No. 1 Georgia held on to beat Missouri 26-22, avoiding a major upset bid. Here are some observations from the Red & Black:
Red zone struggles nearly sink Bulldogs
One of the only negatives regarding Georgia’s offense through the first four games of the season had been inconsistency with scoring touchdowns in the red zone.
Against Missouri, Georgia failed to score touchdowns on three red zone drives, instead settling for Jack Podlesny field goals. That inability to get the ball into the end zone proved nearly fatal for the Bulldogs.
The red zone struggles previously came against Samford and Kent State, two teams that were outmatched by Georgia physically and talent-wise. The Bulldogs got away with those mistakes, but against an SEC opponent in Missouri they put Georgia in a major hole.
Georgia was able to score a touchdown on a 10 play, 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter, but even then it struggled to punch the ball in, needing a fourth-and-1 conversion by Kenny McIntosh inside the 10-yard line to keep the drive alive. Kendall Milton powered the ball over the goal line from one yard out to cut the Missouri lead to 22-19.
Georgia’s next offensive possession was one of its best of the game, a seven play, 68-yard march that ended with a 1-yard touchdown for running back Daijun Edwards, giving Georgia its first lead of the night at 26-22.
The Bulldogs were able to salt the game away on the final drive, taking the final 3:39 off the clock behind some hard running from Edwards. The running game in the second half was the engine of the offense, as the team rushed for over 100 yards in the third and fourth quarter.
Edwards carried the ball six times for 42 yards on the final drive, sealing the game for Georgia.
Quarterback Stetson Bennett was also better in the second half, completing 14-20 passes for 163 yards.
Defense does enough
Missouri’s offense wasn’t incredible on Saturday night, but it nearly did enough to sink the Bulldogs.
Standout cornerback Kelee Ringo was beat for a 46-yard completion to Mookie Cooper on the Tigers’ first drive of the third quarter. The defense was plagued by uncharacteristic mistakes all night, but admirably was able to hold Missouri to a number of field goals, keeping Georgia alive.
Ringo struggled in general, also committing a pass interference penalty on a third-and-17, an unnecessary penalty due to Ringo having help from safety Dan Jackson over the top.
Missouri kicker Harrison Mevis was excellent, nailing all five of his field goal attempts and his extra point. Two of those field goals came from 50+ yards.
Much like the offense, the Bulldog defense did just enough to stave off the Tigers’ in the fourth quarter, getting off the field multiple times to set the offense up for scoring drives. Though the overall performance was discouraging for Georgia in a number of ways, the backbone the team showed in the fourth quarter was that of a championship team.
Wake-up call
The Bulldogs were sluggish in last week’s 39-22 win over Kent State, and many believed they would respond with a sharp performance against the Tigers.
Instead, Missouri gave Georgia all it could handle. Though the Bulldogs survived the scare on Saturday night, they will need to be better next week and throughout the season if they want to be the dominant team they were over the first few weeks.
Next up, the Bulldogs return home to Athens to take on the Auburn Tigers on Oct. 8 at 3:30 p.m.