Post Game Notes

UGA Sports Communications

Scoring/Series History: For the fourth straight game this year, Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC) scored at least 40 points marking the first time since 2012 the Dawgs have done that. In 2012, Georgia opened the year with five straight games of scoring at least 40 apiece. This season, Georgia now is averaging 44.5 points a game. The school record is 37.8 set in 2012. With today’s 43-29 win, Georgia improves to 7-1 in the all-time series including 4-0 in Columbia.

Defense: In the first half, Missouri ran 38 plays for 159 yards and was held to one touchdown after coming in today averaging 43.7 points a game. In the 2nd half, Missouri tallied 22 points and finished the game with 393 yards of total offense on 85 plays, that’s four more than No. 2 Oklahoma ran in the Rose Bowl game double-overtime game, the previous high against a Kirby Smart team.

Georgia notched its second defensive TD of the year today, this latest by freshman Tyson Campbell, a forced fumble and recovery as he raced 68 yards for a TD. It’s the ninth defensive/special teams score in the Kirby Smart era. Before today, the last fumble return for a TD came by J.R. Reed in the 2017 win over Florida in Jacksonville. Junior Tae Crowder’s first career interception was returned to the Tiger 7 and led to FG and 13-7 edge.

Georgia’s leading tacklers were J.R. Reed(8) and Deandre Baker and Richard LeCounte had seven apiece. Also, D’Andre Walker had 2 forced fumbles and 2 sacks in the first half. Georgia had one sack coming in.

2nd Half TD Bombs From Fromm: In the 1st half, sophomore QB Jake Fromm was 6-for-14 for 66 yards, no TDs and an INT. However in 2nd half,Fromm went 7-for-9 for 194 yards and 3 TDs with the scoring strikes covering 33 (Riley Ridley), 61 (Jeremiah Holloman) and 54 (Mecole Hardman) yards to finish 13-for-23 for 260 yards, 3 TDs.

Stokes With A Special Teams Score: Redshirt freshman Eric Stokes blocked his first career punt and returned it eight yards for a touchdown to put Georgia in front 20-7 with 5:45 left in the first half. It was the first blocked punt return for a TD since 2006 when CJ Byrd did it against UAB. It marked the 10th special teams/defensive score in the Kirby Smart era and second today to go with a 68-yard fumble return by freshman Tyson Campbell. Today marked the first time since the 2015 road game at Tennessee that Georgia has scored a defensive TD and special teams TD in the same game. That year, Leonard Floyd had a 96-yard fumble return and Reggie Davis had a 70-yard punt return.

Busy Day For Blankenship: Junior PK Rodrigo Blankenship went 3-for-5 on field goals (made 44, 21 and 40, missed 49, 36-yarder blocked). His first kickoff today was not a touchback for the first time this year as there was a strong wind, ending a streak of 23 that led the nation. Blankenship’s 44-yard FG put Georgia in front 10-7 with 13:51 left in the 2nd quarter and a 21-yarder made it 13-7 early in the 2nd quarter. He missed a 49-yarder with 7:17 left. He added a pair of PATs in the second half. For the year, he is 6-for-8 on the year in field goals and 30-for-32 in touchbacks. A 36-yard field goal attempt was blocked in the 4th quarter, the first by an opponent since TCU in the 2016 Liberty Bowl.

Points off Turnovers: Georgia scored 10 points off three Missouri turnovers, all in the first half, while the Tigers got no points off 1Dawg miscue. For the year, Georgia is +5 in Turnover Margin, scoring 31 points off eight turnovers on the year. Opponents now have forced three turnovers and turned them into no points.

On Georgia’s first possession, Missouri picked off Jake Fromm, and it led to a turnover/forced fumble and recovery by freshman Tyson Campbell who returned it 68 yards for a TD and a 7-0 lead. Georgia junior LB Tae Crowder picked off his first career pass and returned it 43 yards to the Tiger 7. It led to a field goal. With 2:18 left in the half, D’Andre Walker forced a sack/fumble and recovered by Deandre Baker at the Georgia 45. It led to a failed fourth down conversion attempt at the Tiger 31.

Points To Ponder: Georgia led 20-7 in the first half as both teams came in entering 40+ points a game, and the lone offensive touchdown came by Missouri. Georgia leads the SEC in scoring defense, allowing just eight points a game. Missouri came in averaging 43.7 points a game. In the 1st half, Georgia had 148 yards of total offense while the Tigers had 159. Georgia had a defensive TD and a special teams TD plus a pair of field goals to gain the early advantage. The Tigers first TD drive covered 55 yards on nine plays to tie the game at 7-all with 2:03 left in the first.

For Starters On The Line: ​Sophomore LT Andrew Thomas returned to the starting lineup after missing the MTSU game. Senior C Lamont Gaillard started his team-leading 32nd straight game. Thomas went out in the first half and freshman Cade Mays filled in for the remainder of the game. In the third quarter, right guard Ben Cleveland went out with a left leg injury and was replaced by sophomore Justin Shaffer.

Captains: Today’s captains were juniors Issac Nauta, Tyler Clark and sophomore Ben Cleveland.