This sack by Georgia outside linebacker Cornelius Washington on third-and-long ended the first offensive possession for Ole Miss last Saturday.ATHENS, Ga. — Although they had a difficult time stopping Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore and South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore the first two weeks of the season, Georgia’s defenders had success on third down.
The Broncos and Gamecocks combined to convert 8 of 26 third-down opportunities, and those could be the top two offenses the Bulldogs face all season.
“Even though we started off the year with two losses, we still did pretty good on third down against two really good third-down offenses,” junior defensive end Abry Jones said, “so I think we’re starting to feel it right now as far as seeing what we’re capable of. When you have a defense that was as bad as we were last year on third down and to come back this year and do so great, it lets us know that we can get off the field on third down.
“We know we can. We know what to do.”
The Bulldogs since have allowed Coastal Carolina and Ole Miss a paltry six combined third-down conversions on 30 attempts. They enter Saturday’s game against visiting Mississippi State ranked fifth nationally and second in the SEC behind Florida in third-down defense, allowing a 25 percent conversion rate.