What comes next for Georgia defense as CJ Allen deals with knee injury?

ATHENS — Georgia still found a way to beat Texas without its leading tackler in CJ Allen.

The junior linebacker left injured in the second quarter of the 35-10 win over the Longhorns.

On Monday, Georgia coach Kirby Smart updated the status of Allen, who underwent an MRI after the game, saying: “He’ll be week-to-week. We’ll see when we can get him back.”

Allen has 78 tackles on the season, averaging 7.8 tackles per game (second-most in the SEC), and leads Georgia in sacks with 3.5 and tackles for loss with 7.0.

Without Allen, sophomore Chris Cole had a career-high seven tackles. The Bulldogs will continue to start Raylen Wilson, who had two tackles and a tackle for loss in the win.

In addition to Cole getting a bump in snaps, Justin Williams will also become a more important piece for the Georgia defense.

Cole and company look forward to stepping up to the challenge without their leader.

“Just overall, the DBs, linebackers, and just D-line, we just played as a team and just played great,” Cole said. “Seeing him down, we knew someone had to step up. So just playing as a team, playing together.”

Without Allen, Georgia still held Texas to just 23 rushing yards on Saturday. It was an inspired effort from Georgia’s defense.

“This team’s just hungry,” safety KJ Bolden said. “CJ’s one of our big leaders, so that definitely gave us a boost to play harder for him. He’s on the sideline. He still came out there and was supporting us, keeping us hype with the energy. So just seeing your leader go down, it makes you want to play harder for him. You just want him to know we’ve got his back. It don’t matter if he’s playing or not.”

While the injury to Allen may not impact this week’s game against Charlotte — Georgia is a 44.5 point favorite — it looms large with Georgia Tech on the schedule for the final game of the regular season.

Haynes King is one of the best quarterbacks in the country and has powered No. 16 Georgia Tech to a 9-1 start. King threw for 303 yards, ran for 110 and accounted for five touchdowns against Georgia last year.

“All those guys rolled in there with Chris, Justin and Raylen playing snaps,” Smart said of how the linebackers played against Texas. “Those guys continued to grow and get better. They practiced well this year and continued to get more depth in that room. I was proud of the way those guys played a few more snaps.”

Zayden Walker has emerged for Georgia in pass-rushing situations, as he got his first career sack on Saturday. Georgia has 3.0 sacks in back-to-back games.

In addition to Allen, Georgia running back Chauncey Bowens left the game in the fourth quarter. Smart said Bowens is day-to-day. Smart noted that Bowens was doing rehab Monday morning.

Nate Frazier led Georgia in rushing with 72 yards on Saturday. Georgia’s lone rushing touchdown came via Gunner Stockton.

With Georgia wrapping up SEC play, there will not be an availability report this week.