COLUMBIA, Mo. - Georgia quarterback JT Daniels is confident that wherever he throws the football, George Pickens will catch it.
Daniels threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Pickens, on Saturday afternoon as the 12th-ranked Bulldogs broke away from Missouri to win 49-14 in a matchup of Southeastern Conference East Division teams.
"I'll never overthrow George," Daniels said. "I'll always throw it up and give him a chance. A 50-50 ball with George is an 80-20 ball."
Zamir White ran for 126 yards and a score as Georgia (7-2) dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Missouri (5-4) managed just 200 yards of offense after topping the 600-yard mark each of the past two weeks.
"I think Missouri's a good football team - I really do - and they're a team that's growing, young, getting better, and we were able to overpower them in the second half," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said.
Smart said his players had great practices Monday and Tuesday despite being eliminated last weekend from contention for the SEC championship game. East champ Florida and West winner Alabama, the two teams that have beaten the Bulldogs during the all-SEC regular season, will play for the league title next Saturday night in Atlanta. Georgia is scheduled to host Vanderbilt earlier that day.
Georgia and Missouri were tied at 14 when Pickens reached to his shoetops to gather in a 36-yard touchdown toss from Daniels in the final minute of the first half. The pair connected again on the first drive of the second half, with Pickens catching a short pass on a slant route, stepping out of a tackle attempt and racing 31 yards for a score.
AP photo by L.G. Patterson / Georgia quarterback JT Daniels threw three touchdown passes during Saturday's 49-14 win at Missouri.Daniels completed 16 of 27 passes for 299 yards in his third start for the Bulldogs, who have averaged 41.7 points per game in that span after averaging 28 points this season before he took over. Pickens made five catches for 126 yards, and running back James Cook caught a touchdown pass and rushed for a score.
Missouri's Mason Pack blocked a punt deep in Georgia territory to set up Larry Rountree's 1-yard touchdown run that made it 14-all with 1:20 left in the second quarter.
Rountree, who had rushed for more than 180 yards in the past two games (against Vanderbilt and Arkansas), managed just 16 yards on 14 carries. Connor Bazelak completed 17 of 28 passes for 139 yards and ran for the Tigers' other score.
"I'm not going to let this define our season," first-year Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said.
The Tigers have taken care of business against the SEC's middle- and lower-tier teams, but there is a talent gap between them and the league's elite. Missouri, which checked into the College Football Playoff rankings at No. 25 this past Tuesday, has been outscored 128-52 in losses to Alabama, Florida and Georgia.
The Tigers are set to complete their regular season by visiting Mississippi State next weekend.