Members of Georgia’s proud defense insist there has been no stewing time following their 41-24 loss at Alabama on Oct. 17.
Not after the Crimson Tide amassed 564 total yards, the most surrendered by the Bulldogs since Nick Marshall’s fourth-and-18 prayer to Ricardo Louis accounted for the final 73 yards of Auburn’s 566-yard performance in 2013. Not after Florida’s COVID outbreak resulted in the Southeastern Conference having to adjust Georgia’s schedule to where the Bulldogs received their open date after a loss.
Not after 2020 in general. Surely Bulldogs defenders have to be at least somewhat angry entering this week’s trip to Kentucky, right?
“Angry? No,” sophomore free safety Lewis Cine said this week. “I would say that we want to go show out and make plays and show the world what we can offer and what we have as a team. We’re not angry.
“We’re just trying to get ready the best way we can.”
Georgia entered this season having led the nation a year ago in fewest points allowed per game and fewest yards per completion, and the Bulldogs got off to their desired stingy start by smothering Arkansas and Auburn by scores of 37-10 and 27-6. A bad snap over the head of Bulldogs quarterback Stetson Bennett provided Tennessee a quick 7-0 lead on Oct. 10, and the Volunteers added a pair of Jarrett Guarantano touchdown strikes to snag a 21-17 halftime edge, but Georgia overwhelmed the Vols with a 27-0 second-half surge.
Against Alabama, the Bulldogs survived an early 40-yard touchdown strike from Mac Jones to John Metchie and built a seven-point lead on three separate occasions before halftime, but the final 30 minutes yielded one big play after another for the Crimson Tide. In fact, Alabama became the first team in SEC history to scorch a league foe with a 400-yard passer (Jones threw for 417 yards and four touchdowns), two 150-yard receivers (DeVonta Smith amassed 11 catches for 167 yards, while Jaylen Waddle had six receptions for 161 yards), and a 150-yard rusher (Najee Harris carried 31 times for 152 yards).
Bulldogs fifth-year coach Kirby Smart said his defenders have been productive with the extra time.
“They are in a good place,” Smart said. “Each one of them individually got some goals and things to work on. They worked really hard on those things. We understand that when you play a team like Alabama there are going to be matchups that are one-on-one. We lost too many of those. The goal is to get better. How do you lose less of them? Well, you go back to the drawing board and work your tail off. You get better at tackling.
“If you watch teams fundamentally across the country, we’re trying to say, ‘We are going to out-fundamental you. We are going to get off blocks, and we’re going to strike people.’ There is no magic potion for it.”
Georgia ranks second among SEC teams in total defense, allowing 318.5 yards per game. Mississippi State leads the league with a 295.5-yard clip, but Mike Leach’s Bulldogs travel to Alabama this week.
The Bulldogs have been noticeably better at gaining turnovers this year, collecting eight through four games after compiling 14 in 14 contests a season ago.
“We’ve just been cutting loose,” senior outside linebacker Jermaine Johnson said. “It’s been a big point of emphasis at practice – the ball, the ball, the ball – so I think it’s just been guys playing fast and trusting their technique to go out there and make plays. It’s been no secret formula or anything.
“We’ve made more of an emphasis about the ball and been trying to attack it as much as we can.”
Georgia will face a Wildcats team that was anemic offensively in last Saturday’s 20-10 loss at Missouri. Kentucky managed just eight first downs, 145 total yards and possessed the ball for nine minutes and 57 seconds during the last three quarters.
The Bulldogs blanked the Wildcats 21-0 in a driving rain last October in Athens, and Kentucky coach Mark Stoops is debating this week whether to go with Terry Wilson or Auburn transfer Joey Gatewood as his quarterback.
“They both have a running element and really fit the style of offense that (coordinator) Eddie (Gran) has been using for a while,” Smart said. “If you ask anybody across our league, their physicality up front has been very evident. When you go back and watch our last couple of games against them, their offensive line is extremely physical, and we haven’t tackled well. I don’t know if you give them credit for that with the athletes they’ve had or whether it was Lynn Bowden or Terry the year before or just the fact that they block you and get a lot of one-on-one tackles.
“Both of those quarterbacks present issues in terms of contain and how you play people outside when you are playing against them. They’ve always done a good job of that.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.