WHERE: Vanderbilt Stadium
WHEN: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
TV/RADIO: ESPN (Tom Hart, Jordan Rodger, Cole Cubelic); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Eric Zeier, Chuck Dowdle); Sirius/XM 81/81.
Saturday’s Game
Third-ranked Georgia travels to Vanderbilt Saturday night for what will be the 80th game between the two programs in a series that started in 1893.
The Bulldogs are 95-27-3 all-time in season-openers, including wins in 19 of their past 22. Georgia is 3-0 in season-opener under Smart.
Saturday’s game also marks the first time Georgia has opened the season against an SEC foe since 1995 (a 42-23 win against South Carolina). The last time the Bulldogs opened against Vanderbilt, you have to go all the way back to 1956.
As for the game itself, Saturday will mark the debut for a number of Bulldogs, including redshirt freshman Zamir White, grad transfer wide receiver Lawrence Cager, along with freshmen receivers George Pickens and Dominick Blaylock. On defense, linebackers Nolan Smith, Jermaine Johnson, and Nakobe Dean will be among the newcomers to keep your eye on.
Players to watch: Georgia: QB Jake Fromm, RB D’Andre Swift, RB Brian Herrien, LT Andrew Thomas, WR Lawrence Cager, WR Demetris Robertson, WR George Pickens, DL Jordan Davis, LB Monty Rice, LB Azeez Ojulari, DB J.R. Reed, K Rodrigo Blankenship.
Vanderbilt: QB Deuce Wallace, QB Riley Neal, RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn, WR Kalija Lipscomb, TE Jared Pinkney, LG Saige Young, DL Dayo Odeyingbo, LB Caleb Peart, CB Cam Watkins.
Keys to the game
For Georgia:
● Get Jake Fromm into an early rhythm.
● Win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
● Havoc, havoc, havoc. We’ve heard Kirby Smart talk about this since the start of the spring. No time like the present to start seeing the Bulldogs make it happen.
For Vanderbilt:
● Find a way to pressure Jake Fromm. Without it, Commodores will have all sorts of trouble slowing down Georgia’s passing game.
● Win first down. Vanderbilt is breaking in a new quarterback, so the best way to make his job easier is to put the ‘Dores in as many short yardage situations as possible.
● Get the ball to running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, tight end Jared Pinkney and wide receiver Kalija Lipscomb as much as possible. These are Vandy’s best offensive weapons. They have to get as many touches as possible for the Commodores to stay in the game.
Quotable
“We have seen him (Neal) be able to play there (at Ball State). We have cutups there. Some of our coaches here recruited him out of high school and are aware of him. We have a little bit of footage of each one, really. I have been there before on the quarterback situation, so I know how it goes and being able to manage it. We expect to be able to see both of those guys. If one of those plays the whole game, it probably means he is playing well, and if we see both of them — they might be telling both of them they can play — but we have to prepare for both, be ready to face both. It’s not going to be as much about those guys as it is the guys around them because the guys around them are really good players. They will be as good as we face at those three positions this season.” – Kirby Smart on the prospects of playing two quarterbacks.
Injury Update:
Sophomore offensive line Jamaree Salyer (lower leg injury) is not expected to play.
Linebacker Nakobe Dean (ankle), defensive end David Marshall (Lisfranc) and defensive tackle Julian Rochester (knee) are expected to travel and play.
Prediction:
Georgia wins the game easily, but don’t be shocked if the Bulldogs take some time to get into a rhythm offensively. Rare has been the case when Georgia has ever come out guns blazing in Week 1. Not saying they can’t or won’t. Just historically, at least when going against another FBS team, this hasn’t always been the case. But Vanderbilt has some concerns of its own. The Commodores know they have to have some semblance of a run defense, and that’s going to be a problem. Look for the Bulldogs to rush for over 250 yards. Jake Fromm will look to get off to a good start, and I do suspect he’ll take some deep shots. Defensively, I’m going to be very interested to see whatever new tweaks Dan Lanning slips in as compared to what we saw last year. Georgia has talked about “creating havoc” for the past six months. It’s going to be interesting to see how they respond in Game 1. Prediction – Georgia 38, Vanderbilt 17.
