Georgia Football earns dominant win but has poor finish

Georgia football dominantly defeated South Carolina, but at the same time, they had a sloppy finish that raised some concerns.

Don’t get me wrong, there were far more good things than bad things that happened on Saturday between the hedges, but if the Dawgs want to win the national title, that sloppiness needs to stop.

Georgia’s offense was impressive, collecting 307 yards through the air and 184 on the ground.

JT Daniels started the game and looked healthy for the most part. He completed 23-of-31 for 303 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

Daniels connected with Jermaine Burton and Adonai Mitchell on touchdown passes that featured perfect throws. It was great to see Daniels back in control and show out against an SEC defense.

They got the job done, even though they were also sloppy toward the end of the game.

On the ground, Kendall Milton led the Dawgs with 10 carries for 66 yards. James Cook and Zamir White both recorded 51 yards and a touchdown each.

Overall the offense did their job. Toward the end, Milton allegedly coughed up the football that resulted in South Carolina scoring late and then the interception from Daniels — two things that Georgia could have been avoided. The “fumble” was a bad miss call by the refs, and the interception was a silly throw.

I’m honestly nitpicking at this point because they should want to finish games as crisp as they started them.

Defensively, that group put on a show. Even though they gave the most yards up on the season, they held South Carolina to 96 on the ground. A few of those passes were almost intercepted, but that is now in the past. Through the air, though, the Gamecock wideouts made some excellent plays.

The Dawgs did record another interception and forced a fumble on a sack. Those were two highlights of the game.

Nolan Smith led the team with eight tackles, including five solo tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. He had himself a day and played extremely well. His speed is incredible and Smith is just getting started.

Channing Tindell had six total tackles, but boy some of those grabs were crucial on third down and getting the Gamecocks off the field.

Adam Anderson is another that had himself a day. Quay Walker recorded the fumble Smith caused. Derion Kendrick, the Clemson transfer, caught the interception.

As a whole, three sacks, five tackles for loss, a forced fumble and interception are decent numbers, but they are better than that, and it showed they let up in the third quarter.

Though toward the end, everything got sloppy from coverage to tackling. Georgia’s defense didn’t have the edge to them like they did the previous weeks. I’m sure Kirby Smart and the coaches will light a fire under them moving forward, but still, it’s something to work on and get better at focusing as the game comes to a finish.

Georgia won by 27 points, but it should have been 30+ points. We shouldn’t get too picky because a win is a win, but just finish the game strong. Finishing a game with a purpose is how you impress and show the depth.