Baby steps.
Midway through the second quarter this past Saturday night, top-ranked Georgia trailed Missouri 13-0, having already fumbled two possessions away. The Bulldogs needed something -- anything -- good to happen, and they found it with redshirt junior receiver Dominick Blaylock.
On a third-and-9 play from Georgia's 26-yard line, Blaylock ran his route past the first-down marker and jumped up to snag a Stetson Bennett pass before carrying a defender several more yards for an 18-yard gain out to the 44. That shot of adrenaline led to the Bulldogs getting on the board with a 40-yard Jack Podlesny field goal, and they would go on to rally for a 26-22 triumph.
Blaylock had a 16-yard catch to the Mizzou 11 on Georgia's go-ahead touchdown march in the fourth quarter and finished with three receptions for 42 yards.
"It felt great just being on the field, first of all," Blaylock said this week in a news conference as the No.2 Bulldogs prepare for Auburn, "but making some big catches and trying to help the team out any way possible felt great."
Simply being on the field is something the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder from Marietta will never take for granted again. The stepson of former Chattanooga Lookouts investor John Woods and the biological son of former NBA star Mookie Blaylock tore his left ACL during the 2019 Southeastern Conference championship game loss to LSU and tore it again in August 2020.
Blaylock didn't return to action until last season's 11th game against Charleston Southern, and his output at Mizzou was his best since his freshman year. In games last month against Samford, South Carolina and Kent State, he tallied four combined catches for 45 yards.
"He's been really clutch, and what he does he does really well," Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said. "There are package plays for Dom and he does a nice job. His plays that he made the other night were really clutch."
The multiple ACL tears left Blaylock, who nearly earned five-star status on the 247Sports.com composite rankings in the 2019 signing class, as somewhat of a forgotten figure on Georgia's roster, but his most recent showing certainly brought back memories.
In Georgia's 2019 run to a third straight SEC East crown, the Bulldogs topped both Florida (24-17) and Auburn (21-14), with Blaylock collecting the first touchdown in each of those games. His score at Auburn came from 51 yards out.
Blaylock had compiled 18 receptions for 310 yards and five touchdowns before his injury against LSU, and last week's performance showed he has the time and the potential of matching or surpassing those numbers this year.
"As of right now, everything is back to normal," Blaylock said. "I feel great out there. I feel like I'm back in my freshman year. It feels great."
First road game
Auburn is facing an uphill climb for a 10th consecutive bowl appearance after opening the season with five home games and only going 3-2.
This Saturday will mark the first road trip for the Tigers and redshirt freshman quarterback Robby Ashford, a transfer from Oregon who assumed the reins following an injury to TJ Finley in a 41-12 loss to Penn State. The 6-3, 212-pound Ashford had his best outing in last Saturday's 21-17 loss to LSU, completing 19 of 38 passes for 337 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
"His best plays sometimes are plays that end up being broken plays," Smart said. "The guy can take off and really hurt you. They had a huge play last week off a scramble play.
"Being disciplined in rush lanes and being disciplined in coverage responsibilities when a quarterback scrambles will probably happen more often this week than most weeks because of the athlete he is."
From the Auburn perspective, this week is not only about facing another talented Bulldogs defense but the first challenging atmosphere of the year as well.
"We're not going to bring in extra fans to yell at him and things like that," Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said. "He is going into a hostile environment and not going to be favored, and that's just part of the mental side of playing that position, but that goes for everybody. The noise becomes a factor.
"I think for Robby that it's continuing to just to play within himself. He's learning. He's growing."
Coaches canned
Harsin is on the thinnest of ice, having produced just a 9-9 record midway through his second season that includes getting outscored 101-18 in the third and fourth quarters of his last seven games against Power Five opposition.
There have already been five firings of Power Five coaches this season, with Nebraska's Scott Frost, Arizona State's Herm Edwards, Georgia Tech's Geoff Collins, Colorado's Karl Dorrell and Wisconsin's Paul Chryst getting the axe.
"It's unfortunate," Smart said. "It's become much more the nature of the beast for our profession with the salaries and television contracts and the amount of money people make. The expectations go up and administrations make decisions much quicker, and that's their right to do it.
"It's not necessarily the best thing for our profession, but it comes with the territory."
Bulldogs bites
When Auburn won 31-30 at Georgia in 2005, the Tigers held a 53-48-8 advantage in the Deep South's oldest rivalry, but the Bulldogs have been a convincing 14-3 since and now lead 62-56-8. ... Bulldogs junior defensive tackle Jalen Carter will miss Saturday's contest with an MCL sprain. ... Georgia's game next week against visiting Vanderbilt will have a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on the SEC Network.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.