Defense grows up

The way Kirby Smart tells it, his defense grew up a lot in Saturday night’s 23-17 win over No. 7 Notre Dame.

Considering the effort his unit had to put in when the Irish had the ball at their 48-yard line with two minutes left to play, it’s easy to see why he felt that way.

Plenty of time remained for the Irish to steal a win, but after picking up an initial first down, the Bulldog defense would persevere, ultimately stopping Notre Dame on fourth down when a desperation throw from quarterback Ian Book was knocked harmlessly to the ground.

“We just had to come out and execute and finish,” linebacker Tae Crowder said. “We just had to keep playing with heart.”

What might be surprising is how many of Georgia’s younger players were out on the field at the time.

Along with redshirt freshman Divaad Wilson, freshmen Nakobe Dean, Nolan Smith and Travon Walker were also on the field, playing integral roles for Georgia during its game-winning stop.

It’s a good thing.

Already down a man in the secondary when senior Tyrique McGhee started for sophomore Tyson Campbell, who was forced to miss the contest with an injured foot, Eric Stokes—Georgia’s other regular starting corner—was forced from the game early in the first quarter with an injury of his own.

Although Stokes, according to Smart, was ultimately able to return late in the game, junior college transfer DJ Daniel was forced to make his first career start.

“We have a lot of depth in that room,” Wilson said. “We’ve got four guys who can come in and play at any time, play big roles, so there’s no real drop-off if we have to give somebody a blow.”

Wilson would come up with one of the biggest defensive plays for the Bulldogs, when he came down with an interception after the ball thrown by Ian Book bounced off an Irish receiver and into his hands.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Wilson said. “I was just glad I was able to make a play.”

Senior safety J.R. Reed had Georgia’s other interception off Book, who completed 29 of 47 passes for 275 yards.

“The coaches in the box and on the field are putting us in the right positions to make plays,” Wilson said. “Everything else just takes care of itself.”

Although the Irish were able to hit some big plays, Notre Dame was just 4 of 13 converting third downs.

“We made the big plays when we had to,” Reed said. “There are still some things we need to correct, but we’ll get better. This was a good experience for us tonight.”