Georgia Football: five takeaways from Missouri victory

Run defense had worst game in some time

The defense wasn’t exactly flawless today. They did a great job on containing Drew Lock and the Missouri passing game. However, for the first time this season, the Dawgs struggled to contain a teams running game. Missouri rushed for 172 yards today. That’s the most UGA has allowed a team to rush for this season by a wide margin and it was against a team that isn’t known for being a rushing powerhouse.

The Dawgs clearly missed Monty Rice this week. Juwan Taylor, Tae Crowder, and Natrez Patrick try hard but they struggled to stop the run this week. As the season goes on, the more I think that Georgia needs Channing Tindall and Quay Walker to develop quickly. The Dawgs need more speed and physicality at the ILB position because right now, it’s a weakness that teams can exploit.

The defensive line also struggled at times although it did get a good deal of pressure on Drew Lock. I don’t want to overreact too much to this game and the running stats because the Dawgs held Lock in check in the passing game. That was clearly the focus and Georgia did do a terrific job of making him uncomfortable. Still, the defensive line remains a bit of a question mark going into next week.

Lastly, Georgia’s safeties both seemed to struggle in run support this week. JR Reed missed most of the week with a stomach bug and wasn’t his usual self. Richard LeCounte also didn’t seem a physical as he has been in the first three weeks of the season. Both of them usually fly to the ball and push running backs backward if they get a chance. That wasn’t the case this week and hopefully, it’s just a one week issue because if not, this defense could have issues with some of the offenses it faces later this season.