What just happened: Georgia's offense opens slow but finishes strong
Well, that wasn't expected.
Coming off a second straight national championship, Georgia’s offense started awfully slow before pulling away to defeat Tennessee-Martin in a 48-7 win.
Head coach Kirby Smart warned against complacency all offseason. Unfortunately for Smart, that’s exactly how the offense looked to the outside eye through the first two and a half quarters.
While the Bulldogs’ defense took care of business, It took Georgia over a half to find a rhythm offensively, with the unit only scoring 17 points at the break. In the third quarter, the Bulldogs posted a pair of touchdowns to pull away from the Skyhawks.
In his first start, quarterback Carson Beck finished the game 21 of 31 passing for 294 yards and a touchdown. Brock Vandagriff relieved Beck late into the third quarter with the Bulldogs holding a 31-0 lead. Vandagriff threw a 21-yard touchdown pass, the first of his career, to tight end Oscar Delp in the fourth quarter. Gunner Stockton entered the game with less than seven minutes to go in the game.
What it means
No one will be happy about the offensive side of the ball, despite what the final score turned out to be.
Despite the fact that Georgia improved to 1-0, this was an uninspiring way to start the season. Remember, Tennessee-Martin faced Tennessee last year and was walloped 65-24.
This isn’t the first time Georgia has played down to its competition. Last year, the Bulldogs got in their own way repeatedly against Kent State and let Georgia Tech hang around for three quarters.
You can bet Smart will light into his team throughout the upcoming week of practice.
A question that needs answered
Will Georgia avoid this kind of slow start against better opponents?
For two and a half quarters, this question was more aligned with what's likely to be brought up on the Postgame Overreaction Show. But midway through the third quarter, Georgia's offense finally clicked and resembled the explosive group everyone expected it to be.
The Bulldogs can't afford to start this slow against South Carolina in two weeks. It probably can't afford to do this next week against Ball State either, if we're being honest.
It will be imperative for this coaching staff to ensure that kind of start is a one-time thing.
Three important plays
Botched play call: With less than 30 seconds to play in the first half, Beck found receiver Dominic Lovett for a big gain at the 3-yard line. The Bulldogs hurried to the line with zero timeouts but inexplicably ran the ball up the middle with running back Cash Jones, which went for a 2-yard loss. This ran the clock down to 11 seconds and forced Beck to spike the ball on second down. Instead of running a max amount of three plays in that situation, it only ran two. The Bulldogs failed on third down and settled for a field goal.
Mews breaks one: It took all the way until the 8:29 mark of the third quarter for Georgia’s offense to create an explosive scoring play. That’s when the Bulldogs ran a screen to receiver Mekhi Mews, who took the quick pass 54 yards for a touchdown.
Setting up the next touchdown: On the ensuing offensive drive, Beck went vertical to receiver C.J. Smith for a 47-yard gain. This led to a 25-yard reception to Mews, with the drive being capped off two plays later with a 2-yard Roderick Robinson touchdown.
Important games of note for Georgia
Kentucky 44, Ball State 14: Georgia faces Ball State next week, which fell against the Wildcats. Devin Leary threw for 241 yards and a touchdown in his debut, with Ray Davis rushing for 114 yards and two touchdowns. The Cardinals were held to 72 yards on the ground.
No. 3 Ohio State 23, Indiana 3: Georgia wasn’t the only top five team to start slow, albeit the Buckeyes did so against a conference opponent. The third-ranked team in the nation led the Hoosiers only 10-3 at the half and did not look like the offensive powerhouse the country has become accustomed to.
Colorado 45, No. 17 TCU 42: Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter looked like bona fide Heisman candidates. But can the Buffaloes continue at this pace? Nebraska, Colorado State, Oregon and USC are up next, which is a heck of a way for Coach Prime to start his first season with the program. This game wasn't actually important to Georgia, but it sure was a thrilling way to kick off Saturday.
Grading Georgia
Offense: C-
It's tough to forget how this game started and continued until Mews broke the game open with his long touchdown. After that, though, the offense put together a couple of drives to allow folks to feel better about this group.
Defense: A-
On the flip side, the offense’s showing will overshadow the defense shutting down the Skyhawks. Tennessee-Martin could not sustain anything through the air and was limited repeatedly on the ground. Kyren Jones' pick-six was a nice way for the group to cap the game, especially after allowing the Skyhawks to score a touchdown on the prior possession.
Special teams: B+
Speaking of Mews, he looks like he can be a serious playmaker in the return game. Brett Thorson had a long punt of 53 yards and averaged 44.6 yards for the game.
Season grades to date
Offense: C-
Defense: A
Special teams: B+