STARKVILLE, Miss. – In need of a third-quarter spark after a special team blunder cost Georgia six points late in the second quarter, the Bulldog offense stepped up with four second-half scores to secure Saturday night’s 45-19 win.
The Bulldogs held a scant four-point lead going into the half. Mississippi State snatched momentum after returning a late second-quarter punt 63 yards for a touchdown. The effort was certainly welcomed.
“They hit that punt return, but we went in there (the locker room) and said we’ve just got to keep chopping, keep chopping,” quarterback Stetson Bennett said. “We needed to get the momentum back.”
That’s what Georgia did.
Wide receiver Ladd McConkey scored a pair of touchdowns on Georgia’s first two possessions of the third quarter to put Georgia 31-12, barely six minutes into the third.
After receiving the third-quarter kickoff, it took Georgia two plays to score. McConkey took an inside handoff, picked up a tremendous block from tight end Darnell Washington, and outran the defense for a 70-yard score.
“Tremendous job offensively to get the ball in the second half. We thought that would define the second half, to take the crowd out of it if we could get some momentum back,” head coach Kirby Smart said. “We lost momentum in the first half at the end of it, but a tremendous job by Darnell Washington, just elite perimeter blocking. Ladd breaks one tackle, Rosemy (Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint) has blocks downfield, and Ladd outran them. It was just a great play call, a great design. It was a play that we put in this week for that (defensive) look, and it hit.”
McConkey and the Bulldogs were not done.
On the next possession, McConkey capped a 7-play, 67-yard drive with a 17-yard touchdown catch to push the lead to 31-12.
“To be able to go out there and score, especially right after that punt return, was a big difference,” McConkey said. “Anytime you get the ball in your hands, it’s awesome. Darnell made a heckuva block. I just cut up and ran for it.”
After a fumble just outside the Bulldog 20 cut Georgia’s lead back to 12, McConkey came through again — this time, pulling in a 28-yard catch for a first down inside the 5.
State’s defense would hold, however, as two straight runs and a pass aimed at Brock Bowers netted zero yards.
However, Georgia would get a reprieve and another chance for six.
This time the Bulldogs cashed in when Stetson Bennett found a wide-open Washington in the back of the end zone to push the margin back to 19.
A 34-yard touchdown run by Kendall Milton late in the fourth accounted for the final score.
Offensively, Georgia gobbled up 468 yards of total offense. Bennett completing 25 of 37 passes for 289 yards, with three touchdown passes and a 4-yard scoring run.
Bennett did throw a pair of interceptions, including one just outside the red zone that resulted in Mississippi State’s second touchdown to draw within 31-19.
But once again, the Bulldogs responded, with the touchdown pass to Washington and the run by Milton, which accounted for 34 of the 60 yards rushing by Georgia’s four running backs.
“Mississippi State is good. They're physical. Y'all know their stats. They might be ranked last in the SEC in rush defense, I don't know. But I know this, they've got some big, physical, grown men up there that have started for two years up there. They're physical, they come off the rock, they knock you back,” Smart said. “I can just tell you this: we're going to get everybody's best shot. I'm so impressed with our ability to run the ball against them because of what they were doing defensively. We knew it all week, guys. They got some guys that are going to play on Sundays; they scratch off and come.”
