The second month of the college football season is complete and now Dawn of the Dawg revisits the comparison between Jacob Eason and Matthew Stafford.
Related Story: 2013 recruiting class is partially to blame for Bulldogs woes in 2016
Jacob Eason and Matthew Stafford had very similar October’s. In 2006 Georgia went 1-3 in October with losses to Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Florida. In 2016 Georgia had a 1-3 October with losses to the same three teams.
Yet, they each had very different October’s. In 2006, Stafford didn’t begin the month as a starter and only re-took the starting job after Joe Tereshinski was injured again. He looked rattled in his two starts against Mississippi State and Florida. And he threw six interceptions in October, including three against Mississippi State.
Eason looks completely different from Stafford. He had a great game against Tennessee and has shown composure that Stafford did not have. His stats don’t show how good Eason has been, but a lot of that is out of his hands.
Lets go into more detail about the second month of both true freshmen careers.
Wins and Losses
As stated before, Georgia went 1-3 in October 2006 and 2016. But Eason started all four games, Stafford was 1-1 as a starter.
Jacob Eason
Oddly enough, Eason’s worst game was Georgia’s win over South Carolina. He went 5-of-17 that day with only 29 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and Brian Herrien carried Georgia’s offense to the 28-14 win.
In the loss to Tennessee, Eason was 17-of-28 with 211 yards. He threw and interception that game, but he had two huge touchdowns including a long pass to Riley Ridley with under 20 seconds left to play.
Against Vanderbilt, Eason completed 27-of-40 passes for 346 yards and a touchdown. He had a great game but for whatever reason Georgia’s offense was unable to score more points. The run game was ineffective and the offense never seemed to be put in the control of Eason despite the amount of passes and the percentage.
Eason had another rough game against Florida. We was 15-of-33 with a touchdown. But he improvised on two broken plays to lead Georgia’s only scoring drive and never turned the ball over. Eason endured heavy pass rushes all game long and once again the run game was no help at all.
Matthew Stafford
In the 2006 win over Mississippi State, Matthew Stafford went 20-of-32 with 267 yards, tow touchdowns and three interceptions. It would have been a great game if not for the interceptions.
Stafford only threw five passes in the embarrassing loss to Tennessee. But he only completed two and one was intercepted. He only gained 11 yards. He came in after Tereshinski was injured against Vanderbilt and went 9-of-13 with 86 yards. Not a bad day, just not good enough to win that day.
He went 13-of-33 against Florida with two interceptions. But Georgia was supposed to get blown out that day. the Gators went on to win the National Championship. But the Bulldogs only lost 21-14, had Stafford had a better day, Georgia may have upset Florida.
Edge: Eason
His worst game was the win over South Carolina. He did enough to beat Tennessee and Vanderbilt but others let him down. Stafford, however, was a turnover machine in October.
Stats
Eason
In October, Jacob Eason completed 64 of his 108 attempts for 729 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions.
Stafford
In October, Matthew Stafford completed 44 of his 88 attempts for 515 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions.
Edge: Eason
Easily Eason was better in October than Stafford. More attempts, better percentage, more yards, more touchdowns and less interceptions.
Conclusion
Jacob Eason is just better as a true freshman than Matthew Stafford was. Georgia has needed to rely on him and he delivers more times than not. He completed one of the most unbelievable passes in Georgia football history. He’s thrown for 300 yards in two games this year. And has games have passed, he’s taken better care of the ball.
Stafford was still unreliable in October. He threw way too many interceptions, didn’t have any memorable completions and only had one 200-yard game.
We’ll revisit this topic again after November. But If these first two months are any indication, Jacob Eason will only look better in the final four games and will further distance himself from the Bulldog great he was being compared to just a few months ago.