Numbers Watch

After one of the most memorable wins in school history (at least in recent history), Georgia returns home to take on another set of Bulldogs when Samford comes to town. The game will be played at 7:30 p.m., and it was announced next week’s matchup against Mississippi State will be at night as well.

UGASports.com’s Patrick Garbin has pointed out that this season is the first time since 1944 Georgia will begin a campaign with four night games. It's also the first time since 1987 Georgia has opened the season with three out-of-conference opponents. That season the Bulldogs opened up with four non-conference foes: Virginia, Oregon State, Clemson and South Carolina (the Gamecocks were not part of the SEC until 1992). This is also the third straight opponent that Georgia had faced only once in its history beforehand. The Bulldogs hosted Samford (then known as Howard) back in 1943, winning 39-0 on a Friday night.

Since Georgia defeated Notre Dame last Saturday, 20-19 (2019 is when the Fighting Irish returns to Athens), and after the Bulldogs were 1-2 in one-point decisions last season, Kirby Smart has coached four one-point games (27% of his games). Prior to Smart, Georgia's last one-point decision was a 14-13 win over Colorado in 2006.

Georgia is one of three schools Notre Dame has gone 0-2 against all time--the others being North Carolina State and Oregon State. Currently, the Irish do not have an 0-3 series record against any opponent.

Against Notre Dame, Georgia totaled nine tackles for loss courtesy of eight different defenders, including D’Andre Walker with two and Davin Bellamy with one and a half to lead the team. Georgia had eight players with tackles for loss just once last season (against South Carolina).

SEC Defensive Player of the Week Lorenzo Carter forced two fumbles and Bellamy added one. Carter also had two fumble recoveries (after totaling three fumble recoveries in his first 40 career games).

Notre Dame had just 55 yards rushing on 37 attempts after totaling 422 yards rushing the week before against Temple. The longest rush for the Fighting Irish was eight yards. This was the seventh time since 2002 that Georgia has held an opponent without a 10-yard rush, and the first time it occurred versus a ranked foe.

On offense, as I stated last week, Jake Fromm became the seventh true freshman to start at quarterback for Georgia in its history. The Bulldogs are now 6-1 in those debuts. Last season, Jacob Eason received his initial start against Nicholls, which also happened to be the second game of the season. Here is how the two young quarterbacks stack up against one another after the first two games of their Bulldog careers:

Nick Chubb, after his 63 yards rushing against Notre Dame, now has 3,583 for his career, leaving him 1,676 behind Herschel Walker for the school lead. Chubb is currently 15th in SEC history, and eight yards away from former Crimson Tide running back Derrick Henry for 14th.

Sony Michel had 73 yards rushing against Notre Dame, giving him 2,571 for his career. He suffered a small ankle injury on Saturday and it is hopeful that he plays this week. If Michel does, he has a good chance to climb the charts on Georgia’s career rushing yards list from his current spot:

On the receiving end, Terry Godwin had a catch that Bulldog fans will remember for years to come. Even though the national media is referring to the reception as Odell Beckham, Jr.-like, I prefer to call it A.J. Green-like, as in the one the former Georgia great corralled against Colorado in 2010:

The miraculous catch was only Godwin’s third career touchdown reception. He had zero last season, despite being second on the team in receptions behind Isaiah McKenzie. Godwin’s only score in 2016 came on a kickoff return against South Carolina that was a failed onside kick. His previous two touchdown receptions came against Georgia Southern and Penn State during the 2015 campaign. That same season, Godwin also rushed for a touchdown against Kentucky, and passed for one against the Nittany Lions as well.

Godwin's touchdown catch on Saturday resulted on third down. Here is a breakdown of his 75 career receptions for 812 yards and three touchdowns by down:

Lastly, on special teams, not only does new scholarship-recipient Rodrigo Blankenship have a game-winning field goal this season, but six of his 11 kickoffs have gone for touchbacks. Georgia had 25 touchbacks all of last season on 67 kickoffs (21 by Blankenship and four by William Ham).

Also, hats off to punter Cameron Nizialek. Of his 13 punts this season, six have gone inside the 20 while nine have been fair caught.