After the Bulldogs scored seven touchdowns on seven possessions to start last week’s game against Oregon, no doubt many expected No. 2 ranked Georgia to enjoy similar success against FCS member Samford.
That didn’t happen.
While the Bulldogs were certainly never in any danger enroute to their 33-0 win, the fact Georgia settled for four field goals in seven trips inside the Samford red zone did not sit well with head coach Kirby Smart.
“Any time you get in the red zone for us, it’s a priority for the offense and defense to be elite. We talked all offseason about our defense. Last year it was pretty good in the red zone,” Smart said. (Saturday) The offense didn’t score the touchdowns they needed to. They did that the first game, and we didn’t today. We have to go back and watch the tape. We have to get better at that. We can’t go through games just kicking field goals."
That’s especially true against teams at a physical disadvantage, such as Samford.
“They weren’t happy, but neither were we,” quarterback Stetson Bennett said. “We don’t want to have field goals when we go down there. I think we came out ready to play and take on Coach (Chris) Hatcher and that program. I just think we didn’t execute. Sometimes that happens, but we’ve got to watch film to see.”
Although Georgia did come away with points their first six possessions Saturday, the Bulldogs were forced to settle for field goals on three of those occasions, including their first two.
On Georgia’s opening drive, running back Kenny McIntosh was knocked down for just a one-yard gain to bring up a fourth-and-2, before Bennett threw a ball off the hands of tight end Darnell Washington after getting as close as the Samford six.
“We’ve got to execute to our standard and not the opponent,” Bennett said. “But we had some penalties. I missed some throws, we had some drops and missed some blocks. It was just some mental lapses.
"Overall, Samford has a good team, but we didn’t execute in some areas, especially in the red area and third down as the game went on. We should have finished some of those drives out, so this was not as good a day as we had hoped.”
It wasn’t like the Bulldogs were unable to move the football.
Bennett completed 24 of 34 passes for 300 yards his, his second in as many games, while rushing for Georgia’s touchdown before later throwing a touchdown pass to freshman Dillon Bell.
The Bulldogs also received a solid effort from junior running back Kendall Milton, who rushed 10 times for 85 yards. However, the only running back to score would be Kenny McIntosh, who punched the ball over from the one-yard line to push Georgia ahead 30-0 with 2:54 left in the second quarter.
Backup quarterback Carson Beck would enter the game in the third quarter, but he too, failed to find the end zone, forcing Jack Podlesny to settle for his fourth field goal. The three points would be Georgia’s only score of the second half.
“You know, we cash in two red zones, we're probably sitting here feeling pretty good about our one offense, right, because we'd scored, you know, maybe one field goal and now we're 7 plus 5, I don't know how many drives. We had six,” Smart said. “Maybe we're 12 out of 13 touchdowns, and you had one field goal. That doesn't bother you. But when you don't get it multiple times in the first half, and then the second half you come out and you don't get it, and then you put Carson in, and he didn't cash in on a chance in that area, it's something you've got to be working on. And I'll guarantee you it's easily fixable, but a lot of it comes down to execution."
Bennett promised those corrections will be made.
“I hope we’d know that it’s not going to be handed to us, but if we didn’t know, this was a good reminder that we’re going to have to get back in there Monday,” Bennett said. “We still had almost 500 yards. We didn’t punt in the first half. We had a good day, but it was not the day we wanted to have, and we’re going to get that fixed on Monday.”
