Georgia's struggles running the ball were very visible on Saturday night at Missouri.

Particularly in the first three quarters, the Bulldogs had little to no success on the ground. The Tigers stifled the stable of Kenny McIntosh, Kendall Milton, and Daijun Edwards until the trio finally broke loose in the fourth quarter en route to a 26-22 win.

But that final period doesn't totally erase the issues in the previous three. When asked if he could "put a finger" on the run game issues early in the game, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart summed it up succinctly.

"Getting your ass whipped up front. That's what the 'finger' was. Like, when you put on pads and you've got to strike another man, and he's across from you and he weighs 300 and you weigh 300, somebody wins and somebody loses," Smart said.

Smart also noted after the game that the coaching staff bears some responsibility for the struggles as well. He said the coaches are always looking to put the players in the best position to succeed schematically.

Against Missouri, that took the form of more gap-scheme running plays as the game went on. That helped the Bulldogs run for 107 yards on 16 carries in the fourth quarter alone.

"We run gap plays in every game," Smart said. "You look at the game, you see that, every team does. Nobody really plays football anymore with just one run. There’s a lot of multiple runs in there. You can have so many runs that you can’t run them all, right? The idea is to have the right ones and execute them well and do things well."

Some of the credit also has to go to Missouri. When watching the film, defensive lineman Zion Logue noticed the Tigers often sent more defenders than the Bulldogs could block. He felt the Bulldogs "got out-schemed in some aspects of it."

But in the locker room at halftime, the team discussed getting back to that physical, pounding identity on the ground. The Bulldogs did just that, and it helped them rally from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit.

Now the question is, how do they make that success more sustainable?

Some say the answer is to settle on an established group of five up front. But Smart doesn't see it that way. He views offensive line rotations the same way he does receivers and tight ends: if a player earns the right to play during practice, he'll see the field on Saturday.

"It has a lot to do with conditioning and stamina," Smart said. "We’ve got guys coming off injuries out there; we’ve got guys that haven’t played a lot of football. Some guys have. We want to play the best five. But if that’s not clear, we feel like the guys that can play winning football should play. I’m very pleased with that part of it."

Smart did note the linemen have to execute better. But he also shouldered some of the burden himself, saying the staff has to improve both in preparing the offense and making adjustments during the game.

"Can we do some better things in the run game to help them? Absolutely. Can they do a better job in the run game? Absolutely," Smart said. "But it’s not totally on the offensive line. It never is. It’s a team sport. Everyone wants to point the finger at them, they’re not to blame for anything. We’ve all got to improve."