When your defense has been as impressive as Georgia’s, it’s natural to feel concerned if an opposing offense moves the ball consistently.
After all, the 22 points Kent State posted in Georgia's 39-22 win on Saturday represented the most allowed in a regular season game since a 31-24 win over Mississippi State on November 11, 2020.
Although head coach Kirby Smart did not dispute that there is plenty his defense should clean up before next week's game against Missouri, he did not lament Saturday’s showing as much as one might expect.
"Yeah, there are lot of places to improve, the same places we could improve on giving up 10 points—you just didn't see it. They did a good job in the RPO game,” Smart said. “We didn't leverage the ball properly on the sideline twice.
"They had three first downs at halftime, but we had a slow start," he added with a twinge of sarcasm. "So, I take it that we did our job—we've just got to keep improving."
Three areas stood out.
While the Bulldogs held the Golden Flashes to 281 total yards and just 93 on the ground, running back Marquez Cooper enjoyed a solid afternoon, rushing 21 times for 93 yards and one of Kent State’s two touchdowns.
Georgia also suffered a breakdown on its perimeter defense when wide receiver Devontez Walker took a sideline pass, picked up a block, and took it 56 yards for a score.
Kent State was also able push the tempo for some offensive success, something linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson said he expects will be corrected in practice this week.
“We had some miscommunication, and the tempo got to us,” Dumas-Johnson said. “But when we go back in the lab, you can bet we'll be working on our communication more.”
If not for Dumas-Johnson, Georgia might not have had the success it did.
The sophomore tied for the team lead in tackles with six, which included his first two career sacks during Georgia’s opening defensive series of the afternoon. He added another tackle for loss later in the game.
"I’ll tell you, he’s practicing really good right now. He’s slowly becoming that vocal leader of the unit. He commands respect the way he practices,” Smart said. “The walkthroughs before the game, man, I love the way he’s maturing. He’s getting more confidence. I don’t want to comment on how he played. It sounds like he played good based on those statistics you just gave. He practices the right way, so it doesn’t surprise me."
The Bulldogs did play most of the game without junior defensive tackle Jalen Carter, who dressed out but only saw limited reps after getting in nine plays last week at South Carolina.
With Carter out, Georgia turned to true freshman Bear Alexander, who saw his most extensive action to date, making a tackle and deflecting a pass.
Redshirt sophomore Bill Norton also saw early action and played well, collecting a tackle for loss.
“Bear, with him being a freshman, it was really good for him to get that experience,” nose tackle Nazir Stackhouse said. “Bill doesn’t get as many snaps, but that’s ok. When he does, he’s on point every time. With him having an impact there in the second half, it fired us up, because we know how hard he works.”
But Stackhouse and Dumas-Johnson acknowledged this wasn’t quite the standard that Georgia’s defense expects for itself, and the Bulldogs will need a better effort next week at Missouri.
“They punched us, but we did, too,” Stackhouse said. “Definitely need to work on some more stuff. We can defend the run better. Kent State had under 100 (rushing) yards, and we were able to get some (tackles for loss). We kept smaller runs from turning into big plays, but we need to work on covering down. Obviously, Kent State was doing a lot of perimeter plays, so we’re going to work on those.”
