Georgia Football blocks it’s way to victory over South Carolina
What stood out most in the Georgia Football teams win over South Carolina was the way that the entire offense blocked and physically dominated the Gamecocks.
There were a lot of takeaways from the Georgia Football victory over South Carolina yesterday. Mecole Hardman stepped up and lit up the Gamecocks and the Dawgs defense stepped up as well and shut them down. However, one factor that really stood out to me throughout the game was just how physical the Dawgs were on offense this past week.
Blocking has become a key component of the offense for Georgia since Kirby Smart arrived. Not only has he wanted to see big uglies on the offensive line. He’s also insisted upon that same mentality from his skill players on offense. Whether it’s the tight ends or the receivers, if you want the ball in this scheme, you’ve got to block.
When you go back and look at yesterdays touchdowns, yes there was some explosive play by the ball carriers. However, in the background, you can often see a big block being thrown by both the offensive line and the receivers. It all started with the first TD run by D’Andre Swift where Tyler Simmons and Ahkil Crumpton both gave Swift plenty of room to run.
Then on the Mecole Hardman TD, it wasn’t the pass from Jake Fromm that made that play. It was another block on the outside by Tyler Simmons who gave Hardman all the room he needed. With players like Mecole and Terry Godwin, all these guys need is just a little bit of space. Blocks like this lead to touchdowns.
Then you’ve got the offensive line which just straight up owned the line of scrimmage in the second half. Kirby Smart talked a lot about how he believed his team’s size and fitness would eventually wear on South Carolina. He was right and after an evenish battle in the first half, things got ugly in the second.
Whether it was Lamont Gaillard, Cade Mays or any of the offensive linemen, the Dawgs dominated the second half. It all comes back to Kirby Smart’s philosophy of being physical and nastier than your opponent. Good as South Carolina is, they simply were not able to handle the aggressive play of UGA as time went on. The Dawgs wore down and beat up their opponents and secured what turned out to be a relatively simple victory. This has always been the plan under Smart and right now, it’s pretty easy to see why.