The Georgia Bulldogs, ranked No. 5, enjoyed their 28th home-game victory in a 41-31 win against the unranked Mississippi State Bulldogs. This game brought career high moments for a few Georgia Bulldogs, including quarterback Carson Back who threw 459 yards and three touchdowns. 

In the first quarter, Branson Robinson rushed up the middle and scored the first touchdown for the Bulldogs. Robinson gained 12 yards total in the game before suffering from a right knee injury after catching a 5-yard pass from Beck. Robinson was out for the entire rest of the game. 

Mississippi State followed up with a touchdown from wide receiver Kelly Akharaiyi. Soon after, Beck passed the ball deep to the right 31 yards to Dillion Bell, putting the Bulldogs up 20-10 after the field goal kick from Peyton Woodring with six minutes left in the first quarter. 

In the second quarter, Georgia scored another touchdown after Beck passed the ball short up the middle one yard to Lawson Luckie. Woodring kicked another field goal. The score was now 27-10.

Beck passed the ball to 11 different receivers, which allowed Arian Smith to get a career high in the game. Smith had five catches and a career-high of 134 yards. This is the third time that Smith has hit the century mark. Smith also scored a touchdown in the third quarter, which put the Bulldogs up 34-10. 

Head Coach Kirby Smart is proud of Smith’s progress on the team. He said Smith has grown a lot and he is proud of him.

Georgia’s defense also put up a great fight against Mississippi State. Defensive back KJ Bolden intercepted a pass thrown by MSU quarterback Micheal Van Buren Jr. with 30 seconds left of the second quarter, preventing MSU from scoring their second touchdown. This was Bolden’s first career interception. 

Furthermore, Malaki Starks led the defense with seven tackles for the Bulldogs. Trailing behind Starks is Dan Jackson with five tackles. Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins also showed up for the Bulldogs by pushing MSU back a few yards after an interception from Mississippi State’s Brice Pollock. 

Ingram-Dawkins spoke on Georgia’s past two wins “between the hedges” and their impact for the team going into next weekend’s game against No. 1 Texas.

“These past two games have been a great atmosphere for our team by making us better every week,” Ingram-Dawkins said. “We already had a road game at the beginning of the season. It’s just another game.”

Mississippi State caught up in the third quarter after a touchdown pass from Van Buren to running back Davon Booth. Now the Bulldogs were only up by 10 points (34-24) with just about three minutes to go before the fourth quarter,

The fourth quarter is where Beck earned his career high after he threw a completed pass 21 yards to Bell. The Bulldogs took over the scoreboard after running back Trevor Etienne drove in another touchdown, putting them up 41-24. 

With less than two minutes left of the game, Mississippi State’s Van Buren threw a 35 yard touchdown pass to Akharaiyi. The final score of the game was 41-31. 

Kirby Smart on the atmosphere in Texas next weekend: “[Austin’s] one place I’ve never been for a game. I know this is an SEC environment. It’s a top ten matchup and a powerhouse program. At least we played at Kentucky, which was really hard. We played at Alabama, which was really hard. We’ve got some experience in that environment.”

The Bulldogs travel next weekend to Austin, Texas for an SEC matchup against the No.1 Longhorns. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 19.