This season was not going according to plan. Following two consecutive years of utter dominance behind us, Georgia fans expected a third. Through five games, though, the Dawgs looked like they were sleepwalking. They were winning, but getting out to slow starts, and letting the likes of South Carolina and Auburn get the best of them for large chunks of time, eventually winning thanks to a sheer talent advantage.
Well, look who just woke up. Finally, in the sixth game of the season, Georgia put together a complete performance, beating Kentucky 51-13 Saturday in Athens.
After five games, the big question about this team was if it was not playing to its potential or simply not good enough to beat teams—and win championships—in the same fashion as their immediate predecessors. With that beatdown of Kentucky in our pocket, it’s looking more like the latter than the former, and the team is beginning to win back the full trust of the fan base.
That begins at quarterback with Carson Beck. Beck hadn’t played a poor game yet this season, but he hadn’t taken command of a game the way you expect a championship-winning quarterback to be able to do. Against the Wildcats, though, the junior looked steady and ready, completing his first 11 passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns, including an insane snag in the front corner of the endzone by Rara Thomas, who is becoming a big-play threat himself.
That first quarter got a fanbase that had lots of small doubts about Beck bouncing around to buy in. He continued on to have his best game as a Dawg, completing 28 of 35 passes for 389 yards, four touchdowns and a pick. Beck has won the benefit of the doubt, and if he can continue to play at that level, he’s got a big rest of the season ahead.
It wasn’t only Beck who showed out for the offense. There were plenty of doubters when Kirby Smart brought Mike Bobo back to run Georgia’s offense, but the Kentucky game was Bobo back at his circa-2012 best. He called a great game, mixing up runs with passes at different levels to a number of receivers to keep the defense off balance. The offense finished with 609 total yards, including 180 on the ground with a healthy 5.6 yards per carry. It was old-school Bobo mixed with some Todd Monken flair. Just like Beck, Bobo won the benefit of the doubt.
On the other side of the ball, the defense answered the bell after being called out from all corners for not being on the same level as its predecessors. Following a miserable showing against the run at Auburn, the defense had a point to prove. Kentucky tailback Ray Davis ran for 280 yards against Florida a week before, but the Dawgs held him to only 59. In total, the Dawgs held Kentucky to 183 yards.
From a pure eye-test standpoint, the defense appeared to be getting after it more. One of the signatures of Georgia’s title-winning defenses has been the way the players fly to the ball, especially when the offense is moving sideline-to-sideline. These Dawgs still aren’t moving with the verve and violence I came to expect from the likes of Nakobe Dean, but they’re getting there. They’re finally starting to show that nasty streak.
Georgia is snapping out of its daze at a perfect time. Next week, the Dawgs travel to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt. That’ll provide another opportunity for a convincing win, this time on the road. That should help build more confidence heading into the bye the following week. Then it’s on to the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail party at the end of the month before that tough November stretch that includes consecutive games against Missouri, Ole Miss and Tennessee, potentially the toughest teams on our regular season schedule.
Now that we have a convincing win over a tough SEC opponent in our pocket, the exciting thing is how much room there is for improvement. It had been difficult to get excited about these Dawgs early in the season—not because there wasn’t incredible potential in this team, but because they hadn’t shown a capacity to reach it. Now they have, once. If they can do that week to week, then the Dawgs are right back on track.
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