South Bound & Down
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3 Up’s, 3 Down’s from Georgia’s 45-3 Win Over Ball State

By Elliot Reeder

ATHENS, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 9: Dillon Bell #86 of the Georgia Bulldogs rushes in for a touchdown during the second quarter against the Ball State Cardinals at Sanford Stadium on September 9, 2023 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
ATHENS, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 9: Dillon Bell #86 of the Georgia Bulldogs rushes in for a touchdown during the second quarter against the Ball State Cardinals at Sanford Stadium on September 9, 2023 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) /
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Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint (Photo by Steve Limentani/ISI Photos/Getty Images) /

Up – That 2nd Quarter

What a 2nd Quarter. Not much else you can say about it. After a sluggish start and a 0-0 game at the end of the 1st Quarter, Georgia exploded and blew the game open with a 31 point 2nd Quarter to take a 31-0 lead into the break. The previously mentioned Mews punt return TD got things started to make it 7-0. Georgia kept going from there as they tacked on three more TD’s and a FG (although it should have been four TD’s as a touchdown was taken off the board on an OPI that did not look like OPI). Georgia dominated the quarter in all three facets of the game.

The defense was great in the 2nd quarter, getting three takeaways and allowing just 20 yards in the quarter. The offense executed at a high level as well. Beck settled in. The ball was spread around a lot. Arian Smith made some plays. Dillon Bell showed what he can do as he lined up at running back and had arguably Georgia’s best run play of the year as he scored from 21 yards out.

All in all, the 31 points came from the Mews return TD, a Beck TD pass to Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, the Bell TD run, the FG (that should have been a Dominic Lovett TD), and a Kendall Milton touchdown carry right before the half. Should also mention that Georgia did a lot better executing this time at the end of the half than they did last week.

A calling card of Georgia the last 2+ seasons has been the ability to just quickly overwhelm teams, and they showed that again on Saturday.

Down – The Run Game

Once again, the run game just did not have the oomph that we have seen it have in the past. Again, I realize that a lot of this likely comes from the fact that we have yet to see Daijun Edwards this season and that Kendall Milton has been limited (just 7 carries this week). However, once again Georgia was not able to establish the run game against lesser competition.

Georgia ended up going for 28 carries for 99 yards (just 3.5 yards per carry). If you take out sacks and kneeling at the end of the game, Georgia ends up with 25 carries for 111 yards (4.44 yards per carry). While that number is better, it is still not what you would expect. In fact, it was the first time since the 2020 Peach Bowl against Cincinnati that Georgia failed to hit 100 yards rushing as a team (when counting sacks and kneels).

The depth at the position continues to be a question mark as well. With Branson Robinson out for the season, along with Milton and Edwards continuing to be banged up, Georgia continued to have to get creative at the RB position. This week it was lining up Dillon Bell at RB (and he impressed). As I just mentioned in the previous Up, Bell showed great vision and movement on his TD carry. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bell utilized at the position more moving forward. However, Georgia just does not have a ton of options at the position at the moment.

I still fully expect Georgia to get the run game going, and for it to ultimately be a strength of the team. However, the Dawgs have yet to really establish the run game this season and that might be starting to become a cause for worry.

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