Georgia’s seventh hit of the 2020 season is in the books, and it’s a definite one. The Bulldogs dominated Missouri 49-14. The UGA started fast, faced adversity the right way, ran with it, played with excellent defense and showed an impressive display of consistent attacking football. Docs 247 will do a movie review with video on Tuesday, but after watching the game, here are five things we noticed.
George Pickens was funny: Sophomore Whiteout has some good games this year. He had eight passes for 87 yards and a score against the state of Mississippi. He had five catches for 53 yards against Alabama with some key plays in key moments. The game I played in Missouri was the first time in all seasons that I saw him play, thinking, “Man, he’s having fun there.” The inability to work the ball outside has hurt his production this season, and he has been outscored by J.T. It is no coincidence that he averages more than five catches per game with Daniels. However, the emotion and competitive spirit was on Saturday, which was not all season, even before he started the explosive play after the explosive game.
UGA’s DL made it difficult: The withdrawal of Jordan Davis gave the Bulldogs the upper hand. If you look at the statistics, the interior guys didn’t do much, but after watching the game for the second time, they controlled the sequence of scams. Larry Roundree was as hot as running back in any country in this game, but he had to fight every yard, causing defensive line players to hit the blockers and restore the order of the scams. Malik Herring and Travan Walker took advantage of each other’s opportunities and came up with some great plays in critical situations, but it was an effort like a workaholic from the interior comrades.
Jameer White raises some enthusiasts: While watching the game in real time, I thought White was initially a day ahead. There were a few runs where he would plow forward and get what was there when he turned down the opportunity for a big play. On further review, White may have known what he was doing. A particular example is the third and short carry, where he ran right on a dollar and went two yards down the first. White hesitated as he tried it and bounced, that pause got the defender on his heels and White took advantage of it. In his two explosive runs, one in 36 yards and another in 43 yards, he showed patience and vision. In the 36-yard run, he basically stopped in the background, let his block grow, and ran into daylight. In the 43-yard run, he worked the back of the ball and made a couple of jump cuts in the open field. Missouri allowed 3 russes of 30 yards or more in all seasons. White added two for himself and Dijon Edwards added another.
Docs’ defensive back twists: Every defensive part of Georgia’s team did something to help the Bulldogs win on Saturday. Not all of them were perfect or excellent overall games, but all came with one play. The trio of Tyrik Stevenson, Latavius Brini, Chris Smith, and Tyson Campbell all had good skills in space. Louis Cini has been beaten twice in coverage, but he continues to be an excellent destroyer in the back half of the Bulldogs. Eric Stokes intervened early.
I said after the game that Stokes’ interruption was incredibly important because it could have flipped the script. Looking at how the UGA went in the second quarter, who is to say that this will not be the result of the first quarter? He was in the right place at the right time and did something as soon as the football hit his hands.
J.D. Daniels proved that he is very tough: Redshirt Sophomore is from California. He began his career at PAC12. Let’s face it, football fans in the South generally see the California boys a little softer than others. They tend to see PAC12 as inferior when it comes to hardness. I’m not going to come to blanket judgments here, but I will say that Daniels is not soft. He took some shots on Saturday and I think they shook him once. He looked loud in the second quarter. At the time I thought he was going to remove the ball because he was listening to the footsteps, but the second watch showed he was throwing it out as he brought it up. Missouri’s urgency was very effective and consistent. As we have all seen, Daniels is not buzzing. He settled himself, and the guilt followed his path.