UGA Football: A Stellar Half, A Strong Return To Sanford

10/04/2020

Georgia linebacker Azeez Ojulari provided the perfect coda on the fourth-ranked Bulldogs’ stellar first half against Auburn on Saturday night at Sanford Stadium. It was about as good a half as a Georgia team has played in a long time, and wasn’t it nice to see the Bulldogs lined up between the hedges again?

With the Bulldogs leading 24-3 and having punted the ball to the Tiger 15-yard line, and only 18 seconds left in the half, trick-play loving Auburn lined up in the classic take-a-knee formation. So, naturally, the seventh-ranked Tigers tried to catch the Georgia defense off guard, having wideout Anthony Schwartz run around the left side. Or try to, anyway.

Ojulari wasn’t having any of it, stuffing Schwartz for a 4-yard loss — one of his three TFLs in the game. The Tigers called it a half after that. And what a half it was for Georgia.

Georgia led by 21 at the break, but sometimes scores can be misleading. Not this time. The Bulldogs outgained Auburn 288 yards to 81. The Bulldogs earned 15 first downs to the Tigers’ five. Georgia averaged 6.3 yards per play to Auburn’s 3.1. Get the picture?

Here’s one more, a juicy, telling one: Auburn’s defense had a combined 50 tackles at halftime, while Georgia’s defense had 26, including Ojulari’s superb tackle-for-loss to end it. It was outright domination on Dooley Field, in front of a sellout crowd of 20,524 (due to social distancing restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic).

The Bulldogs didn’t just dominate the half one week after coming up with almost nothing in the first half at Arkansas last Saturday when the Razorbacks led 7-5. No, Georgia dismantled the Tigers and showed off an array of weapons while doing so.

Quarterback Stetson Bennett, in his first career start, wasn’t perfect; there were some missed connections and a throw or two that likely should never have been attempted. But Bennett made the big plays, completing 12 of 22 first-half passes for 158 yards and a touchdown. And no pass was bigger or better than his third-down throw on the run on Georgia’s second series, after going three-and-out during the first.

Facing a third-and-10 at the Auburn 32, Bennett escaped a heavy pass rush, rolled to his left, and fired a perfect dart on the run to wideout Kearis Jackson on the left sideline. The play gained 17 yards and surely did wonders for Bennett’s confidence. Not long after, Zamir White ran the ball in from the 1 for a touchdown.

“If you don’t produce you don’t play, that’s how it goes,” Bennett said after Georgia’s 27-6 win, in which he produced 240 yards passing, completing 17 of 28 attempts.

Bennett and Jackson connected several times last week at Arkansas after Bennett took over for D’Wan Mathis, and they went together like burgers and fries in the Bulldogs’ home opener. Jackson set career highs last week with six catches for 62 yards, and by halftime against Auburn he had seven receptions for 104 yards, with a 49-yarder in there as well.

With Georgia up 10 and driving, Bennett and Jackson connected again on a third down. This time, Bennett took a long look at James Cook running a route out of the backfield, movement that helped open up the middle of the field, and then Bennett hit Jackson moving into that open middle for a 17-yard gain. Jackson finished the game with nine receptions for 147 yards.

If Bennett’s evasion and connection with Jackson for that key 17-yard gain wasn’t the quarterback’s best throw of the night, its only competition was his perfect toss up the left sideline and into the end zone to wideout George Pickens. It went for a 21-yard score on third-and-9, putting the Bulldogs up 17-0. It was a throw with touch and timing, to a receiver with the speed and reach to bring it in while the defender had no shot at it.

Of course, it wasn’t just the passing game that was all bright and shiny under the lights. White and the ground game were making their presence felt, as well. White had 76 yards at the half to lead a 130-yard effort by the ground game in the first two quarters. Georgia finished the game with 202 yards rushing on 45 carries, led by White’s 88 on 19 attempts.

And none of the offensive magic above happens without an offensive line that gave Bennett time to throw and the backs room to run. Georgia’s offensive line, which had to replace three starters that are now in the NFL, struggled at times last week at Arkansas. The unit controlled the line and effectively controlled the game on Saturday, against a stout Auburn front.

Things settled down in the second half: Bennett hit Jackson a few more times, the offensive and defensive lines kept winning their battles and the Tigers were never really in the game once Georgia took the lead.

It was a delight to see Georgia play so well and so soundly in the first game between the hedges since Nov. 23, 2019, when the Bulldogs eked out a 19-13 win over Texas A&M, a game that now feels like a few years ago.

After last week’s ugly first half at Arkansas, when next to nothing went right offensively and penalties were a persistent problem, nobody knew quite what was to follow. Georgia rolled to a 37-10 win over the Hogs and kept the momentum going against a more formidable Auburn squad. And Bennett to Jackson is shaping up to be quite a potent pairing.

It wasn’t a perfect night Saturday, not with Richard LeCounte getting tossed in the second quarter for targeting and the offense only got a Jack Podlesny field goal in the second half, but it was really darn good. Georgia’s defense has allowed a total of 16 points in two games and is making all kinds of plays in the backfield and beyond.

It sure was nice to again be in Athens on a Saturday night, even if we had to wait until the first weekend in October to get there. Let’s do it again next week.