The state of the Georgia Bulldogs’ defense can be summed up pretty well by comparing last year’s rivalry matchup with Florida to this year. In last year’s 24-20 win, the Bulldogs couldn’t rush the passer to save their lives. Gators quarterback D.J. Lagway had plenty of time to throw and extend plays when he needed it. Florida led in the fourth quarter, and nearly pulled off the upset before Georgia woke up.
This year, in the rivalry's first ranked-versus-ranked matchup since 2020, Florida’s quarterbacks were in hell.
Aaron Philo threw one of the worst interceptions in recent memory. Tramell Jones Jr. threw a pick in the red zone where a Georgia defensive back seemed to appear out of thin air. Both quarterbacks lost the ball on strip-sacks, and neither looked comfortable at any point in the 27-8 Georgia win.
Against Florida in 2025, the Bulldogs didn’t record a sack or turnover. Last game, they recorded four of each. Creating that level of havoc will be a top priority in Georgia’s key road matchup at Mississippi this week.
“If you get sacks, then you get turnovers. Most fumbles occur on sacks,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said after the Florida game. “We got pressure on the quarterback, we affected both quarterbacks. And anybody will tell you, if you can’t run the ball— and they struggled to run it— it makes you one-dimensional. And then everybody gets to feast and rush the passer.”
Saturday night in Oxford is a big opportunity for Georgia across the board
Saturday’s showdown in Oxford has plenty of College Football Playoff and SEC title implications for both teams. The Bulldogs are seeking to avenge their upset Sugar Bowl loss to Mississippi last year, while head coach Pete Golding looks to improve to 2-0 over Smart.
In that Sugar Bowl last season, Georgia couldn’t lay a finger on Chambliss. He escaped from pressure time and time again, and created big plays off-schedule that wound up being the difference in the game. For Georgia, it was the culmination of a pass rush issue that had dogged them all season. The Bulldogs’ 20 sacks were the fewest of any SEC team or Playoff team that year.
But in 2026, Georgia has been much better at getting pressure. Harris and Johnson have both had their best years as Bulldogs by far, and both had strip-sacks last week. Off-ball/edge rusher hybrid Chris Cole is one of the three best defenders in the country. Youngsters Khamari Brooks and Anthony Lonon Jr. have emerged as late-down options. Linebackers Raylen Wilson and Justin William dangerous blitzers when deployed that way. Second-year defensive tackle Elijah Griffin brings real juice from the interior.
Georgia’s 26 sacks are currently third-most in the SEC, and seventh-most in the country. Quite the turnaround, considering many of the same players are in place. They’ve just taken real strides in their development— some of whom, in Cole’s case, are now firmly among the best players in college football.
“Ultimately I feel like we're more together, and I feel like we have more belief this year,” Griffin said of what’s changed with Georgia’s defense. “We believe in what we're capable of. I feel like last year we believed, but I feel like we didn't believe hard enough, like in what we could do and what we're capable of.”
Smart said the defense has done a better job of playing as a unit and understanding each other’s responsibilities.
“It's a collective effort. You don't get a sack because of you,” he said. “You get a sack because of the pocket push on one side or the other or scramble or flush, just different ways to create pressure and confusion for quarterbacks. We've been better at that this year, and that's helped us in terms of affecting the quarterback."
Those comments are especially poignant when facing a quarterback like Chambliss this week. The Bulldogs weren’t disciplined enough the last time they played him, and their overplaying rush angles were a big reason why he was able to punish them the way he did.
To sufficiently cut off Chambliss’ avenues for a big play, the Bulldogs’ defenders will have to share a brain. It’s going to take all 11 players being in sync and trusting each other to keep a lid on him. Smart said there’s nothing you can do to “trick” a quarterback like Chambliss, and it’ll be on the Bulldogs to win by simply outplaying him the straight-up way.
“It's the down-in, down-out decision-making that he's really elite at, the accuracy that he's elite at,” Smart said. “The release, the decision. He's just pinpoint. He has an anticipation of windows that's probably unmatched.”
Knocking Chambliss off his rhythm is one of the hardest things to do in college football, and it’s probably what Georgia needs more than anything else to win. For a Georgia defense looking to prove its pass rush is significantly more ferocious than it was last season, this is a prime opportunity.
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