Georgia Football: Fan journal from Georgia’s win in the Duke’s Mayo Classic

Let’s just start with this, it felt SO durn good to be back in a full stadium. We went to a couple of the limited capacity games last season, and while football in any form is better than no football at all, fans, full stadiums, bands, and the pageantry of college football are what make it the greatest sport in America. So not having all of that last season took so much away from the experience.

Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium, college football was officially back and firing on all cylinders.

The weather could not have been more perfect, 70 degrees with just a hint of fall crispness. The Charlotte skyline was lit up and glistening, providing the perfect backdrop against the stadium. And the atmosphere. Lawd, that stadium was an electric factory.

Georgia’s video montage teeing up their entrance on to the field sufficiently ginned up the Dawgs fans in attendance and that energy did not wane for four quarters.

It was so loud at certain points that we couldn’t hear each other trying to talk while we were standing beside each other.

Not surprisingly, the loudest moment had to be during Christopher Smith’s pick 6 and the ensuing Savage pads sideline celebration. To quote the venerable Larry Munson from another epic game against Clemson, “The stadium was worse than bonkers.”

Georgia’s defense looked fast, focused, and ferocious all night. Nakobe Dean looked an awful lot like the Montezuma Missile that so many have compared him to. What I liked more than his stellar play was how active he was as the general of the defense, making audible calls and getting his teammates in the proper position to make plays.

Channing Tindall and Jordan Davis also made their presence known, both making multiple big-time plays. It was a fantastic night for Georgia’s version of DDT.

Much maligned in the aftermath of the game, I have a rosier view of Georgia’s offense than most. The unit played without Kearis Jackson, Darnell Washington, Dominick Blaylock, George Pickens, and Tate Ratledge.

Clemson’s defensive gameplan was obviously focused on taking away the vertical passing game, and JT Daniels did what he said he would all offseason – he distributed the football to the open receiver.

Was it plodding and methodical most of the night? Yes. Did it get the job done? Yes. Is the sky the limit for this offense once healthy? Yes.

Inside the stadium, even though Georgia was never up by more than 10, it felt like they were up by a whole lot more. They just seemed in control of the game, dictating outcomes from series to series.

Georgia fans also seemed in control. At no time was that more evident than at the end of the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Stadium’s lights dimmed as all of the Georgia faithful engaged their phone’s flashlight.

It wasn’t Sanford they were lighting up, but it might as well have been. For those few moments, the stadium felt like Sanford North and Dawgs fans presented Exhibit Z in their on-going case for being the college fanbase that travels the best.

The most impressive thing offensively, and I’ll choose this to be my takeaway from that side of the ball – when they got the ball back with four minutes left in the game, everybody and their momma in the stadium and watching at home knew what was coming.

Georgia needed to run the football, pick up first downs, and run the clock out. Even with everybody, including Clemson’s defense, knowing what they were wanting to do, Georgia’s offense went out imposed their will to close out the ballgame.

They used their physicality, picked up tough yards on the ground, and Clemson never saw the football again after turning it over on downs on their final offensive drive.

That is what championship teams do. They close out ballgames. Based on what we saw Saturday night, Georgia has all of the makings of a championship team.