ATHENS, Ga. – It’s become quite common for football players to hold up four fingers once the third quarter draws to a close.
Perhaps the third-ranked Georgia Bulldogs should start holding up three fingers after coming out of the halftime locker room, because they have dominated the third quarter, especially defensively, through their 5-0 start to this season.
“When we go into that first half, we know we’re going to get their best shot and that there are going to be some things that we haven’t seen,” fifth-year senior defensive tackle Michael Barnett said Monday. “When we come in at halftime, we make adjustments to those things and hone in on what we were doing wrong. We capitalize on all that in the third quarter.”
Georgia’s defense has allowed just three third-quarter points entering this week’s game against visiting South Carolina. Those points came on a Murray State field goal against Bulldogs reserves and pulled the Racers within 49-17 of an eventual 63-17 drubbing.
The Bulldogs have been especially stout in the third quarter of their last two games, holding Notre Dame to 9 yards on nine plays and limiting Tennessee to 16 yards on 12 snaps this past Saturday night at Neyland Stadium. Volunteers freshman quarterback Brian Mauer threw for 205 first-half yards but didn’t have any yards during the third quarter, when he was sacked twice by Azeez Ojulari and intercepted by Richard LeCounte III.
“I think it’s settling down and understanding what the team is trying to do to us,” Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said. “We’ve got to do a better job as coaches of preparing them early in the game. When you’re a good defense, you don’t see the same things, and you often go into games expecting to see one thing, and the other team has worked really hard to try to counteract that.
“You see different stuff, because they’re trying to generate plays against you, but we have to do a better job of starting off.”
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Georgia outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari (13) had two third-quarter sacks of Tennessee quarterback Brian Maurer (18) last Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.Georgia’s most notable third-quarter turnaround under Smart occurred during the Rose Bowl after the 2017 Southeastern Conference championship season. The Bulldogs were shredded repeatedly by Baker Mayfield and the Oklahoma offense throughout the first half, but Georgia held the high-octane Sooners to 29 third-quarter yards on 16 plays to turn a 31-17 deficit into a 31-31 deadlock entering the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs would go on to prevail 54-48 in double-overtime.
This year’s team hasn’t needed a big third quarter to get back into a game, but that might be the case in November or beyond.
“We’re a great team in the second half,” senior safety J.R. Reed said. “We go back in and look at the things we did wrong, and we see the things that we mess up on. Sometimes it’s something the other team does, and sometimes it’s us. In the third quarter, we go out there and do our job.”
Said Barnett: “We just need to communicate better on the front end so that we can do it from the jump rather than the third quarter. It’s really about making sure everybody is on the same page. We have been doing a better job of communicating as these games have gone on.”
Rod for Heisman?
Bulldogs junior quarterback Jake Fromm is completing nearly 78% of his passes this season and has yet to throw an interception, but is he the top Heisman Trophy candidate on his own roster?
Smart was asked Monday during his weekly news conference if a Heisman campaign was in store for Rodrigo Blankenship. The fifth-year senior kicker has made all 11 field-goal attempts this season, including two 50-yarders, and he leads the nation’s kickers in scoring with 60 points.
“I’m ready to start it right now,” Smart said. “Hot Rod does a great job. He does everything he’s asked, and he’s a great leader on our team. He’s very consistent. He has an approach to the game and an approach to his method of doing things that is unique to him.
“We trust him a lot, and he’s been a tremendous leader, because people see how hard Rod works.”
Odds and ends
Georgia’s Oct. 19 home game against Kentucky will be televised either on CBS at 3:30 or ESPN at 6. … Georgia has not allowed a rushing touchdown this season. Sophomore cornerback Tyson Campbell (foot) and sophomore nose tackle Jordan Davis (ankle) were not spotted during the portion of Monday’s practice open to the media. … The Bulldogs are 5-0 for a third consecutive season, which is a program first.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.