Georgia football: Dominant defense carries lackluster offense as title hunt marches on
By Keith Farner
Published:
There are hardly any superlatives left to describe the punishing Georgia defense that would make Erk Russell offer a proud smile.
The latest performance nearly accomplished a historic feat against Florida as Georgia flirted with snapping the Gators’ scoring streak of 417 games. Yes, this one was over by halftime as Georgia whiplashed the Gators at the end of the first half. However, questions remain both about coach Kirby Smart’s quarterback choices going forward, and how effective the Stetson Bennett will be with a game on the line.
No matter, though, the no-name defense continued its noteworthy start as the Bulldogs have now only allowed 53 points total this season.
The closing sequence of the first half turned the lights out on the Gators as Smart said it was the momentum of the game, and that he predicted that discipline and aggression would win the game. It was a form of complementary football that Smart is just fine with given the results.
“We had to be aggressive,” he said. “We’re not running around here thinking that we’re playing scared. We’re aggressive, we’re coming after you, and we’re disciplined. Well, discipline takes patience. You have to be patient to have good discipline. We had to keep doing what we were doing. It wasn’t just going to happen. We weren’t just going to run away with the game. That’s not how games work. You get everybody’s best shot when you’re in the position that we are. I thought that once it happened, it snapped. Our discipline and our patience showed up with turnover after turnover after turnover, and the offense cashed them in.”
The at-times high-wire act from Bennett continued, as the popular backup QB put the Bulldogs in the most danger with an interception leading 3-0 that ended a drive near the Florida goal line.
“Stetson did not play his best game, he did play well enough to win,” Smart said. “He did do the things he had to do with his feet. Two really big plays in the game, I thought he made with his feet. He made some good throws too.”
Stetson Bennett with the WHEELS 💨@GeorgiaFootball pic.twitter.com/e0lr2Yz6K7
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 30, 2021
Nolan Smith, for one, defended Bennett when asked about helping out the offense.
“I want to say something about my quarterback,” Smith said. “Stetson Bennett, the mailman, y’all call him a weak point. I read all the stuff, media, I know I’m not supposed to, but one thing about Stetson, he just works. He don’t listen to nobody, he just works, he’s a blue-collar guy. When you talk about trusting a guy, I trust him. Because he goes out there and works and puts his best foot forward every day, even though it may not look pretty to y’all, but he’s getting the job done.”
Smart said the decision to start Bennett came down to continuity and how he has a longer stretch of practice time than Daniels.
Bennett was 10-of-19 passing for 161 yards with a TD and 2 interceptions. It was Bennett’s lowest completion percentage this season in games where he threw at least 4 passes.
It continues to be an unusual conundrum for such a championship-level and historic defense to make statements like that about what is largely the consensus No. 1 team in the land. It is a point raised by outsiders like CBS Sports analyst Gary Danielson.
“They feel like they have a championship defense and they don’t want the offense to be the reason they don’t win,” Danielson said on the air during the broadcast from Jacksonville. “With the rest of their schedule, they’ll be big favorites. I still circle that Tennessee game though, because they can score. Let’s see if they can score against these guys, though.”
While the outside world views the QB decisions as unusual for a No. 1 team at this point in the season, the players like Bennett only see it as part of the chemistry of the team.
“This whole situation, this quarterback situation, if you want to look at this team in a nutshell, I mean we’re 2 guys that love this team,” Bennett said. “We have complete faith in both of us to go out there and play. And whoever’s playing, I mean on the sideline today JT’s giving me the coverages post-snap. And when he’s playing, we help out. Everything on this team is about the team, and not the individual. I don’t know, it’s pretty cool.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
