Each game has a handful of plays that turn out to be significant.
While the big-splash plays that score points or cause turnovers gain most of the attention, the plays that lead to the scores or stops are also important, but can be likened to assists. Georgia had a handful of those in Saturday’s 37-10 victory over Arkansas.
Here are three key plays that helped lead Georgia to an opening-day win.
23 seconds left in the second quarter, second-and-10 at the Arkansas 48-yard line: Stetson Bennett hits Demetris Robertson for 19 yards to put Georgia in field goal range
The setup: With a minute to go in the half, quarterback Stetson Bennett needed to drive his team down the field to get points -- whether it was a field goal or touchdown. To this point, only the defense had scored with a safety. After completing a pass to receiver Kearis Jackson for 6 yards, Bennett took the snap out of the shotgun with 40 seconds to go in the second quarter. Tight end Darnell Washington lined up in the slot and ran a deep in-route to the middle of the field. Washington caught the ball and took the play a total of 26 yards. Two plays later, Bennett would need to come up with a big pass yet again.
The play: With 23 seconds left in the first half, Bennett took the snap out of the shotgun and found himself with a clean pocket to work with. All five offensive linemen won their individual battles, with Washington showing he was blocking before breaking out as a receiving option. This gave Bennett plenty of time to wait on receiver Demetris Robertson to run his route. Similarly to Washington’s, Robertson started in the slot and rounded his route over the middle. Bennett hit him for a 19-yard pickup to put Georgia at the Arkansas 29-yard line.
What it led to: Bennett found Robertson on two of the next three plays for an additional 8 yards, which brought up a fourth-and-2 with four seconds to go in the first half. That 19-yard pickup helped put Georgia in field goal range, with the kick eventually taking place from 38 yards out. Place-kicker Jack Podlesny made the attempt, which cut Arkansas’ lead to 7-5 at the half. After the game, Bennett said this end-of-half situation helped spark his second-half performance.
“Definitely coming into the second half was easier than coming in straight off (the bench), just getting more comfortable with the guys, and knowing what we were going to do,” Bennett said. “After that two-minute drill, that really boosted the confidence before the (second) half.”
