There was some causes for concern. But in the end, Georgia did what you’d expect – eventually overpower Vanderbilt 38-17. Now, everyone officially can do what they have been secretly doing since August – focus on Alabama.
Here are 10 thoughts from how everything shook out on Saturday Between The Hedges.
1. There’s no telling whether or not Kirby Smart is the hand-written letter type. But he should at the very least have a thank you card sent to Vanderbilt’s athletics department, attn: Clark Lea for
doing the Bulldogs a great service on Saturday. Talk to anyone in this program and they will quickly tell you that there is plenty of adversity to be encountered during game weeks at practice, but that run into during actual games is different. Saturday may not have been an “identity game,” but it was a moment of sweating things out with a sack being given up near the goal line and multiple defensive secondary leaks. It’s much better to have these pop up now than next Saturday in prime time.
2. So what was actually said during halftime? We’ll have to wait on ‘leaked audio” more than likely. But there was an apparent intent to take control from a one-touchdown lead, as seen from Gabe Harris’ sack being the first of the day for Georgia’s defense and a scoring drive of more than 6:30.
3. Thank goodness for this team’s running back depth. Nate Frazier entered the game for a handful of carries due to a possible injury to Chauncey Bowens, otherwise, he likely does not play. Then again, with the way Dwight Phillips has run..and caught the ball as of late, there is less concern if this group gets banged up. And given the nature of the season, that will happen.
4. Does this team really have a go-to receiver? The results say no. If you look at receivers and tight ends alone on Saturday, seven were targeting at least twice and none were thrown to more than five times by Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton. That says two things – one, that plenty of players at a position that was a preseason worry can step up and two, that hopefully Stockton does not lock down heavy on one single receiver and not cycle through his secondary options.
5. On the subject of running backs – the long screen to Dwight Phillips is a feature of this offense as the year goes on – that when you have a guy with Phillips’ speed, you wrinkle in multiple ways to use it.
6. No Jared Curtis on Saturday. But Vandy quarterback Blaze Berlowitz still presented plenty of capable things, though not as much as Junior Sherrill. This Commodores team is not a bad club, and odds are solid that they will be bowl-bound thanks to those playmakers and how they mix things up defensively. If you need some good schedule fortune, this aligns well for Georgia head of its by-far toughest game coming up.
7. Speaking of Curtis – will Nate Bargatze be asking for a refund after coming to Athens and not even seeing Curtis take the field. Hopefully, he found some means of entertainment in downtown Atnens.
8. As you go into any season, there is a temptation to look at one element and say ‘this might bite us when it matters.” Placekicking is not one of them, with Peyton Woodring still being basically automatic (hopefully this is not a jinx). The last thing you need going into a big game is worrying that your kicker is jumpy, and Georgia is avoiding that as of now.
9. So the good news for Florida is that it can consult its SEC East-era rival Tennessee on publishing a coffee-table book on a single-win during a season before having your shorts run up the flagpole a few weeks later.
10. You know that line in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when he says “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”?
That apparently was talking about the college football season. With all its faults, this is a greatest sport in America…and the regular season just shy of halfway over. Time is a thief, indeed.
Go Dawgs!
