The Bulldogs are starting the season 3-0 for the seventh straight season including all six under Kirby Smart. In two of those seasons, Georgia did not reach 4-0 (2016 and 2020). This time the fourth game is Vanderbilt. The Dawgs have won three straight against the SEC foe from Nashville, but last season the game was cancelled due rules involving Covid. The last season Georgia and Vanderbilt didn't square off prior was in 1967. Georgia leads the all-time series 58-20-2. What many Bulldog fans don’t realize is that Vanderbilt once held the series lead 14-9-1. Let’s first look back at the Bulldogs’ win over the Gamecocks and then ahead to the matchup against the Commodores in this week’s STATS CRUNCH.
Two of Georgia’s first three wins this season have been against teams from the Palmetto State. Georgia has defeated South Carolina and Clemson in the same season 19 times. The Dawgs still have Charleston Southern on November 20th, when they may well win another.
In 1920, Georgia defeated The Citadel, South Carolina, Furman, and Clemson AND shut them all out, wreaking havoc on the neighboring state. Here are the seasons in which Georgia has defeated both South Carolina and Clemson, and the seasons they lost to them both.
The Georgia/Vanderbilt series dates way back to 1893. Vanderbilt was Georgia’s fourth ever opponent after Mercer, Auburn and Georgia Tech. Georgia’s first win in the series didn’t happen until 1898, when it won by the odd score of 4-0.
If you look at the teams Georgia has defeated the most in its history, you will find the two teams mentioned above they've defeated already, along with the Bulldogs’ next opponent and some down the road.
Individually, JT Daniels improved to 6-0 as a Georgia starting quarterback. For the first time last week, he played in a game wearing the Georgia red. He completed 23-of-31 passes last week for 303 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Three is the magic number for JT. He has completed 70 percent of his passes in three of his six starts for the Dawgs, he has thrown for 300 yards or more in three of his six starts, and has thrown for three touchdowns in three of his six starts.
For the third straight game, it has been freshman tight end Brock Bowers who has been the go-to guy for the Dawgs. For the season, he has 14 receptions for 203 yards and two touchdowns. Last season, John FitzPatrick led all Georgia tight ends with ten receptions. Here's how Bowers ranks among tight ends in the SEC and in the nation.
Bowers is tied for the team lead in touchdown receptions with Jermaine Burton. Burton had a 43-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter against South Carolina for his second touchdown of the season. He has five career touchdown receptions, and three have been for the long variety (48, 73, 43). Here is a look at the players with 30-yard or more TD receptions this season.
The player who scored the first and last touchdown against South Carolina was James Cook. A Bulldog has rushed for a touchdown and had a touchdown reception in the same game ten times in the Smart era. Three Dawgs have done it twice. Here's that list.
Cook now leads the Bulldogs with two rushing touchdowns this season. He and Zamir White are the only two Dawgs with touchdown rushes this season. White now has a touchdown rush in ten of 13 games over the last two seasons. In terms of running the ball, all five of Georgia’s backs carried the ball at least once against South Carolina, with Kendall Milton leading the way with 10 attempts and 66 yards. Here's how the Dawgs have divided the carries this season through three games.
The Dawgs were 8-for-12 on third downs against the Gamecocks. That's a good conversion rate, but if you knew South Carolina was coming in allowing 2-of-25, then that number turns out to be great.
Switching to defense…
In the fourth quarter of the South Carolina game, the Georgia defense allowed an opponent’s offense to score a touchdown. It was the first one allowed in 169 minutes and five seconds. Clemson is the only team this season not to allow an offensive touchdown.
The rushing defense was great once again. South Carolina averaged 2.8 yards an attempt and had no scores on the ground. Georgia is one of six schools in the nation not to allow a rushing touchdown this season. If you look at the last three seasons combined, Georgia’s rush defense is quite scary.
Georgia tallied three more sacks against the Gamecocks. Nolan Smith’s 1.5, Adam Anderson (1.0), and Jordan Davis (0.5) all got in the act. Anderson leads all Bulldogs with three sacks this season, and he has 12 for his career. The Bulldogs record for most sacks in a season is 52 set by the 1981 team. Through three games, Georgia has 13, which is the most through three games under Kirby Smart.
Derion Kendrick got his first career interception as a Bulldog when he picked off Luke Doty. Five different Georgia players have an interception this season. Last season, only four different Dawgs had a pick.
Last season, Georgia’s first and final points of the season were courtesy of a defensive safety. Against South Carolina, the Bulldogs notched their first safety of 2021 when Doty was sacked in the final minute of the first half.
