Georgia Football wins despite letting Mississippi State hang around

The Georgia Bulldogs beat the Mississippi State Bulldogs, 45-19. Despite the blowout score, this game was a lot closer than I expected it to be. Georgia Football went back to similar ways this week after dismantling the best team in the country last week. They allowed a less talented team to hang around until the second half.

The game started off with a dominant stop by the Georgia defense. They forced the Bulldogs to a three-and-out on the first possession. Stetson Bennett quickly went to work and led Georgia down the field for a TD. What followed was a lot of incompetence by the Georgia offense.

After punts by both sides, Mississippi State got into good field position at its own 43. They were unable to convert that good field position into something, as the Georgia defense was able to stop them on downs. Georgia’s offense quickly struggled, as Bennett threw an interception. Georgia’s defense once again held the fort down. They forced Mississippi State to a three-and-out.

Georgia’s offense woke up a little bit, as they drove down the field into the red zone. They struggled in the red zone and had to settle for three. Mississippi State’s offense finally got going and drove down the field.

Penalties and poor offense forced State to settle for a field goal. Georgia’s offense finally responded with a touchdown. They were able to score mostly due to the running game and a key 15-yard pass to Daijun Edwards on 3rd and 5 at their own 43-yard line.

Mississippi State once again got into the red zone due to an amazing kick return from Lideatrick Griffin but Georgia’s defense held its own, holding them to three points. With little time remaining, it seemed like Georgia would just run out the clock and take in the half up 17-6. They did just that, except, Georgia had to punt after a Bennett incompletion.

Mississippi State ended up taking that punt for a house call. Zavion Thomas went 63 yards for the score. They missed the two-point conversion, but it was only a five-point game.

Georgia would take care of the game, going forward. They would score two touchdowns on their first two offensive drives, and they would never look back. Still, this game caused me concern. Georgia has played down to their opponent multiple times.

Georgia Football wins despite letting Mississippi State hang around

While Mississippi State has an amazing offense and is much better than Kent State, Missouri, Auburn, or Florida, Georiga should have dominated them. After the Tennessee game, I thought Georgia was the best team in the country (obviously).

After this game, I still have the opinion. Still, I am worried that this team plays sloppy sometimes. They still have issues in the red zone, and the offense just downright struggles at times.

Before I get into what Georgia Football has to do to renounce my doubts before the SEC title game, let’s quickly get into Mississippi State. State has had a solid season with some missteps along the way. The offense collapsed against LSU in the fourth (which doesn’t look as bad now that LSU has won the West) and the rushing defense failed mightily against Chris Rodriguez in the Kentucky game.

Besides that, I would say this has been a pretty good season. They should get to seven wins next week after playing ETSU. Their final game is the Egg Bowl against Ole Miss this year. Honestly, I have been a huge fan of State’s offense this year and I think Ole Miss has issues, so I would say that they should win that one. If they get to eight wins, that is a pretty good season.

Georgia on the other hand has to clean up their sloppy play. While their sloppy play won’t cost them in the rest of their regular season games (way better than Kentucky and Georgia Tech) or SEC title game (they are probably better than LSU, even in sloppy form), it will probably cost them in the playoff.

Yes, Georgia Football just might be better than everyone else (TCU, Michigan/Ohio State) and they only seem to play down to their opponent when it’s not a top-tier team (See Tennessee game). But, the door is still open because they played sloppy at times this year.  For Kirby Smart, the question is, does Georgia need to overcome their sloppy play or are they just better than everyone else in the country/only do this against weaker opponents?