'It won't happen again'

Center Brandon Kublanow knows what some fans are probably thinking: considering that the Bulldogs struggled with run blocking against Nicholls, how in the world are they going to hold up against teams in the SEC, starting with Saturday night’s game at Missouri (7:30 p.m., SEC Network)?

Was Saturday's performance a harbinger of what's to come?

“I don’t believe that,” Kublanow said. “College football is whoever the best team is on any given Saturday. Anybody can beat anyone. Your performance isn’t based on one Saturday. Things change during the week. Guys get better, guys will improve and that’s what we’re focusing on.”

Kublanow acknowledges that something that must get better against Missouri, a team that traditionally has a strong front seven.

The Bulldogs averaged just 4.3 yards rushing against the Colonels. Georgia’s lack of perimeter blocking by the receivers didn’t help matters, especially when Nicholls was putting eight, nine and sometimes 10 men in the box, a strategy other teams are sure to employ.

“Well, it is always a numbers game, but to be honest with you, North Carolina had just as many in the box as these guys did, so there is not a difference in perspective of counting people in the box,” head coach Kirby Smart said. “People are always going to put more than you can block in the box. They have to. They have to force you to throw the ball, and it is the same thing we do defensively as well. The bottom line is that we got some perimeter runs that were not blocked very well, we got some inside runs that were not blocked very well and we have to block better.”

Reclaiming some of the attitude that was present against North Carolina would help.

“It was like Coach said, we got out-hit and we don’t want that to happen against anybody,” tight end Jeb Blazevich said. “Every week it’s about what we do and we didn’t go out and execute on Saturday as we would like to but going forward we’ll do that, focus on the little things, like continuing to be physical, be aggressive and continue to develop our offensive identity.”

After Saturday’s game, Smart reminded the press that college football is not like the pros where you can add players through trade and free agency, and during Monday’s brief media session Georgia’s starting offensive line appeared to remain the same.

So, what can be done?

“Well, the number one thing is improvement — improvement in how you block, get your second step on the ground, making sure we get movement, playing harder with a little more energy and enthusiasm would be the number one challenge,” Smart said. “To make sure the temperament is good, and the enthusiasm and energy is good. I think a big part of the offensive and defensive line is toughness and strike, and we did not do that Saturday (vs. Nicholls). We are moving on from that now and we have to go out and do a better job against a really good Missouri defensive line that is going to present a lot of the same challenges.”

Kublanow said he’ll take it upon himself to make sure the same mistakes don’t repeat.

“I need to step up and be more demanding more out of the guys so things like last week don’t happen again,” Kublanow said. “It won’t happen again.”