The No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs (5-1) won a 41-31 offensive battle verus the Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-5) this past Saturday. Georgia entered the Mississippi State game as 33.5 point favorites. Georgia’s win has seemed to give more questions than answers, but regardless, at least the offense played up to expectations.
Carson Beck had the most passing yards in a game he’s ever had, with 459 yards along with three touchdowns, but he also threw two interceptions. The running game was solid with 150 yards on 26 carries, but that number is buoyed by an Anthony Evans end around that went for 52 yards. Evans actually finished the game as Georgia’s leading rusher.
Unfortunately, the UGA defense was concerning in this one. The secondary was picked on a lot, outside of the KJ Bolden interception, they didn’t make many plays beyond the first quarter against an inexperienced freshman quarterback. The Georgia linebackers had a two costly penalties that kept drives going. Mississippi State only converted 2 of 12 third downs.
Overall, this game left fans dissatisfied and many media pundits fearing for Georgia as the head to Austin to play the No. 1 Texas Longhorns (6-0) next week.
Here are some takeaways from the Mississippi State-Georgia game
Secondary is a major concern
As mentioned before, secondary play was a big problem in this game, but it hasn’t just been this game: it’s been nearly the whole season. Since the Kentucky game, they’ve allowed 293 passing yards per game and five touchdowns through the air. Julian Humphrey, Daylen Everette, and Daniel Harris have been beaten on big plays a few too many times and none of them are emerging as the alpha corner Georgia needs right now.
It’s not just in passing sets. There have been several missed tackles on the second level of run defense. It was evident in the Auburn game too. Unless one of the cornerbacks emerges as a shutdown cornerback (Julian Humphrey has shown glimpses of that in the past), Georgia could be in trouble next week.
Wide receivers just fine without Colbie Young
There was some concern heading into this matchup about how the receiving group would do without Colbie Young this week, but they answered the bell in this one. Essentially every member of the receiving core had their chance to shine in this one.
Arian Smith shined the brightest, with 134 receiving yards on just five catches. Dillon Bell and Dominic Lovett shouldn’t be overlooked, though, as they combined for 132 yards and a touchdown on just 10 receptions. Anthony Evans was a Swiss Army knife in this game, with 41 yards receiving and 52 yards rushing in this game.
Carson Beck needs to deal with turnovers
All the receivers helped Carson Beck to have a historic day with 459 yards passing, along with three touchdowns. However, he also threw two interceptions in this one. While the first one was off a deflection at the line of scrimmage, the second one was an inexcusable one right to the defender on a predetermined read in the end zone. Even if Beck believes there was pass interference it’s the kind of mistakes he just can’t make as a veteran.
Today was a great show of Beck’s arm strength and accuracy, but it also showed some flaws in his game too. He’ll need to tighten that up against Texas.