Georgia Football: Week 3 report card vs. Missouri Tigers

Defense: B

The good news in this game is that Missouri quarterback Drew Lock didn’t throw a touchdown pass against Georgia’s defense. The bad news is that Georgia still gave up 29 points to Missouri’s offense.

Georgia’s defense gave up almost 400 yards of offense in this game. The most concerning part of the defense was Missouri’s ability to run the ball effectively up the middle against the Dawgs for most of the game. Missouri ran for 172 yards on offense in this game. I expect Kirby Smart and Mel Tucker will be focused this week on improving against the run in the interior of the defense.

The main bright spot for the defense in this game was that Missouri committed three turnovers. Freshman defensive back Tyson Campbell stripped the ball from a Missouri receiver and returned it for a touchdown early in the game. Linebacker Tae Crowder had an interception that he nearly returned for a touchdown as well.

Tyson Campbell and Brenton Cox both went down with an injury during the game but both appeared to be okay and were able to re-enter the game after being taken off the field. Monty Rice was barely seen on the field because he has been dealing with a knee injury.

Luckily, Georgia does have two very winnable games coming up at home against Tennessee and Vanderbilt. These games should give the defense two opportunities to polish up some mistakes and get back to the elite form we all expect from a Kirby Smart defense.