Standard-Bearers: 6 takeaways from Georgia football’s 6th win

Head coach Kirby Smart keeps telling us, for Georgia football, the standard is the standard. Saturday on The Plains, the Dawgs once again showed those standards are championship high.

It took five games, but Georgia football finally trailed in a football game. The Auburn Tigers displayed some fight on The Plains Saturday afternoon, and now hold the distinction of being the only team thus far to hold a lead on the Dawgs.

It was short-lived.

Georgia’s Junkyard Dawg defense led the way, created a turnover, and put the offense in position to tie the ballgame late in the first quarter, and from then on, Georgia never looked back.

Bo Nix did all he could to escape Georgia’s relentless front seven, and to his credit, his mobility allowed Auburn to throw for more yards than any other Georgia opponent this season. But the Dawgs were just too much on both sides of the ball.

Stetson Bennett and Ladd McConkey led the way for Georgia’s offense (Who had that on their Georgia football Bingo card in August?) and Travon Walker gave everyone flashbacks to his game-ending sack on The Plains in 2019 with his dogged pursuit of Bo Nix all afternoon.

It was an impressive performance in one of the more hostile road environments in the Southeastern Conference. Here are six takeaways from Georgia’s sixth win of the season.

Georgia football sees dominance in the Deep South’s Oldest rivalry game

Saturday marked the 126th edition of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. Historically, it’s been a back-and-forth rivalry, with each side getting their licks in.

Recently though? Georgia has owned Auburn.

The 34-10 victory Saturday on The Plains was the Dawgs fifth straight in the rivalry. In their last nine meetings, Georgia’s walked away as the victor in eight of them, with the lone loss being the 40-17 drubbing at Jordan-Hare in 2017.

Over the last 17 games in the rivalry, Georgia is 14-3, and it took the Prayer at Jordan-Hare for Auburn to secure one of their three wins.

Miracle plays are what have led Auburn to a few of their significant wins, but this time around on The Plains, the Dawgs handled their business. Georgia let Auburn know who is in charge of this rivalry as the overall record is at 62-56-8, in the Dawgs favor.

While 2017 did loom in many fans’ heads, not anymore as this year’s game gave the Dawg nation a much better memory. No Auburn fan should have much to say after this game, even if they scored on the defense, they left the stadium with their tail between their legs.

When it comes to the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, it’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog.

Dawgs prove to be road warriors

There was a bit of a kerfuffle this week over Georgia receiver Kearis Jackson’s appearance on The Jboy Show.

Jackson was asked about the Auburn game and playing on the road and gave this response:

"Our main goal is to go in there and turn it into a home game. Empty the stadium out, run up the score, and win — put up more points than the home team. That’s the main important goal each and every week, especially going on the road."

As it’s prone to do, social media got itself lathered up over the quote, with Auburn fans taking offense, and Georgia fans worrying about the Dawgs giving Auburn bulletin board material.

When is everybody going to learn that for Georgia football, the standard is the standard? And that standard is excellence, location independent.

If you’re a Georgia football fan, that’s precisely the attitude you should want. Oh, by the way, things worked out ok for the Dawgs at Jordan-Hare.

Georgia did exactly what Jackson said they would. By the end of the game, those stands were empty and the noise was at a minimum. To be able to silence a tough crowd like Auburn has at home is quite impressive and other teams should take note moving forward.

The Dawgs have this win-at-all-cost mentality, and they are dominating teams each and every week. They may have gotten punched in the mouth a couple of times at Auburn, but it was never enough to deal a knock-out blow the Tigers would have needed to win. Georgia’s scary right now, and once they get healthy, other teams should quiver in fear.

Next man up menality

During Saturday’s game, a key cog on each side of the ball for Georgia football went down with an injury that kept them out for the remainder of the game.

Clemson game hero Christopher Smith went out first with a shoulder injury. CBS’s cameras showed him on the sideline with his arm in a sling early in the contest.

Then, left tackle Jamaree Salyer got his right leg rolled up during a pile at the end of a running play. He walked off the field on his own power but was unable to return.

Starting safety and starting left tackle both out. For most teams, that would make the blood pressure creep up quite a bit.

For Georgia football, not so much. Daniel Jackson, as he’s done all season long, stepped in ably for Smith and Broderick Jones performed well in his first extended game action replacing Salyer.

Not only is this roster deep and loaded with talent, but this roster trusts each other and feels confident that the next man will get the job done.

If you’re a Georgia fan, that next man up mentality should keep your blood pressure at doctor-recommended levels all season long.

Good news for Dawgs fans though, head coach Kirby Smart indicated during the postgame that both players probably could have returned to the ballgame if needed.

Explosive long balls for the Dawgs

In the third quarter, with Georgia up two touchdowns and sitting close to midfield, offensive coordinator Todd Monken dialed up a shot play.

Ladd McConkey ran a beautiful route and Stetson Bennett found him streaking down the middle of the field for a Dawgs touchdown that effectively put the game away.

In their jubilation, Georgia fans may not have immediately hearkened back to the Dawgs’ last visit to The Plains, but the Bennett-to-McConkey strike looked awfully familiar to a big play from the 2019 game.

In 2019, the deep strike came in the first quarter of a 0-0 game. Once again at midfield, Georgia took a shot, and Jake Fromm hit Dominick Blaylock for the opening score of the game, quickly quieting the crowd at Jordan-Hare.

Dawg fans should be excited that Monken isn’t afraid to do this and trusts Bennett to make those plays with a redshirt freshman running the route. Georgia has a lot of trust in their team and it’s showing on the field because even with the likes of George Pickens, Blaylock and others out with injuries, those explosive plays can still happen.

The similarity between the two plays was uncanny, and both will be looked upon fondly by Dawg fans for years to come.

Put some respect on the Mailman’s name

Georgia fans can be a fickle bunch. Even in the midst of what is shaping up to be one of the more magical seasons in program history, consternation persists around the quarterback position.

And nothing seems to rile up the passion of the fanbase more than one Stetson Bennett IV. The mere mention of his name takes a certain segment of the fanbase straight to Negativetown.

All the slander needs to stop.

Does Stetson have shortcomings? Sure. And so does every other player on the roster. He played one bad half of football in Tuscaloosa. So have countless other SEC quarterbacks.

He’s now beaten Auburn twice, tied a record for touchdowns thrown in a single game by a Georgia quarterback, and has a penchant for celebratory sideline dips postgame – what’s not to like, folks?

We can go through the drill of listing stats and blah, blah, blah, but one play against Auburn really stood out.

It wasn’t a touchdown pass or some earth-shattering throw, but it should be replayed by anyone talking trash about the Mailman.

Auburn brought pressure from Stetson’s backside, his intended receiver Brock Bowers was running a slant from the slot and his defender was right on his back, all the while Auburn’s Mike backer was sliding into coverage pinching the throwing window to Brock.

Stetson stood strong in the pocket, threaded the needle to Brock for a first down, and absorbed a monster hit right after the ball left his hand.

The CBS camera angle essentially put the fan in Stetson’s shoes and let me tell ya, ain’t none of the armchair experts making that throw. Hell, most of ’em can barely close the recliner on the first try, much less make that throw under that pressure.

Next time somebody gets on their high horse about the Mailman, just shove this picture in their face.

Georgia’s strength overpowered the Tigers

For the second straight week, bruising running back Zamir White scored an exclamation point touchdown that highlighted his strength and agility.

Against Arkansas, Zeus appeared to be on his way down after being shoe-laced by a Hogs defender. He not only regained his balance but stayed on his feet long enough to make his way into the endzone.

In the Auburn game, he bullied multiple would-be-tacklers and slipped his way out of the Tigers’ grasp on his way to another emphatic score.

Both runs displayed his grit as a runner, but they also showed the strength and conditioning program at Georgia is second-to-none.

Strength coach Scott Sinclair puts programming in place that has the entire team performing at the highest level possible and he should get a ton of credit for Georgia football’s physicality and elite conditioning.

That eliteness has been an x-factor for the Dawgs through six weeks of the season, but now comes the tough part. With injuries piling up, Georgia must find a way to stay as healthy as possible.

There are two tough games in the next three weeks with thankfully a bye week in between, but this conditioning will be a big factor in terms of whether the Dawgs can stay at this elite level.