Dawgs Shutout the Wolves in 55-0 Fashion

Cover Photo: Curtis Compton

By: Joshua Grosh

ATHENS, GA- In a pink and red clad stadium, the Dawgs completely shut down the Red Wolves of Arkansas State. In similar fashion to last week, Georgia’s offense started off relatively slow, only scoring one touchdown on three promising drives in the first quarter – then blew the doors off in the second quarter with 3 touchdown drives.

In short, the game was never in doubt and there was never a thing to worry about all game long. Yet, despite a clearly overmatched adversary, there are some things we can draw from this game…

Offensively, this was probably one of the best showings we have seen this season thus far. Georgia was getting multiple receiving options, running backs, and tight ends involved early and often. The offense looked extremely balanced even for majority of the game – in fact, they ran and passed the ball each 33 times. Georgia had 3 receivers have 3 or more receptions; and 7 total with 2 receptions each.  Georgia did start off somewhat slow with only 1 touchdown drive and 2 field goals. Then, come the second quarter, Georgia exploded with 3 touchdown drives to completely break the spirit of the Red Wolves. During this time, the most impressive players on the field were George Pickens, Blaylock, and Fromm. Entering into a year where the entire receiving corps was essentially being replaced, it was a major spot of worry for this team. Now, with James Coley’s offense, the team looks more adapted to spread teams out or ground and pound if necessary. The identity of the team, while still based in the run, now shows the capacity to pass it if necessary to make teams back off from the line of scrimmage.  The only major issue left to look for is more consistency in the deep pass from Fromm. If he can get his timing down (and wide receivers start catching some of the said passes), the Dawgs will be golden. 

Next, defensively this was a progressively better defense than we have seen this season – which is saying a lot given how dominant the defense has been. For the third week in a row, UGA smothered the life out of their opponents. The only major difference however was how much havoc this defense created. They were consistently in the back field terrorizing the opposing QB and running backs. In fact, Georgia had a total of 4 sacks and 7 tackles for a loss against a team that loves to do the hurry-up and quick passes when possible. To add to this, Georgia also had 8 pass breakups making it even more stressful on the opponent. The defense looked phenomenal and like an opponent’s nightmare to say the least – something we hope to continue for the next game.

MVP:

Next Opponent:

Next week’s game is the marquee matchup Georgia fans have been waiting for all off-season: Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish make their first ever trip to the Hedges in what will be the largest ever crowd assembled at Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium due to the addition of extra seats in the west end zone. Notre Dame is coming off of a win against the University of New Mexico. While they showed some vulnerability to the run against Louisville, a team by week 4 can look very different than they did on week one.