Georgia ran for 64 yards on its opening 73-yard touchdown drive, and it proved to be a sign of things to come in the Bulldogs’ 28-14 victory at South Carolina on Sunday afternoon.
While Jacob Eason struggled through the worst outing of his career, the Bulldogs’ run game had its best performance of the season.
Sony Michel led Georgia’s backs with 133 yards on 21 carries, but he was not alone above the century mark as Nick Chubb ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.
“We wanted to be physical in front and we wanted to pound the football well,” Michel told reporters after the game. “I think everybody did a great job today with executing and getting on their blocks. The receivers did a great job, the offensive line did a great job and coach (Jim) Chaney did a great job with the play calling.”
Expected to be the strong point for the Bulldogs offensively, the running game struggled early this season as the offensive line continued to improve. Sunday marked the third consecutive outing where there was a notable step forward, and Georgia’s 326 rushing yards are the most gained this season and a possible sign of things to come.
With all members of the backfield finally healthy, the Bulldogs can use their versatile and dangerous running backs to devastating effect.
Chubb showed the type of burst he hasn’t displayed since his season-ending knee injury and looked like his Heisman-caliber self while averaging 7.6 yards per carry.
Michel (below) is a strong complementary piece and can keep defenses on their heels with his elusiveness and speed. This ability was on full display early in the second quarter when Michel looked as though he would be stopped for a loss but instead made a quick cut and broke out for an 11-yard gain to the 1-yard line.
That run was one of many highlights for Georgia’s running backs, but it caught the attention of the Bulldogs’ head coach.
“I thought Sony had probably one of the best runs I’ve ever seen,” Kirby Smart told reporters after Sunday’s victory. “They had two guys unblocked, he makes them miss and almost scores.”
Georgia’s backfield is no longer a two-headed monster, however. True freshman Brian Herrien continues to make the most of his carries and showed the ability to turn any run into a big gain.
Herrien sliced through the Gamecocks’ defense for 82 yards on nine carries, an average of 9.1 yards per carry, and would have topped 100 yards had a holding penalty not negated another big gain.
As impressive as the Bulldogs’ running backs were Sunday, the biggest takeaway was the improvement of the offensive line.
Georgia averaged 5.6 yards per carry in its season opener against North Carolina, but many of those yards came after initial contact. That number dipped in consecutive weeks and the Bulldogs’ averaged only 2.7 yards per attempt against Missouri. Since then, however, there has been improvement and the team’s 6.5 yards per carry is the best mark this season.
Smart has preached physicality since he arrived at Georgia, and it appears the offensive line is finally improving in that regard. But others are listening as well; the wide receivers did a much better job staying on defenders and being physical in the run game.
Analyst Jesse Palmer repeatedly praised tight end Isaac Nauta’s ability Sunday to set the edge against a defensive end.
“In all of our practices, we’ve been practicing physical and running downhill,” receiver Terry Godwin told reporters. “And it paid off in the long run. In this game, the receivers, that’s all we’ve been practicing, just blocking. We opened up holes for our running backs and they did their thing.”
In the latter years of Mark Richt’s tenure, Georgia developed one of the top rushing attacks in college football. Although Chubb was coming off an injury, it was the Bulldogs’ ground game that was supposed to help provide a crutch for Eason.
While Eason has shown his immense potential this season, he is still a true freshman who will have outings like the one at South Carolina.
It’s taken a little bit of time to get everything back on track, but when Eason needed some help the running game carried the load and looked as dangerous as ever.
William McFadden covers the University of Georgia for Saturday Down South. For news on everything happening between the hedges, follow him on Twitter @willmcfadden.
