Rinse, repeat
Another week, and there's another talented tight end for Georgia’s defense to worry about trying to contain.
If there’s been one disconcerting aspect of Georgia’s defense it’s that opposing tight ends have given the Bulldogs their share of trouble.
It started against Notre Dame, when Irish tight end Cole Kmet caught a team-high nine passes for 108 yards and a touchdown. Last week, Florida’s Kyle Pitts proved to be more than a little pain, grabbing four passes for 78 yards.
Saturday, Georgia gets another look at Albert Okwuegbunam, whose last name is just about as hard to pronounce as his pass routes are to cover.
A preseason first-team All-American, Okwuebunam has a rather conservative 18 catches, but of those receptions, six have gone for touchdowns.
When asked about the junior, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was quick to acknowledge his concern.
“They all have some good tape to watch, that's for sure, because we've had some tight ends have good performances against us. So they will have some good things to look at, and he's a good player. I think back to last year; he was probably the toughest match-up I thought we had,” Smart said. “Last year seems like he stuck out more in that game plan. He's a good player. They convinced him to stay, and he's done a good job this year being more of a complementary football player than being just a receiving tight end. He's done more than that this year. They are doing a good job using him, and he's a match-up problem, a big, athletic guy—different than Pitts. I mean, he's big.”
Recently, Missouri coach Barry Odom told reporters he’d like to start getting the 6-foot-5, 255-pounder even more opportunities. However, in their last game against Kentucky, Okwuebunam was targeted just one time, dropping the ball.
Although Odom said he certainly hopes to get the ball to his star more often against Georgia, much will depend on how the Bulldog defense plays.
“If I were trying to defend our offense, I would kind of do what some of those guys are doing; I would try to take away No. 81,” Odom told sister site PowerMizzou.com. “As much as we all want him to have the ball—and I’m leading the pack on that—if it’s not there, we can’t force the throw; that will not be a wise decision.”
Injury update
Smart revealed the defensive back Tyrique McGhee is once again dealing with a foot injury.
His expected recovery window is unknown.
“Tyrqiue is dealing with his foot again. His foot tweaked on him during the off week and he’s had surgery done on that foot,” Smart said. “We’re having to be really careful with him. He didn’t travel to Florida and it’s not 100 percent.”
Smart also revealed that linebacker Channing Tindall is also dealing with an injury that was not disclosed, confirming a UGASports report form Monday night.
"Yeah, he's been injured, too,” Smart said. “He actually got hurt in the Kentucky game. He's been beat up a little but we actually think he's going to get back here soon. I don't know if it'll be this week but it should be next."
The Georgia coach also had an update on defensive linemen Michael Barnett and David Marshall, neither of whom played against Florida despite making the trip.
“Mike B, he’s got a little nagging injury in the off week and he was not able to practice the Florida week,” Smart said. “We thought he’d be able to go and we traveled him, thinking he’d be able to play but it bothered him some in warmups and he wasn’t able to pull the pin and go.”
As for Marshall: “David’s been pretty good. He’s been beat up most of the year but there was nothing that held him out other than the style of game that it was,” Smart said.
...Cornerback Tyson Campbell (turf toe) continues to practice and hopes to play Saturday.
Quotables
On what they saw in Jordan Davis:
“We were excited because we watched him do workouts, go through bags. We saw his agility and it jumped off the screen. My history has been someone that big, that athletic has been a really good player. It shocked me that he was not, I guess pursued heavier. I’m don’t know what the right word is. He was in the Charlotte area and he was recruited by good schools but I think a lot of people thought he might be an offensive tackle because he played some of that in high school and he was really athletic. But we just saw natural talent, natural ability, intelligent kid, great mom. Just a wonderful kid. He still hasn’t reached his full potential and that’s the hardest part for him to acknowledge because he’s very athletic for a large man. We got to get the most out of him.” – Smart
On DJ Daniel transitioning from JUCO and his impact:
“He’s mature. He played at a high level. When you go and play the schedule that GMC plays, they go play some of the best teams in junior college. You turn the tape on and he’s covering them. That and he’s fast. He ran fast. Those two combinations are pretty good. We probably didn’t realize how good of a physical tackler he is. Guy isn’t afraid of contact. We felt like we had a good player and we were excited about him.” - Smart
No thought to running given prior to big pass to Wolf
Facing a third-and-7 late against Saturday, it was thought that the Bulldogs might stick to their typical script and run the football in an effort run down the clock.
Instead, Jake Fromm dropped back and completed a huge first-down pass to tight end Eli Wolf, enabling the Bulldogs to close out the game.
So, did Smart ever contemplate staying on the ground?
“There wasn’t a lot of contemplating. There wasn’t time to contemplate. You’ve got 40 seconds, you’ve really got less than that where you’ve got to get the play in, get the call in. The decision is made–I told y’all–every decision is made, every decision we make, we try to make before the game,” Smart said. “So, you play the game well before the game and you make those decisions well before the game. We have a Friday walk-through that we do, there’s about 30-40 items in it, that was one of them, and we did we did exactly what we did in the Friday walk-through. We had rehearsed it; we had practiced it and they understood the plan. It was just a matter of executing it.”
How Georgia ranks in the SEC
Scoring offense – 34.5 point per game (third)
Rushing offense – 225.2 yards per game (first)
Scoring defense – 11.4 points per game (first)
Rushing defense – 77.6 yards per game (first)
Total offense – 426.7 yards per game (third)
Pass offense – 240 yards per game (sixth)
Total defense – 268.1 yards per game (first)
Pass defense – 190.5 yards per game (fourth)
Pass efficiency – 155.7 (fourth)
Interceptions – 5 (12th)
Pass defense efficiency 111.1 (third)
Punting – 40.8 (third)
Kickoff returns – 16.1 (13th)
Kickoff coverage – 39.4 net average (12th)
Punt return average – 13.2 (fifth)
Field Goals - .882 pct. (fourth)
Opponents first downs – 14.9 (second)
Sacks – 18 (tied for ninth)
Sacks against – 4 (first)
Third-down conversions – 47.4 (third)
Opponent 3rd down conversions – 29.7 (first)
First downs – 23.1 (ninth)
Fourth Down conversions – 33.3 percent (12th)
Turnover margin - +1 (ninth)
Penalties – 60.9 average (11th)
Red Zone offense – 33-34 (24 TD, 9 FG) (second)
Red Zone defense – 8-13 (4 TD, 4 FG) (first)
Time of possession – 33.54 (first)