Make no mistake about it, Georgia’s offense was not bad against Missouri. The Bulldogs racked up over 500 total yards with a stellar game from quarterback Stetson Bennett. However, Georgia was not able to run it down the throats of a Mizzou defense that was ranked dead-last nationally in rush defense, as most expected.
Missouri made it a point to stop Georgia’s run game by putting seven and sometimes eight defenders in the box. The Bulldogs seem motivated to not let that happen again on the road against Tennessee.
“It’s definitely has been an emphasis for us just because honestly, we feel a little bit disrespected,” said center Sedrick Van Pran. “We feel like our whole identity of who we want to be as an offensive line is to run the ball so it’s something we’re looking to fix going forward.”
Much has been made of the matchup between Tennessee’s explosive offense against Georgia’s staunch defense but what will the other end of that matchup look like?
The Vols’ have the nation’s 68th best run defense, so about as average as it gets. While Georgia’s offense has not put up as many yards as other teams in the SEC, they have found ways to score points. The Bulldogs head into the contest on Saturday averaging 38.44 points per game, good for second-best in the SEC.
“Every game that we go into, we want to be explosive,” said receiver Kearis Jackson. “I know that many people do not look at this receiver corps as an explosive group, but at the same time, you can check the stats, check the numbers. We are just as explosive as any other team out there. We just love and enjoy playing football.”
UGA was able to rely on its defense to propel them past Florida, and the talent and coaching differential were far superior against Missouri, even in a game when the Bulldogs did not run the ball as well as they would have liked.
Georgia will need to get back to the balanced and efficient attack that it displayed in wins over Arkansas, Auburn and Kentucky. Neyland Stadium will be rocking with excitement but that can only help a team so much that is 95th in the country in total defense.