The No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs dominate the No. 17 Mississippi State Bulldogs, 31-3. Here are the three biggest takeaways from this SEC showdown in Athens.
It wasn’t even close. The No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs clobbered their SEC West namesake Mississippi State Bulldogs to the tune of 31-3 en route to a huge SEC victory. After handling the LSU Tigers at home in Starkville, Mississippi State was outmatched against Georgia from the opening kickoff.
Sanford Stadium was so loud and it seemed to rattle Mississippi State all night long. Georgia got its first SEC win of the season and its second big win after knocking off Notre Dame in South Bend by a point two weeks ago.
Here are the three big takeaways from Georgia’s commanding blowout of Mississippi State on Saturday night in Athens.
Takeaways
Your second best team in the SEC: the Georgia Bulldogs. The winner of this game had to feel fantastic about where it stands in the SEC hierarchy. While the loser shouldn’t have felt too bad, as that would put them third to fifth in the SEC, the winner is undoubtedly the second-best team in the SEC after the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Georgia is a spitting image of the Crimson Tide. That’s not surprising, as head coach Kirby Smart is one of Nick Saban’s former proteges. This is a defense-first football team for the Bulldogs, but Smart might have the most balanced team in the SEC.
Georgia’s offense is based around a powerful and versatile running game. Having guys like Nick Chubb and Sony Michel to keep the chains moving is fantastic. Seeing true freshman quarterback Jake Fromm play with such great poise in relief of an injured Jacob Eason has to have Georgia feeling spectacular about this huge Week 4 win at home.
This Georgia defense is swarming. It’s still maybe a bit early, but Georgia has the right head coach in Smart. We haven’t seen a Georgia defense play this good since probably back when Brian VanGorder was calling the shots under Mark Richt well over a decade ago.
Smart is a former Georgia defensive back and his secondary is outstanding. Georgia seemed to make a play on the football on every Mississippi State down. Mississippi State rarely had any room to make a play after the catch. Georgia had a pair of picks and his with conviction all night long.
The pass rush wasn’t as outstanding as it had been against Notre Dame, but the Bulldogs don’t seem to have much of a weakness defensively. Sure, they give up some empty yards on the ground occasionally. However, this is a defense that will help Georgia win 10 to 12 games this year for sure.
Nick Fitzgerald struggled in a big spot for Mississippi State. Few doubt the talent of Fitzgerald in the SEC hierarchy of quarterbacks. He’s cut from that Dak Prescott cloth of dual-threat ability under Dan Mullen in Mississippi State. Fitzgerald is a physical runner and a tough kid, but he really struggled in this big spot for Mississippi State.
He simply could not get a feel in the passing game all night. Nothing was open for him really at any level. He never really looked to air it out. A pair of interceptions made this game into a blowout heavily in Georgia’s favor.
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When Fitzgerald doesn’t look confident in the passing game, a strong front-seven like Georgia’s will eat him alive in the ground game. He took a beating all night long and didn’t have much to show for it. Maybe Mississippi State should have saved some of those points from the home blowout of LSU for this one against Georgia?