Georgia rebounds after the loss to Alabama with a comfortable win over our oldest rival in Auburn while the Bizarro Dogs have been reeling since their season opening win. The big question for this Saturday afternoon is whether the Georgia home crowd answers the challenge given by Kirby Smart to create a big home field advantage.
Series Record: Georgia leads 20-6 and has a 4 game winning streak.
Last Meeting: Georgia routs Mississippi State 45-19 in 2022 in Starkville powered by a big 28-point explosion in the 2nd half. Ladd McConkey had 141 all-purpose yards and 2 TDs including a 70 yard TD run to open the 2nd half. The defense held the State Air Raid offense to about 300 yards of total offense.
Gambling Degenerate Facts: Georgia is a 33.5 point favorite with a 53.5 point total.
Interesting Statistic: 3.50 – Mississippi State’s average gain per rush
State’s running game has been anemic the first 5 weeks of the season against a schedule that hasn’t exactly been a murderer’s row of opponents. Hopefully, if that trend continues, we’ll see a Georgia offense that gets a lot of opportunities for 3 and outs where the offense can put up points, and the offensive masterminds that sit behind me can complain that we didn’t get to 70.
Early Outlook
Will the team be looking ahead to next week’s enormous game in Austin? Will the crowd be sleepy in the 4:15 sun and the students heading downtown at halftime regardless of the score? I don’t think the outcome of the game is really in doubt. I expect Georgia to win. The question is whether the Dawgs flex their muscles on Saturday afternoon.
I expect that Mississippi State will attempt what Kentucky was successful in doing. Slow down the game by taking advantage of the clock rules. Force the Georgia offense to go on extended drives to score. Attempt to make the Georgia offense play with one arm tied behind its back. I don’t think that happens, but I’m not sure Kirby is concerned with style points just win and advance.
This game is about TCOB.
What’s your current thought before the Dawg fight on Saturday? Let us know in the comments below.
As much as I would like to see the offense come out with their hair on fire and put this thing away early, I wouldn’t bet money on it. Our WR is thin, our TEs haven’t been very productive, our OL is more suspect than in recent years, and Kirby and/or Bobo have a tendency to play vanilla against lesser opponents especially the week before a big game. Given all of that, I expect another performance like last week. Lots of screens and dive plays. Three yards in a cloud of dust. Methodical and boring. Manball FTW!
I hope I’m wrong. Go Dawgs!
Yep, I expect another slog where we grind out a comfortable win, but nothing flashy.
I’d love to see Beck sharp and spreading the ball around, and for the defense to set the edge. We need to be sharp going into Austin next weekend.
As long as we win, it is not boring.
I’d bet the farm on the under and that Georgia doesn’t cover. It’ll be about as uninspired as it can be, and I think they’ll be working in the lab on this one to try to remedy some things while also avoiding injuries. Just don’t see a lot of explosives unless things finally come together and the explosives that could’ve been start happening in this game.
This whole team seems to be in a funk. If the Dawgs don’t run Miss. State slam out of the stadium, we’ve got way bigger problems than crowd support and a few injured players. Message to Kirby: We love you, but if you want us as fans to create an advantage for our Dawgs with a raucous atmosphere, you need to give the fans more to cheer about. As in a better offense AND defense. Just sayin’. And start playing with some damn passion again, we need some leaders to step the fuck up.
HBTFD
The longer we go into the post-Stetson era, the more I appreciate everything he brought to the team. Beyond his skill and playmaking ability, he brought passion, fire and leadership. Beck is an incredibly talented QB, but he just doesn’t seem to have that fire in him. I’m not saying he should be benched, but he seems to be lacking in some of those key intangibles.
I totally agree with that.
dude he has lost two games total and had one of the best halves of football
Our friend from Brussels, I’m not sure I understand the context here.
Talking about Carson. If you saw him on the sideline during the comeback vs Bama you would not question his fire. Kirby’s talked about coaching him to be calm on the field. Stetson’s energy was a plus and minus. But the team does need energy and a firestarter on the field. Maybe the coaching has them all a little tight. I’d like to see them totally free wheel Saturday. Have fun. Make explosive plays. Run up the score. Get that feeling of dominance and swagger back. Release the hounds!
I was responding to monsieur carolinadawg’s comment that raised the word “benched” about Beck.
je ne sais pas quoi monsieur carolinadawg est penser….because I certainly don’t want to go to Rabun co finest son until next yr.
We will win ugly against the team from starkvegas and there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth but Kirby will be pleased as punch…Then we are going to roll into Austin and put on an SEC clinic of Ricky Bobby pissin’ excellence.
I actually said “I’m not saying he should be benched”. All I was saying is that Beck never seems to get up or down. He’s even-keeled which I’m sure is great in many instances. But Stetson seemed to channel his emotions into mostly productive play at the right times. Watching Beck, I certainly can never tell if he’s happy, pissed or indifferent. As to FlyingPeakDawg’s comment about Beck during the Bama comeback, I unfortunately missed the game due to travel. I have it recorded but haven’t watched it yet.
Stetson played with a chip on his shoulder that gave him extra motivation.
Not to pile on the Bobo hater train, but he is getting really criticized on some podcasts I frequent. The general unbiased opinion seems to be that our offense is simple, uninspired, and not making good use of our talent. It’s hard to argue. The TE’s are MIA, the run game often anemic, and Beck does not have anyone downfield to throw to much of the time. If our offense can’t put up some decent 1st half points against this shit show of a MSU team, at this point in the season then I won’t have much optimism about how we look in Austin later this year.
I’m far from a Bobo hater (I was happy to see him take over if we had to lose Monken). That said, the offense hasn’t lived up to what I was hoping. To me, I see execution issues (TEs don’t block and when WRs are open, too many drops). Plus, Beck seems tight and underthrowing some throws. Of course, the coaches need to coach them up, but Beck/coaches need to figure out who the “go to” players are (hopefully several) so we can start opening it up.
As for play calls, I haven’t seen things that worry me in general. Of course there are calls here and there that I argue against, but that’s just my gut feel as a fan.
All of this is to say that the offense certainly has room to improve, but I still feel the defense has regressed much more (and the YPP delta seems to confirm that).
We need much more of the 2nd half Clemson/2nd half Bama offense. Defense overall needs to tackle better, set the damn edge, and cover receivers.
Any word on how long Colbie Young’s investigation will take? Curious to know how long we expect he’ll be suspended. I’d like all hands on deck for Texas, though I think we win that game woth no problem. Texas ain’t played nobody Paaaaul.
He has been suspended indefinitely from what I understand pending results of whatever investigation. Kim Stephens apparently is his attorney.
No Colbie Young is not that big of a problem to me. He doesn’t go after the ball hard enough for me. Especially, considering his size and the red zone threat he should be. Yes, Beck could have made a better throw in the Bama game, but damn son go get the ball. He made no effort whatsoever. Same can be said for the back shoulder throw against Auburn.