ATHENS, Ga. - Given the way Missouri is throwing the football this season, Georgia safety Dominick Sanders knows that sticking around the full 60 minutes this time is a must.
Missouri had just 143 passing yards last October in a 9-6 loss to the Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium, but Sanders wasn't on the field for Marshall Morgan's game-winning field goal with 1:44 to play. Sanders was ejected for targeting midway through the third quarter after a helmet-to-helmet blow to Tigers receiver Emanuel Hall.
It's not the most pleasant memory for the 6-foot, 193-pound junior from the Atlanta suburb of Tucker.
"It's really a bad feeling," Sanders said. "You come to play, but they take you out and I had to go back to the locker room. It was a mistake that I had to learn from, because you can't take head-to-head shots, and I think it's made me a better player."
The Bulldogs will make their third visit to Faurot Field in five years Saturday night.
Sanders collected the 10th interception of his college career in last Saturday's 26-24 win over Nicholls State, and he headlines a secondary that led the nation in pass defense a year ago and is off to a solid start this season. The Bulldogs are allowing just 133.5 aerial yards through two games, which ranks second in the Southeastern Conference behind Florida.
Missouri's offense ranked last in the 14-team league last season with 165.5 passing yards a game, but the Tigers have vaulted to first in the early going behind sophomore quarterback Drew Lock. The Tigers, who routed Eastern Michigan 61-21 last Saturday after losing their opener at West Virginia 26-11, are averaging an eye-popping 379.5 passing yards per contest.
"They seem to be throwing the ball a lot," Sanders said. "Their quarterback has an arm and sees his targets, and he's not scared to take shots down the field. As a leader, I've got to keep the guys focused. The ball is going to be in the air, so we've got to get turnovers for our offense."
Lock, the No. 7 pro-style quarterback and No. 96 overall prospect in the 2015 signing class according to 247Sports.com's composite rankings, struggled through a freshman year in which he completed just 49 percent of his passes and threw eight interceptions and only four touchdowns.
Under new offensive coordinator Josh Heupel, who quarterbacked Oklahoma to the national title in 2000, Lock is thriving. The 6-4, 220-pounder from Lee's Summit, Mo., has completed 47 of 88 passes (53.4 percent) for 730 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Tigers don't have quite the size at receiver they did in 2013, when 6-6 Dorial Green-Beckham, 6-5 Marcus Lucas and 6-4 L'Damian Washington gave Georgia fits during Missouri's 41-26 road victory. Missouri does, however, have a trio of 6-3, 205-pounders - J'Mon Moore, Keyon Dilosa and Hall.
Moore leads the Tigers through two games with 10 catches for 124 yards.
"We got challenged against North Carolina and didn't necessarily do real well, because there were several balls they missed," Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said of the season opener. "They had some big receivers that caused some matchup issues, and it will be the same this week. We've got matchup issues with height at several positions."
Odds and ends
Freshman Jacob Eason was working with the first team during Wednesday's portion of practice that was open to the media, with graduate transfer Greyson Lambert having been spotted with the first team Tuesday. Multiple media outlets in Missouri reported Wednesday that 15,000 tickets remain for Saturday's game.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall @timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.