Georgia will be playing in the SEC Championship for the ninth time next month, and for the fourth time under Kirby Smart. The Dawgs won their division on October 30th, tying the 1993 Alabama team and the 2004 Auburn team for quickest to clinch their division.
Georgia came within 2:49 of shutting out Florida. After their touchdown, the Gators have now scored in an NCAA record 418 consecutive games. The Bulldogs almost ended the streak in 2017; the Gators scored their lone points with 2:42 in that contest. Georgia did stop Tennessee’s streak at 289 back in 2017, which was the sixth-longest streak ever. In all three of these contests, the Dawgs held their opponent to single digits. The Bulldogs have been doing that a lot lately. In fact, over the last two seasons, Georgia has held its opponent to single digits seven times, which leads the nation. Surprisingly enough, Army is second in the FBS with six. If you look at just the SEC, the Dawgs lead in this category; some of the other teams may surprise you.
Georgia has held its opponents to single digits more times than Alabama, Auburn, and Florida combined since the beginning of the 2020 season.
The Bulldogs have held their opponents to single digits in five of eight games this season and have allowed just 53 points this season. In contrast, an FBS team has allowed 54 or more points in a single game, 39 times this season.
The 53 points through its first eight games is Georgia’s lowest since allowing 46 through eight in 1971. The Georgia record through eight games is held by the 1924 team, which allowed just 14 points through eight. It's also the first time since 1942 that the Bulldogs have allowed 13 or fewer points in their first eight games.
How have Georgia’s first eight opponents fared in the rest of their games?
In terms of national rankings, Georgia is still up top in two out of three big ones. Can they climb back to the top step after this week?
Georgia’s defense has allowed five touchdowns this season, while the defense teamed with its special teams has scored four.
Three of the four touchdowns came on pick-sixes. In the 2000s, Georgia has had at least three interceptions returns for touchdowns in a season five times.
In terms of offense, Georgia had some big plays of 20 yards or longer last Saturday. In terms of individually big plays for the entire season, some of the Bulldog leaders may surprise you.
One of Zamir White’s big plays was the 42-yard run toward the end of the game. It was the longest rush for him on the season and put him over the 100-yard mark for the fourth time of his career. Of his four times, two have come against the Gators. He also notched his 22nd career rushing touchdown—one away from tying Nick Chubb for the most touchdowns on the ground in the Smart era. Over the last two seasons, White has 19 rushing touchdowns. He's had at least one rushing touchdown in 15 of 18 games played in that time. Where does that rank nationally?
James Cook is another Bulldog who scored this week. He has three rushing touchdowns and two receiving touchdowns this season. He had the same numbers last season in terms of touchdowns. He is one of two players in the SEC who have had multiple touchdowns in both rushing and receiving in each of the last two seasons—the other is someone the Dawgs will face Saturday, Missouri’s Tyler Badie.
In our weekly segment on Bulldog backs by quarters, some interesting developments have occurred since last week.
Finally, with last week’s win, Kirby Smart passed former Georgia coaching great Harry Mehre in wins. But this week is special for another former Bulldog head coach. Mark Richt will be honored at halftime. Richt was the leader of the Dawgs from 2001 to 2015, and his 145 wins with Georgia ranks him 10th on the all-time SEC coaching list. Here's the Bulldog top five.
