by the Georgia defense. Missouri had racked up over 600 yards of total offense in back-to-back games. It struggled to reach 200 Saturday.
And it was indeed the Dawgs’ defense that set the tone. Mizzou quarterback Connor Bazelak was picked off on the 2nd play of the afternoon by Eric Stokes, with Georgia then using 6 straight running plays to take a 7-0 lead just over 3 minutes into the contest.
After the Dawgs forced a punt, they eventually found themselves with a 3rd and 8 from the Tigers’ 37-yard line. But Daniels found Cook with a nice pass to the middle of the field, and the junior capped an 89-yard drive with a score as Georgia opened up a 14-0 edge with under 3 minutes remaining in the opening frame.
Third-down conversions were a theme on the day for the Dawgs, who at one point were 7-of-10 in that department.
Mizzou would not go quietly as it got creative on its next drive to find the scoreboard. A trick play saw wide receiver Keke Chism hit an open Messiah Swinson downfield to put the Tigers in business before Bazelak took it in untouched on a fake handoff, as they cut the margin to 14-7 1 minute into the 2nd quarter.
Things took a little of an ugly turn on Mizzou’s next drive as Bazelak’s head was struck by the knee of nose tackle Jordan Davis while going down to the ground. He was lifted for true freshman Brady Cook but returned after Georgia was forced to punt.
Missouri’s defense eventually grew into the game as it began to dial up pressure on JT Daniels, repeatedly finding leverage against the Dawgs’ offensive line. And late in the 2nd quarter, the Tigers special teams unit got involved as well as it blocked a Georgia punt deep into Bulldogs territory. With the ball at the 1, Larry Rountree III punched it in as the Tigers tied the game at 14 with 80 seconds remaining in the half.
But the Dawgs responded right before the halftime break. With 37 seconds left, Pickens made a brilliant 36-yard catch near the end zone sideline to put Georgia up 21-14 and provide some much-needed momentum heading into the locker room.
Pickens’ catch set the tone for a much more straightforward 2nd half for the Dawgs. Just over 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter, Daniels connected with the sophomore once again for a 31-yard score as the Dawgs’ lead swelled to 28-14.
Later, a 43-yard touchdown run by White, his 10th of the season, put Georgia up 35-14 with 8-and-a-half minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, and the rout was on. Edwards added his 1st career touchdown to open the 4th quarter.
Good to see Darnell Washington getting some catches. JT was spreading it around nicely.
That was for Arik’s benefit..
My thoughts exactly.
Great games DAWGS, now hapless Vandy comes to town before we get ready for a bowl opponent. Well done!
How about if ND beats Clemson, we get UGA vs Clemson in the Peach? End this season with them, start next season with them, renew the great rivalry we used to have.
About what I expected the game to be. Mizzou plays tough for a half and slowly fades away.
Nice game. Mizzou gonna be tough.
Mizzou didn’t really quite, we just saw how much talent difference there is.
In any other conference UGA would be the champion this year, only in the SEC do they not even play for it.
That offense that UGA was carrying first half of the season would not have won the ACC or BIG 10. So I wouldn’t got that far.
Yea your QB matters, Mizzou also didn’t start the season with our current starter, Bazelak, and we see it’s a very different offense with him at the helm. You would still steam roll anyone who’s not Clemson or tOSU, and you would have a least an even chance to beat them.
People can say what they want about the defense but 1 scoring drive, EIGHT punts and 16 rushing yds for Rountree is the story of the game. If you go 3 and out all game you’re just giving the game away and you’re D is going to get worn the h*ll out. The talent gap showed up big time today and Mizzou has enough talent to beat a majority of the SEC, just not enough talent to complete with the 3 or 4 top teams. Congrats to GA, that was just an old-fashioned butt kicking from the first drive turnover on.
Anyone check on SDS’s own Joe Cox to see if he’s doing okay? Has he entered wit-sec?
The pick Baz threw was off the hands of his receiver, TE Niko Hea, though it was not a great throwing decision on Connor’s part. While Mizzou might get some offensive action, we clearly don’t have anything like the defense required to slow UGA down. First year HC gonna need a minute to fix that.
We looked sluggish in the second quarter, maybe due to cold. It was good to see the D get back to form in the second half, though.
Izzo played with good intensity; best of luck to you guys.
Still pleased with the season, but that hurt. Pickens and White are a tough, competent combo.
Nice win for UGA, kirby and Monken. Mizzou needs 2-3 years to get the players and system and see how they stack up then.
Just dominated by a superior team. Too much 4 and 5 star talent. Especially in Covid.We need more recruiting needed like the one drink is building now. Nice win UGA
I wasn’t expecting that, it was nice to see the offense actually look pretty good with all the talent. Defense played better. I was expecting a close game or a sluggish offense.
It’s games like this where your weaknesses get exposed. Despite the 5 wins, the passing game is BAD. Some of us noticed while other Mizzou fans just giggled and sniffed their fingers. Receivers can’t catch and the scheme isn’t getting anyone open down the field. Meanwhile schools like UGA have guys who can catch misthrown balls while doing an aerial 360 in double coverage. (Pickens is a nightmare)
As for the defense, the 5 DB system should not be that bad against the pass.
Frustrating game. I expected UGA to win, just hoped we would measure up a little better.
That ball at Pickens wasn’t “misthrown”. But…ok.
I know UGA fans are salivating over Daniels right now but he didn’t look that great. He was like 16 for 27 against favorable coverages. How many overthrown balls? Mizzou’s only chance was to blitz like crazy, so the 50/50 shots were there. Pickens made some circus catches and Cook broke a nice run-after- catch.
UGA is a good team, with very average QBs right now.
“Only about 60 percent of his passes for 300 yards and 3 scores”
You sound ridiculous lmao
He also was getting blasted on every passing play for two full quarters thanks to his pathetic pass-pro, so maybe you should take that into account before trying to cast his 300 yard, 3 TD performacne as “not that great”.
If you guys are psyched about him, good for you. You guys also liked Fromm more than Fields, so yeah….
Good solid win.
Good win Georgia. I hoped we would stack up a little better than we did, but Mizzou just isn’t there yet. It was a humbling beatdown in the 2nd half and some of the catches by the Georgia receivers made were unreal in tight coverage. The Georgia run game was too tough. Hopefully we can give you a better game next year. Good luck the rest of the way.
Grown man football
And young man football.
Great win for UGA. If Missouri can continue to grow under Drink, including talent, he’ll have them in fighting form.
The offense as well as the defense played a fine game.
I think GA OC Monken deserves a lot of credit for his second half adjustments. After that, the Mizzou defense had no answers.
It looks like Kirby has found his OC…
This can NOT be understated. Monken moving the pocket in the second half with rollouts, more snaps from shotgun, and quicker routes (slants) opened up the game and allowed the rushing attack to get back on track.
You are absolutely correct
As much as Georgia fan loves JT — you have to see how good Kedon Slovis is. He’s about equal with JT, in my opinin, but some thing better anticipation than JT– only by a small margin. Both will be in the NFL– no idea what happens after that?
UH OH PRINCESS NOOGET, YALL BEAT THE MIZZOU POWERHOUSE. YOU’RE BACK. CAPITAL ONE BOWL FOR jawja. ARENT YOU HAPPY NOOGET? PRINCESS?
Florida’s record against Mizzou is 5-5…