Georgia Football: five takeaways from Missouri victory

Non-offensive TD’s saved the day but those do not come every week

Georgia’s cornerbacks have had a rather good start to the season, haven’t they? Deandre Baker looks like a shutdown cornerback and has kept two of the SEC’s best receivers almost silent for two games. He also has two interceptions and is becoming one of those rare cornerbacks that QB’s just decide to avoid. In doing so, he’s taking away almost half of the field from offenses.

Tyson Campbell has had his freshman struggles, but so far looks like a potential star. He’s been burned a couple of times, but as each week has gone by, he’s looked a little better. This week he scored his first TD as a Bulldog when he stripped the ball from Missouri and returned in 68 yards for a TD. He was joined in the scoring column by fellow DB Eric Stokes who blocked and returned a punt for a touchdown.

As great as it is to have these three players make big plays that have ended in points, Georgia cannot continue to rely upon these going forward. These plays do not happen every week and UGA can’t put themselves in the position where these are the difference in every game.

Kirby Smart puts a big focus on special teams because he knows that he can be the difference. That’s why he puts great athletes out there every single play. But UGA’s starters need to perform and stop putting pressure on the special teams to go out there every week and score. It’s great when it happens, but you can’t plan for it.

UGA’s coaches know that they’ve been fortunate this week. The difference in the score was the two TD’s scored by Campbell and Stokes. That is a rarity and the offense will likely be hearing about it in practice going forward.