A 696-yard explosion by the Georgia offense lifted the No.
4-ranked and undefeated Dawgs past Missouri in front of a capacity crowd of
92,746 at Sanford Stadium on Saturday.
The 696 yards is the second-highest single game yardage total by a
Georgia team in school history (record is 712 vs. Fla. Atlantic in 2012). The
Dawgs’ 7-0 record marks the team’s best start since 2005 as Georgia improves
to 6-1 all-time against Missouri.
Freshman quarterback Jake Fromm finished with a career-high 326
yards through the air with two touchdowns passing and one on the ground. The
true freshman hit 18-of-26 passes and led a balanced Georgia attack that
included the four running back tandem of D’Andre Swift (94 yards), Sony Michel
(86 yards), Nick Chubb (70 yards) and Elijah Holyfield (48 yards).
“The offense really saved us,” coach Kirby Smart said. “They
did a tremendous job converting third downs, making plays and answering the
bell. We had two deflating plays defensively and the offense had the backs of
the defense.”
Georgia struck first on its opening offensive possession. The
Dawgs marched 91 yards on seven plays, capped off by a Mecole Hardman
35-yard end-around that put the home team on the board first.
After a Missouri punt, the Tiger defense came up with a big play
with Georgia backed up in its own territory. Cale Garrett picked off a Fromm
pass at the Dawgs’ 26-yard line to set the Tigers up at the 5. Missouri
capitalized on a 4-yard pass play to knot the score at 7-7.
The back-and-forth pace continued on Georgia’s next drive. This
time, Riley Ridley reeled in a 19-yard pass while he was falling out of bounds
to put the Dawgs back ahead 14-7. Missouri quarterback Drew Lock then
connected on a 63-yard bomb with Emanuel Hall down the right sideline to again
tie the score.
Michel had the answer for the Dawgs on the next possession,
racing 36-yards down field to give his team a 21-14 advantage early in the
second quarter. Hall was not finished for the Tigers, however. The receiver
used another 63-yard TD reception to tie it at 21-21.
Georgia scored the final 13 points of the first half thanks to two
Rodrigo Blankenship field goals and a Fromm TD rush.
With a 34-21 lead, the Dawgs’ scoring continued in the second
half. Blankenship connected on two more field goals — one coming after Missouri
muffed a punt to set Georgia up deep in Tiger territory. Michel put the Dawgs up 47-21 in the third quarter with a 16-yard TD run.
Georgia added another late score and the Dawgs held on to stay undefeated. The team now has a bye week and will take on Florida in Jacksonville on October 28th at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
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