Quarterback

Aaron Murray wasn't on fire like he has been in previous week, but he wasn't far from it either. Murray completed 14 of 17 passes (82 percent) for 215 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday, and seemed much more comfortable in the pocket than in recent weeks. He moved around well and escaped the rush on a few occasions to extend the play. He also did an excellent job of checking the ball down to his running backs a couple of times as well. His field vision was great, and the only real knocks on his play were a couple of missed deep balls that could have gone for big plays and a sack in which he held the ball way too long. Despite the mistakes, Murray played yet another great game and will prepare for the biggest game of his career in the Georgia Dome versus Alabama. Grade: A

Running backs

In Georgia's final regular season game, Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall looked unstoppable. Both scored two times a piece and averaged over eight yards per carry.

Gurley had 12 rushes for 97 yards and Marshall had seven carries for 66 yards. Had either running back been given more carries, it would have likely gotten a lot uglier as they had big holes to run through and were not going down on any sort of early contact. Marshall ran with more physicality than he had all year, and Gurley seemed to never miss a hole or running lane. Their blitz pick up was also very impressed and there were a couple of times where Gurley got extremely physical when picking up linebackers off the edge. Grade: A+

Receivers

After being such an effective possession target in recent weeks, Malcolm Mitchell had one of his patented big play games on Saturday with three receptions for 88 yards. The Valdosta native gashed the Georgia Tech defense for over 29 yards per reception and was a big part of a couple of Georgia scoring drives. The Bulldog tight ends also stepped up with another big game as Jay Rome had one catch for 24 yards and his first touchdown of the season, and Arthur Lynch hauled in three balls for 36 yards. Rhett McGowan had his first touchdown catch of the year, and the receivers seemed to do an excellent job of blocking and creating room for the running backs to break off big plays. Grade: A

Offensive line

There have been a few times in recent weeks where the Georgia offense line has started slowly, but they didn't do that against Georgia Tech. The guards, Chris Burnette, Dallas Lee, and Austin Long had tremendous games and manhandled Georgia Tech's interior defensive line almost all game. David Andrews had an excellent game and did a solid job handling Tech's nose tackle T.J. Barnes. The tackles, Mark Beard, Kenarious Gates, and John Theus all protected well on the edge and were physical in the run game. Theus had one of his most sound games of the season in terms of pass blocking and taking care of his assignments, and Gates had two devastating run blocks on Georgia's second touchdown drive. Overall, this is exactly the tune up this group needed going in to next week's showdown with the Crimson Tide. Grade: A

Defensive line

You can't talk about the Bulldogs' defensive line play on Saturday without mentioning John Jenkins and Ray Drew. The two combined for 19 tackles, and every time Georgia Tech dropped back to pass, it seemed as if Drew was in the quarterback's face. The Georgia defensive front did a great job tackling and it appears as if the defense did a great job of dictating Georgia Tech's reads with wide techniques from the linemen. Todd Grantham forced the Yellow Jackets to lean on the dive play and the defensive line responded with a solid game tackling. Kwame Geathers was a force on the inside and had a couple of big stops. Garrison Smith didn't play as much as he has in recent weeks, but played well. Overall, this group gave up some yardage but Georgia Tech really had no answer for them in big situations.

Grade: A-

Outside linebackers

Georgia's outside linebackers were, as usual, in the right place all day and did an excellent job containing Tech's perimeter run game. Jarvis Jones had 9 total tackles and one and a half tackles for a loss, and really did a good job of punishing the Georgia Tech's quarterbacks on the option. Jordan Jenkins added three tackles, and had a couple of occasions where he ran plays down from the backside. This group has been one of Georgia's most consistent groups all season, and continues to make big plays in each game. Grade: A

Inside linebackers

The tandem of Alec Ogletree and Christian Robinson had their second huge game against the option in as many weeks. Ogletree finished with a season high 15 tackles and one tackle for a loss, and Robinson added 13 tackles with two of those stops coming for a loss. Robinson did a great job of playing down hill and making the Yellow Jackets' to keep a man back side to block him. He also read the option quickly when it went to the edge and got over the top to make the play. Ogletree was all over the field and extremely physical. Grade: A

Defensive backs

Normally it would be really tough to grade defensive backs against a triple option offense, but Georgia's secondary, led by Bacarri Rambo, had a solid game. Rambo finished with two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one interception, and eight tackles. Shaw Williams added five tackles and a half tackle for loss while the cornerbacks, Sanders Commings and Damian Swann did an excellent job of forcing the perimeter runs back to the inside. There were some struggles to make the tackle on the edge for the Georgia cornerbacks, but they never lost contain and allowed Georgia Tech's A-backs to get outside the numbers and create the big play. Grade: A-

Special Teams

There isn't much to say about Georgia's special teams except that they were very solid. Malcolm Mitchell had a 47-yard kick return to start the ball game. The coverage teams were excellent. Collin Barber averaged 41 yards per punt and knocked one inside the Georgia Tech 20 yard line. Marshall Morgan attempted six extra points and hit them all. There were no huge plays or no mistakes. Grade: A


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