10/7/18 1:30am
Dawgs Become Bowl Eligible: Sunk the Dores
Cover Photo: Curtis Compton/AJC
Georgia defeats Vanderbilt 41-13
Sidenote: As stated in #2 Georgia vs Vanderbilt Week #6 Prediction, we were pretty spot on, only 3 more points added to UGA’s score and we would have had a perfect prediction!
By: Joshua Grosh
Within the first week of October, Georgia was already bowl eligible for the second year in a row. The game went about as expected, a massive Georgia win where the offense did not have to get too creative to say the least. To begin the game, things felt slightly uneasy when Georgia went three-and-out and Vanderbilt struck first blood with a field goal to make Georgia trail for the first time this season. However, then the very next offensive play, Fromm took the top off of Vanderbilt’s defense with a bomb to Terry Godwin who then refused to be brought down to get a 75-yard touchdown – the longest pass play of the season. After that, Vanderbilt would only threaten to score a couple of times before the game was well in hand for UGA – and only one of those times resulted in a field goal at best. So, overall the game was great for Georgia but there are things to take note of.
While yes it is hard to demand much more from a defense that for all intents and purposes held Vanderbilt to just 6 points, there are some issues worth noting. Vanderbilt put together a couple very methodical and long drives against them. And overall, Vanderbilt was able to run it fairly well at times against UGA – amassing on average 4+ yards a carry. To add to that, penalties issues raised its head again this game to the tune of 13 penalties for 100+ yards. This issue could potentially cost UGA a game in the future – especially against teams like LSU and Florida. Yet, despite these nitpicking woes, Georgia had many bright sides to display.
For probably the first game this season, Fromm took over the offense. He ripped the Dores’ defense to the tune of 276 yards and 3 touchdowns at 12 yards an attempt. Georgia’s run game did not show any signs of potentially degrading or upgrading persay as it stayed very by committee as 9 different rushers carried the ball – one more than the amount of receivers during the game. This game didn’t show many new things for the offense but helped to show more discipline. The only major concern here would be the health of players going forward from this game (Solomon Kindley and Lamont Gaillard). Gaillard was able to return to the game after an injury to his hand but Kindley had to be taker back via the cart and this could be a major problematic loss. The best one can hope for heading into the next week is either better player health or Georgia has a player deeper on the depth chart step up.
MVP:
Jake Fromm: 17/23, 276 yards, and 3 touchdowns. Fromm played incredibly tonight showing that when called upon and given some protection, he can air it out.
Look Ahead:
Next week, Georgia goes on the road to play LSU who, while not a top 10 team, will be a ranked team and a pretty stiff challenge. This weekend Florida was able to upset LSU in a close dogfight in Gainesville in a very physical match up. LSU will likely played very inspired next week and look to get back onto a playoff berth chance. The game will be played at 3:30 PM on CBS.
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