Start Spreading the Mekhi Mews: UGA Football Jumpstarted by Another Walk-on
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ATHENS - Kirby Smart and UGA football beat Ball State 45-3 in Sanford Stadium Saturday in Athens.
*Defense Posts Another Shutout For Three Quarters: For the second straight week, top-ranked Georgia blanked its opponent until the fourth quarter as it improved to 2-0. Today, Ball State was limited to 68 yards on 26 plays in the first half and finished with 224 yards on 65 plays. The Cardinals avoided a shoutout when they made a 27-yard field goal with 9:05 left in the game to make it 45-3. It capped a 15 play, 55-yard drive in 6:41 Last week, Georgia shut out UT Martin until 6:39 left in the contest when they scored a TD as the Bulldogs won 48-7.
Today, Georgia’s leading tacklers were junior Smael Mondon and freshman AJ Harris with four stops apiece. Sophomore Malaki Starks notched his first INT of the season and third of his career. He gave the Bulldogs the football at their own 22 with 12:41 left in the 2nd quarter with Georgia leading 7-0. It led to TD. Later in the quarter, junior LB Chaz Chambliss notched his first career INT. That led to a TD (two plays, 30 yards in 51 seconds)) and a 21-0 advantage. Senior Tykee Smith notched his first INT (on a PBU by Daylen Everette) as a Bulldog and fifth of his career. He took it to the BSU 20, and it led to a TD. Georgia scored 21 points off three INTs. The last time Georgia had three picks in a game was last season in a 48-7 road win over South Carolina.
*Early Special Teams Spark: Redshirt sophomore Mekhi Mews served as the punt returner (3-for-111 yards, 1 TD) with a 69-yarder for a TD in the 2nd quarter, the first by a Bulldog since 2018 when Mecole Hardman had a 70-yarder against Middle Tennessee. Also, Mews opened the game with a career-long 47-yard kickoff return, and he had three catches for 27 yards. True freshman PK Peyton Woodring registered nine points, going 6-for-6 on PATs and 1-2 on field goals (made 35-yarder, missed 28-yarder). Junior Jared Zirkel handled kickoffs. Sophomore Brett Thorson punted thrice for a 45.3 average.
*Offensive Highlights: Georgia amassed 386 yards of total offense on 61 plays in a 45-3 victory. Georgia had 287 passing yards and 99 on the ground. In the first half, the Bulldogs had 235 yards of offense on 39 plays in building a 31-0 lead with all the points coming in the 2nd quarter.
The 31-point outburst was the most in a quarter by the Bulldogs since scoring 35 in the first quarter at Vanderbilt in 2021. The school record for most points in a quarter and most in the 2nd quarter (dating back to 1970) is 42, set in 2011 against New Mexico in a 63-16 win.
Junior QB Carson Beck finished 23-for-30 for 283 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT in three quarters of play. Sophomore WR Dillon Bell (3 rushes, 28 yards) had his first career carry, good for 10 yards and a first down in the first quarter. His second carry resulted in a 21-yard TD scamper and a 21-0 edge. Senior Kendall Milton capped the first half scoring with his 10th career rushing TD. Freshman Roderick Robinson had a 12-yard rushing TD, the second of his career, and was the team’s leading rusher with 38 yards on six carries.
*Points Off Turnovers: Georgia scored 21 points off three turnovers (all INTs) while the Cardinals got no points off one INT.
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*The Streaks: With today’s 45-3 win, Georgia has extended its school record for consecutive victories now to 19. The streak began during the 2021 season (Dec. 31) when the Bulldogs beat #2 Michigan 34-11 in a CFP semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami.
The Bulldogs extended their school record for consecutive regular season wins to 29, which leads all of FBS, and is the second longest active streak in the NCAA behind DIII Mount Union (55 straight). The Purpe Raiders are off this week. This Georgia streak began during the 2020 season with a 31-24 win over Miss. State. on Nov. 21.
Also, Georgia now has won 20 consecutive home games which ranks second in school history behind a 24-game home winning streak from 1980-83. The current home streak began with a 21-0 shutout of Kentucky on Oct. 19, 2019.
*Multiple Targets: Twelve Bulldogs caught a pass today, and the leading receiver was junior Dominic Lovett with four for 29 yards. Senior Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint (2 rec., 17 yards, 1 TD) had his first TD of the year and fourth of his career, this one covering seven yards. Redshirt sophomore Cash Jones (2 rec., 32 yards, 1 TD) had his first career receiving TD, a 27-yarder to make it 38-0 with 6:27 left in the third quarter.
*Red Zone Review: Georgia went 4-for-5 in the Red Zone with three TDs, one field goal (35-yarder) and one missed field goal (28-yarder) while Ball State went 1-for-1 (27-yard field goal).
*Captains, Coin Toss and For Starters: Seniors Zion Logue (DL), Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint (WR) and Tykee Smith (Star) along with redshirt sophomore Tate Ratledge (RG) served as the game captains. Georgia won the toss, elected to take the football and then missed a field goal. There were no first-time starters on offense or defense. Junior center Sedrick Van Pran made his team-leading 32nd career start.
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*Honoring #77 Devin Willock: Junior center Sedrick Van Pran, normally #63, wore #77 today in honor of his late teammate Devin Willock. A different Bulldog offensive lineman will be wearing #77 each game this season.
*Up Next: Top-ranked Georgia (2-0) plays host to South Carolina (0-1) Saturday, Sept. 16 at 3:30 (CBS) in the SEC opener for both squads. The Gamecocks play host to Furman tonight.
Two Ball State Notes
*First Points: True freshman PK Jackson Courville made his first career field goal, a 27-yarder in the 4th quarter.
*Moving Up: Grad transfer QB Lane Hatcher (10-for-16) finished with 82 passsing yards to give him 10,198 career yards as he moved up to 125th among all-time QBs in FBS history. Of note today, he passed Eli Manning (Ole Miss, 10,119) and Deshaun Watson (Clemson, 10,168).