Will Georgia's run defense step it up?
This seems to be the biggest concern among most Georgia fans four weeks into the season.
Yes, the Bulldogs are undefeated, but Georgia’s run defense hasn’t been up to Kirby Smart’s standard.
After allowing Middle Tennessee to rush for 158 yards two weeks ago, Missouri ran for 172 in Saturday’s 43-29 win.
It's a little alarming considering the Bulldogs have yet to hit what most consider the difficult part of the schedule. LSU is just three weeks away, with Florida, Kentucky, and Auburn not far behind.
In the SEC, if you can’t stop, or at least slow down the run, you’re setting yourself up for problems. Georgia needs to start finding some answers, beginning with Saturday’s game against Tennessee.
Will Dawgs regain a physical edge?
It all starts up front.
Missouri was a big, physical team, but Georgia came nowhere close to exerting its will on the Tigers in the way Smart hoped.
Defensively, we’ve already talked about the issues stopping the run, but on the other side of the ball, Georgia’s offense had arguably its least impressive day of the year, especially as far as run blocking is concerned.
Losing Andrew Thomas and Ben Cleveland certainly didn’t help Georgia’s cause. But unlike the SEC opener at South Carolina, when the Bulldog offensive line ultimately smashed the Gamecocks into submission, by the end of the Saturday’s game it was Georgia that seemed tired and happy that the game finally came to an end.
Of the injured, who will return for Saturday's game?
Well, we know Cleveland won’t. From everything we understand, Georgia’s starting right guard broke a bone in his fibula and could miss six weeks or more.
Another big question is Andrew Thomas. He tried to come back last week but appeared to tweak his injured left ankle and had to hobble of the field. We should learn more about Thomas’ status at Monday’s press conference, but if the sophomore can’t go, look for Cade Mays to be back in the starting lineup. As for Cleveland’s replacement, Justin Shaffer was the first man in against Missouri. But there are other options, including Kendall Baker, Trey Hill, and possibly Jamaree Salyer.
Wide receiver Tyler Simmons will miss the next three weeks with a shoulder injury, and the status of freshman outside linebacker Brenton Cox is unclear after he suffered an undisclosed injury against the Tigers.
Can the Dawgs clean up silly mistakes?
It’s a bamboozler that for the second time in three weeks, we’ve seen a Bulldog player drop the football before he was clearly over the goal line.
Two weeks ago, it was Deandre Baker who let go of the of the ball following his interception return. Fortunately, Juwan Taylor was paying attention and picked up the ball and stepped over for the score.
Saturday, it was Jeremiah Holloman’s turn. Holloman did a great job of staying in bounds after hauling in the pass from Jake Fromm, but he let go of the football as he crossed the goal line. Replays suggested the ball did in fact cross the plane, but why in the world are players even taking that kind of a chance? Call me old-fashioned, but take the football, run over, and hand it the referee. It’s really not that hard.
What's up with the lack of explosive plays by the running backs?
Nobody expected Elijah Holyfield and D’Andre Swift to be the second coming of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, but the fact we haven’t seen quite the explosive plays we thought we’d see by now is a bit of a head scratcher.
It’s not that Holyfield and Swift aren’t producing. Holyfield had a nice game, rushing 14 times for 90 yards, while Swift picked up 71 yards on 16 attempts.
Again, this probably is me just being a little picky. But I've noticed an occasional lack of patience when it comes to following the various blocking schemes, and that's a bit of a concern.
When you’re a program that wants to be great and not just good, little failures like that can cost you.
