UGA Football: Georgia Airs It Out In 41-31 Win Over MSU

ATHENS, Ga. — The fifth-ranked Georgia football team piled up the offensive yards Saturday at Sanford Stadium, amassing 605 in a 41-31 win over Mississippi State. Quarterback Carson Beck threw for a career-high 459 yards and three touchdowns, completing passes to 11 different receivers.

With the win, Georgia (5-1, 3-1 SEC) extended its school-record winning streak on Dooley Field to 28 games. The Bulldogs haven’t lost between the hedges since 2019. Georgia’s senior class, which has never lost a home game, improved its overall record to 47-3, the best mark in the FBS. The 2024 seniors are only three wins away from tying the 2023 class’ program-best win total of 50.

Beck spread the ball around plenty, with five different Bulldogs catching four or more passes. Wideout Arian Smith had five catches for a career-high 134 yards and a touchdown.

Mississippi State (1-5, 0-3) produced the game’s first turnover and turned it into three points. On Georgia’s second offensive play, a Beck pass was tipped and intercepted by cornerback Brice Pollock at the UGA 26-yard line. Georgia’s defense then moved State backward thanks to defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins’ stop for a five-yard loss, and State’s Kyle Ferrie kicked a 47-yard field goal to put MSU ahead 3-0.

Georgia answered with a 10-play drive that ended with a 45-yard Peyton Woodring field goal to tie the game, 3-3, with 7:09 remaining in the first quarter.

After the defense got another quick stop — State had a total of seven yards after three possessions — Georgia’s offense went to work and drove 81 yards for the game’s first touchdown. A 26-yard completion from Beck to Smith moved the ball down to the MSU 29. On third-and-long, Beck hit London Humphreys for 21 yards, down to the 5. Branson Robinson put Georgia up 10-3 with a 5-yard touchdown run with 2:13 left in the quarter. Woodring pushed the Georgia lead to 13-3 with a 32-yard field goal early in the second quarter.

Mississippi State cut the lead to 13-10 with a pair of big pass plays, First, quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. hit Mario Craver for a 72-yard gain up the right side, down to the Georgia 5. After back-to-back penalties on State moved the ball back to the 24, Van Buren connected with Kelly Akharaiyi for a 24-yard touchdown with 8:46 left until halftime.

Georgia produced some big plays of its own on the ensuing possession. On the first play of the drive, Beck connected with Dillon Bell across the middle for a 23-yard gain. On the final play, Beck hit Bell in the back of the end zone for a 31-yard score and a 20-10 lead with 6:32 to go in the second.

On first down at the UGA 20 after another State punt, Beck hit Smith down the left hash for a 55-yard gain to the MSU 25. Later in the drive, running back Cash Jones caught a direct snap in the backfield, handed the ball off to Beck, and the quarterback then lofted a pass to tight end Oscar Delp on the right side for a 17-yard gain to the 1.

After the two-minute timeout, Beck found tight end Lawson Luckie in the back of the end zone for the score and a 27-10 lead. Safety KJ Bolden picked off the first pass of his career on State’s final drive of the half, giving the offense the ball at the UGA 19 with 27 seconds left. Beck drove the Bulldogs down to the State 37 and Woodring attempted a 55-yard field goal as time expired. The kick, which would have tied the kicker’s career-long, was wide left.

Georgia outgained State 369-130 in the first half, with 96 of MSU’s yards coming on two plays. State gained just four first downs in the first two quarters. Beck had 317 passing yards at the half, completing passes to 10 different receivers, and Georgia averaged 8.0 yards per play.

That Georgia average went up on the Bulldogs’ first drive of the third quarter. Beck hit tight end Ben Yurosek up the left side for a 29-yard gain on the second play of the possession, the Stanford transfer’s first catch for UGA, and on the next play, Beck found Smith for a 42-yard touchdown and a 34-10 lead.

State answered with a 75-yard scoring drive that ended with a 19-yard rushing touchdown by Johnnie Daniels, cutting Georgia’s lead to 34-17 with 8:27 remaining in the third. On the first play of the ensuing UGA drive, wideout Anthony Evans ran 52 yards to the State 23. Two plays later, Beck was picked off at the goal line by cornerback DeAgo Brumfield.

Mississippi State turned that takeaway into points with a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Van Buren to running back Davon Booth on fourth-and-goal from the 2. That cut Georgia’s lead to 34-24 with 2:40 to play in the third quarter.

Georgia had more than 500 yards of offense heading into the fourth quarter, but State was still in the game. Georgia’s defense got a key stop and forced a punt with 10:59 to play, and the Bulldog offense sealed the victory with a long, clock-chewing drive.

At the end of the 16-play, 81-yard drive that took 7:26 off the clock, running back Trevor Etienne plowed into the end zone from the 1 to give Georgia a 41-24 lead with 3:33 to play. Beck’s 36th completion of the game, a 21-yarder to Bell on the left side to the MSU 4, gave the quarterback a new career-high in passing yardage and tied the school single-game record for completions.

Mississippi State, after getting just four first downs in the first half, had 13 in the second, finishing with 385 total yards. Freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr., who had 36 career passing attempts coming into the game, was 20 of 37 for 306 yards and three touchdowns Saturday. The last was a 35-yarder to Akharaiyi with 1:47 remaining that made it a 41-31 game.

The Bulldogs hit the road next week to face Texas in Austin, in the first SEC meeting between the programs. The top-ranked Longhorns routed No. 18 Oklahoma 34-3 on Saturday.