Game Grades: Georgia Beats Murray State 63-17
Offense: A-
Georgia was near perfect today on the offensive side of the ball. There were only a few mess-ups for the group, but they were bad ones. The sack on Jake Fromm on third down in the first quarter ended any opportunity of picking up the first. Eli Wolf’s fumble on the next possession squandered what was turning out to be a good drive for the Bulldogs. And finally, Stetson Bennett’s pick-six in the third quarter was a clear blunder. But otherwise, Georgia looked unstoppable on offense. 561 total yards, nine total touchdowns is never anything to complain about. Those numbers, combined with some big plays made by D’Andre Swift, George Pickens and Zamir White made it a really good outing for the Bulldogs.
Defense: A
Havoc havoc havoc. It’s something that Kirby Smart had been preaching in the offseason, and today we saw its payoff. Georgia wasn’t able to get an interception, but Mark Webb forced a fumble that was scoop-and-scored by JR Reed in the first half. The Bulldogs were also causing chaos in the backfield as well. The team totaled six sacks with Nolan Smith leading the charge at 1.5 sacks. In the run game, Georgia was a brick wall. On 27 carries, Murray State had only 23 yards. Murray State quarterback Preston Rice had a really efficient day, completing 20 of his 25 passes for 216 yards and a touchdown. Still, the Georgia defense had itself quite a day.
Special Teams: A
There wasn’t much to be had in this department, but when there was, Georgia was sound. Tyler Simmons had a solid 42-yard punt return that he was close to taking to the house. Rodrigo was never called in to kick a field goal, but on kickoffs booted all but one for touchbacks. The only one that was returned was for nine yards and Georgia was able to pin Murray State within its own 15-yard-line. Not much action for this unit, but when they were called, they answered.
Coaching: A
Hard to say anything negative about this. Kirby Smart and co. obviously had Georgia ready to roll. The Bulldogs won in dominating fashion today. Since that’s the case, Smart and the staff deserve an A.