Following a bye week, Mississippi State (1-4, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) is back in action Saturday at No. 5 Georgia for a 3:15 p.m. Central Time (4:15 p.m. local time) kickoff on SEC Network.
UGA (4-1, 2-1) is coming off a home win over Auburn, but the week prior to that, Georgia lost a 41-34 instant classic at Alabama, the only team to defeat UGA over the last four seasons. Georgia won national championships in 2021 and 2022 under head coach Kirby Smart.
To learn more about this Georgia team, The Commercial Dispatch chatted with Chip Towers, who covers UGA for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Editor’s note: This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.
The Commercial Dispatch: What have you learned about this Georgia team through the first five games?
Chip Towers: I’ve learned it’s probably not as good as Georgia’s last three teams. I could be wrong. I didn’t expect 2021 to go quite the way it went, and I thought last year’s Bulldogs were a virtual lock to make the College Football Playoff. Then we all saw what happened.
My deduction is twofold. First, the offense just isn’t as dynamic as I thought it was going to be. I thought Carson Beck in his fifth year coupled with a stout offensive line, a better-than-advertised wide receiver corps and the addition of Trevor Etienne was going to make them pretty much impossible to out-score, never mind the defense.
But between constant setbacks due to injury and a general sense of not quite putting everything together, it just doesn’t feel like Georgia is a team gaining momentum heading into the midpoint of the season like the last few have.
The Dispatch: What is it about Carson Beck that makes him such an effective quarterback?
Towers: Beck is certainly effective and the thought in the preseason was that he would move up another rung on the ladder as a fifth-year senior with a myriad of weapons surrounding him and more emphasis on throwing the ball downfield. His weaponry hasn’t been quite as deep and varied as expected. Also, Beck hasn’t been throwing downfield as often or as effectively as expected. That said, Beck has supreme command of Georgia’s offense, almost always has them in the right play and is hyper-focused on valuing the football. The Bulldogs did not have any turnovers until the Alabama game, when they committed four, three of them in the first half. They had none again last week against Auburn. Hence, Beck’s completion percentage of 65.8, which is actually well behind last year’s mark of nearly 72 percent.
The Dispatch: Beck aside, what will be the biggest challenges Georgia’s offense will pose?
Towers: What should worry MSU and Georgia’s opponents going forward is that UGA is starting to get the run game going. When Georgia runs the ball effectively, they’re almost impossible to stop thanks to the way their pro-style, play-action-based offense works. Etienne has picked up the pace the last two weeks, leading the team in rushing against Alabama and Auburn in back-to-back weeks. He had 124 all-purpose yards, including 88 rushing, and two touchdowns against Auburn and is emerging as the go-to back in a system that traditionally has substituted liberally. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew is getting up to speed, including explosive freshman Nate Frazier out of California’s Mater Dei High, and sophomore Branson Robinson, who is reaching full speed in his recovery from a knee injury that knocked him out of last season. He and Frazier were both 5-star recruiting prospects. Georgia is up to 131.6 rushing yards a game in a pass-first offense. It may not stay pass-first.
The Dispatch: What do you make of this Georgia defense, and what will it need to do to slow down Mississippi State’s offense?
Towers: This defense certainly doesn’t resemble the dominant units that lifted Georgia to national championships in 2021 and ’22 or even last year’s group, which was in the top 10 nationally in every significant category but stopping the run.
Stuffing the run this year has been particularly problematic. Georgia has given up well over 100 yards on the ground in every game except the opener against Clemson. This year’s defense is more of the bend-don’t-break variety. They’re exceptional in the red zone but susceptible to explosive plays. Pass defense was thought to be the strength coming in, but the secondary was victimized and proved vulnerable against Alabama. That said, they did a good job holding Auburn to 200 yards passing last week with a long reception of 23 yards. Tigers running back Jarquez Hunter got loose for 91 yards on the ground, including a 38-yard touchdown run. Injuries along the defensive line and at linebacker have contributed, but the 2024 defense is not “meeting the standard” established by Kirby Smart teams in the 2020s.
The Dispatch: What needs to go wrong for Georgia in this game for MSU to win, or even stay close?
Towers: It’s all about running the football, stopping the run and not turning the ball over. So not letting Georgia come through in as many of those facets as possible is the key for opponents pulling off the upset. When Georgia takes care of business in that regard, it tends to play like a boa constrictor, slowly squeezing the energy and belief out of the opposition. Also underrated for Georgia is world-class special teams. They make their kicks, are clean on returns and give up next-to-nothing in the punting game. Georgia did not allow a punt return at all last season. This season, there has been one and it went for minus-4 yards.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 45 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
