The Dawgs are 2–0 two weeks into the new season. Tennessee is 0–2 for the first time in 31 years. All is right in the world. And while I’d love to spend the rest of this post waxing poetic about the Vols crapping the bed and bringing us one step closer to the inevitable scenario of Jeremy Pruitt being fired midseason only to be replaced by Phil “I Definitely Wasn’t Hoping This Would Happen” Fulmer, this is a Georgia football column.
Georgia defeated Murray State 63–17 Saturday on the newly-christened Vince Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium. Outside of a few exciting moments, it was exactly what you’ve come to expect from an early season game against a cupcake. There were some struggles, to be sure, but Georgia was dominant on the whole.
The Murray State game was one of two consecutive home cupcake games before the big Notre Dame game in Week 4. The other is Arkansas State this Saturday. Since I know all y’all are much more interested in the impending showdown with Notre Dame than either of these scrubs, I will dedicate this post to not only reviewing the Murray State game, but also pre-reviewing the Arkansas State game Mad Libs-style, so we don’t even have to mention them next week and focus solely on the Irish. Is that arrogant? Yes. But what good is winning 24 games in two years if you can’t guarantee a win against a team you paid to come play you? We ain’t Tennessee.
The Dawgs struggled early against Murray State. D’Andre Swift topped off the first drive of the game with a 3-yard touchdown run, his only score of the day. Murray scored later in the quarter on a 60-yard pass thanks to poor coverage and the first quarter ended 7-7. It was never enough to make anyone fear a loss was coming, but it was enough to get everyone plenty annoyed.
The Dawgs struggled early against Arkansas State. Brian Herrien topped off the first drive of the game with a 37-yard touchdown run, his only score of the day. ASU scored later in the quarter on a long drive thanks to penalties and the first quarter ended 7-7. It was never enough to make anyone fear a loss was coming, but it was enough to get everyone plenty annoyed.
Georgia picked up the pace in the second quarter when it scored five touchdowns unanswered. It was by far the best stretch of the game for the Dawgs and included all of Georgia’s most exciting moments—J.R. Reed’s scoop-and-score, George Pickens’ highlight-reel diving catch, Zamir White’s first touchdown run. By the time the whistle sounded for halftime, this one was essentially in the books.
Georgia picked up the pace in the second quarter when it scored a buttload more points. It was by far the best stretch of the game for the Dawgs and included all of Georgia’s most exciting moments—Rodrigo Blankenship ripping off his shirt after scoring on a fake field goal, Kirby Smart literally exploding from another rage stroke and Uga taking a solid nap in his dog house. By the time the whistle sounded for halftime, this one was essentially in the books.
But Georgia’s struggles returned when the backups were brought in for the second half. Backup QB Stetson Bennett showed flashes of promises as well as plenty of reasons for concern as he threw for 124 yards, two touchdowns and a pick-six. The backups also continued to give up big plays on defense.
But Georgia’s struggles returned when the backups were brought in for the second half. Backup QB Stetson Bennett showed a knack for outside-the-box thinking as he discussed his plan to ride a motorcycle up the ramp at Stegeman Coliseum. The hedges also continued to require blood sacrifices to properly function.
Now that we’ve got all that totally accurate information out of the way, we can spend next week’s post getting ready for Notre Dame. I don’t have a great way to end this. Did I mention Tennessee lost to BYU?
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