Ole Miss offense presents scary matchup for young Bulldogs
By Clay Cribbs
Georgia is 3-0. How? No one is quite sure. After a convincing win over North Carolina in the Georgia Dome, the Bulldogs have been far from dominant.
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Georgia barely slipped by FCS foe Nicholls State, 26-24, in their home debut in Week 2 and were lucky to escape with a win. In Week 3, Georgia relied on, as Larry Munson would say, “old lady luck” to defeat Missouri last Saturday. Thanks to late game heroics by Jacob Eason and Isaiah McKenzie, Georgia sits undefeated.
Georgia has looked far from being a championship team in the last two weeks. Georgia continued to struggle running the football, as the offensive line again failed to get any push up front.
In addition, against Missouri, Georgia’s defense looked suspect, specifically against the passing game. Missouri Quarterback Drew Lock connected on multiple long completions, mostly because of poor play by defensive backs. Not to mention, Georgia’s kicking game continued to struggle, as place kicker William Ham missed two field goals that nearly cost Georgia the football game.
Now, the Dawgs now sit on the cusp of its most difficult stretch of schedule. Before a big SEC East date with Tennessee on October 1st, Georgia travels to Oxford to take on Ole Miss.
Although the Rebels sit at 1-2, they are undoubtably the best team Georgia has faced. Their two losses have come against Alabama and Florida State, who sat at No.1 and No. 2 respectively in last week’s AP Poll. Ole Miss lost these two games by a combined 14 points.
The Rebels are most dangerous on offense. Led by senior quarterback Chad Kelly, the Rebels present one of the best scoring attacks in the country.
The Rebels scored 43 points on Alabama, traditionally one of the best defenses in the country and did it primarily through the air. Kelly threw for 421 yards.
This is troublesome for the Georgia defense, who over the past few games, has been inconsistent against the pass. Although Georgia’s defense did not do terribly in the first two weeks on the surface, opponent’s passes that should have gone for touchdowns, fell incomplete as a result of poor throws. Against Missouri, Georgia’s corners were consistently burnt by the speed and size of the Missouri wideouts, leading to long receptions.
Now Georgia’s offense faces arguably the best quarterback in the SEC, who is armed with weapons on the outside. For Georgia to combat Kelly and the Rebels, they will be forced to slow down the Rebels passing attack.
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The Dawgs defense did come up with five turnovers against Missouri, including three interceptions by the secondary. Despite Kelly’s extreme prowess as the signal caller, he is not unfamiliar with turning the ball over. Kelly was intercepted 13 times in 2015 and threw three interceptions against Florida State in the season opener.
Another solution to the conundrum that is containing the Ole Miss offense is to simply keep it out of their hands. Although Georgia’s run game has struggled over the past two weeks, if the Bulldog running backs can get it going against the Rebel defense and the offensive line steps up, it means less time for Kelly to strike.
Luckily, this may be the defense in which Georgia can finally get it going on the ground. Ole Miss gave up 334 yards on the ground to the Crimson Tide last week.
One thing is for sure, however, Georgia will need to contain the Ole Miss offense if they hope to win. If Georgia gets into a shootout with their freshman quarterback against one of the SEC’s best signal callers, it is hard to see how the Dawgs can win in Oxford, Miss., on Saturday.