Sometimes, a win isn't all that matters.
Georgia's defense played well enough to win on Saturday as the Bulldogs beat Mississippi State 41-31 in Athens. But Georgia also knows that with more stiff tests looming, the defense has a long way to go.
"I think first half we played a really good game of football," safety Malaki Starks said. "I think second half we didn’t. I don't think we’ve played a complete game of football yet. It's very frustrating because, you know, you want to, you put in the work. We talked all week about having pride in our performance, which is huge on the defensive side of the ball and offensive side, but, you know, we really got to, we got to find a way to finish better."
The main concerns rested in the secondary.
Mississippi State passed for 306 yards in the game, including 190 in the second half. The MSU offense generated several explosive downfield plays against the Georgia secondary, particularly the corners.
According to head coach Kirby Smart, the visitors from Starkville succeeded on "50-50 balls."
"We work really hard on 50-50 balls," Smart said. "The way we play defense, we don't give up any short, intermediate passes. We challenge people historically here, so if you're going to hit balls on us, it's usually shots, and if you miss those you're in long yardage all day. If you hit those, then you're explosive. And they hit some, but we work on them all the time just like they do, you know? They missed some, too. They threw some just like where you're like, 'Where's he throwing that ball?' He's throwing the ball deep and he missed the guy, but they made some. And that hurt us."
Cornerback Daylen Everette agreed. He felt the Georgia secondary "had some plays out there that we left out there."
The Bulldogs also let Mississippi State get off the mat, as the visitors rallied from a 34-10 deficit to make it 34-24. Outside linebacker Damon Wilson said the team has "got to put all the nails in the coffin" and continue playing like the scoreboard reads 0-0 all game.
"Our leaders have got to buy in, and it goes top to bottom," Wilson said. "That's always how it goes. So if our leaders are expressing that it's 0-0, we're going to do it. If not, probably not. So we’ve just got to make sure our leaders are spreading the message from Coach Smart down to the players who ain't gonna touch the field."
On top of everything else, the Bulldogs committed several uncharacteristic defensive penalties that helped kickstart Mississippi State drives.
"We certainly helped them, too, with some dumb, dumb, dumb penalties," Smart said. "We gifted them basically 14 points on two error plays, and then we gifted them three first downs. I think they were third and longs, which I've never been a part of that, not since I've been in Georgia, where it was like, it's hard to say undisciplined because the guy's trying to rush the passer. He puts his hand on the face mask, and that basically gives them another touchdown. So we got 14 points gifted to them."
The road doesn't get any easier for Georgia. The Bulldogs have a road test next week against No. 1 Texas and an explosive Longhorn offense.
The overall record of 5-1 is good. But the Bulldogs know the defense has yet to live up to the high standard at Georgia.
"That's why you come to the University of Georgia, to play defense, and we talk about that a lot," Starks said. "So just, you know, really just buying into the process. You know, you're either all-in or you're all-out. We've just really got to figure out, you know, how to finish the game, because we 've got the athletes've and we got the people to do it. You know, we've got the work, too, to be able to do it. We've just got to go out there and do it."
