STARKVILLE, Miss. - Kamari Lassiter dropped back and then exploded toward the line of scrimmage.

Mississippi State called a swing pass, a play designed to beat man coverage on fourth-and-1 at the Georgia 8-yard line. But Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs tricked the home team, disguising the coverage to make it appear to be man.

Lassiter sprinted toward the backfield and toppled Jo'quavious Marks for no gain. Georgia then took over on downs, up 19 with under 10 minutes to go.

Georgia's defense, through a combination of great coaching and better execution, again stymied its opponent. This time, it led to a 45-19 win at Mississippi State Saturday night.

"I don't want to minimize what our team is doing right now in terms of commitment to practice and toughness and doing things the right way," Smart said. "I'm really proud of them. I think people take it for granted sometimes. It's hard to do what they've been doing."

The roots of the success goes back in part to last week's win over Tennessee. Smart praised his team after that game for buying into the defensive plan and executing it on the field.

The buy-in continued this week.

"Just contest the catches," linebacker Smael Mondon said of the gameplan against Mississippi State's. "Contest the catches, try to get batted balls, have good breaks, good vision. Just try to play a step ahead."

The Air Raid attack employed by Mississippi State further complicated matters. Smart said for the third straight week, the defensive staff had to break out plenty of new calls.

"We had seven or eight calls we don't use all year," Smart said. "What's happening with young players is it's like starting over on Monday. We'll go back this Monday and go back to a little more traditional. We're playing our offense, we're playing Florida because Kentucky is a little more traditional. But it's harder when you do that in season. It's like playing a triple-option team in the middle of the year."

In the first half, Georgia limited the home Bulldogs to 139 total yards. Quarterback Will Rogers completed 13-of-23 passes for 112 yards.

In the second half, safety Christopher Smith said the team wanted to "clean the chaos." Georgia hoped to flex its composure and resiliency, two of the pillars the team discusses often.

Despite surrendering a touchdown after a turnover, the defense stifled Rogers and Mississippi State after halftime. Rogers went 29-of-51 for 261 yards, although about 60 of those yards came in garbage time as the clock wound down.

Georgia also stopped Mississippi State on all three of its fourth-down attempts, killing drives before they resulted in points.

"They nickel and dime you," Smart said. "It’s like we talked all week about no run after the catch, punch the ball out—I don’t think we got the ball out any. We couldn’t get it out. But in exchange for the non-turnovers, the fourth downs ended up like our turnovers.”

It all showed in that one play by Lassiter. Glenn Schumann and the defensive staff dialed up a great call, and Lassiter executed it to perfection.

That combination of coaching and execution has Georgia's defense playing some of its best football with its most important games still ahead.