Georgia football should ease past Murray State in home opener

Georgia football welcomes its first 2019 visitor to Sanford Stadium on Saturday in Murray State. Kickoff is at 4 pm, catch it on ESPN2.

Well as Dawg fans we finally get to sit in Sanford Stadium on Saturday and watch Georgia football in its first home game of the season. First up in the homestand for the Dawgs is Murray State.

Opponent Breakdown: Murray State

Head Coach: Mitch Stewart

2018 Record: 5-6

2018 Conference Record: 5-3

2018 Pts/G: 28

2018 Opp Pts/G: 35

What we know:

In Murray State‘s first game they allowed just 46 yards rushing, 199 yards passing, and just 20 points to Pikeville. Their defense also caused three turnovers. The Racers dominated the game on offense with 249 yards rushing, 216 yards passing, and 59 points. Their special teams would add another score on a 95-yard kickoff return by Quinaz Turner.

Redshirt-sophomore quarterback Preston Rice is the leader for the Racers.

In the season opener, Rice threw for 170 yards and two touchdowns while completing 20 of 31 passing attempts (64.5%). He also added 50 yards rushing on, 11 attempts with a long of 20.

Murray State’s ground game is led by junior running back Rodney Castille, who carried the ball 10 times for 63 yards and two touchdowns.

Castille also added 25 receiving yards on six catches. Sophomore running back Jared McCray added six carries for 76 yards and two scores.

Murray State’s air attack goes through Jacob Bell who collected four catches for 72 yards and a touchdown.

The defense was led by redshirt-junior linebacker Edmond McGhee and redshirt-junior linebacker Anthony Koclanakis. McGhee had five tackles, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble while Koclanakis led the team with six tackles and a sack.

How Georgia matches up:

Georgia beat Vanderbilt by 24 points, on the road, with a 60-70% home crowd. Vanderbilt was forced to go into a silent count in their stadium, that’s how loud Dawgnation was. Saturday evening it will be 90-100% Dawg in Sanford. That does not bode well for the Racers at all.

…and that’s just the atmosphere.

Once you get on the field, Georgia‘s offensive line averages 323 pounds a player. When you compare that to Murray State‘s defensive line, they only average 261 pounds a player. They are going to have to push, on average, a man that is 62 pounds heavier than them on every snap. I give it a full quarter, at the most, before their guys get gassed.

Add to that the running backs that their linebackers are going to be chasing down all night. D’Andre Swift averaged over nine yards a carry against Vanderbilt, James Cooks scored from 18 yards out, and Brian Herrien  broke out with 65 yards on 12 carries.

As if that is not enough, they will have to try and tame Demetris Robertson who averaged 10.4 yards per touch against the Commodores.

…and that’s just the offense.

On defense, they have to face a front seven that hurried the quarterback six times and sacked him twice last week. I also believe that Monty Rice, Tae Crowder, Quay Walker, and Nakobe Dean will feast on the Racers’ running back behind the line of scrimmage.

If Murray State can actually get a pass off, they will be going against one of the best secondaries in the nation. Georgia’s secondary shut down one of the best receivers in the SEC, Kalija Lipscomb, holding him to just three catches for eight yards.

Eric Stokes, Tyson Campbell, Mark Webb, J.R. Reed, and Richard LeCounte are going to smother their receivers on every snap.

Georgia will lean on their offensive line and running game to grind the Racers into the ground.

The Bulldogs should have a few big plays from the passing game as well, helping to build more chemistry between Fromm and his receivers.

I predict that Demetris Robertson could have over 100 all-purpose yards in this game. The game will be over by half time. I expect a heavy dose of Stetson Bennett in the second half, along with a lot of freshmen.

Final: Georgia 50 Murray State 7