COLUMBIA, Mo. – The defense committed a personal foul with a late hit on the first play from scrimmage. There was a fumble the first time Georgia touched the ball on a punt return, and another fumble on the Bulldogs’ first offensive possession.
“It seemed like we fumbled three or four times early,” Mark Richt said Saturday.
Those seemingly fragile moments soon ended. After one of the football program’s most emotional weeks in recent memory, Georgia did more than just prove itself to be a good team without Todd Gurley. The Dogs defined resolve. They went on the road against an SEC opponent, a ranked team, and stepped over it like road kill.
Georgia 34, Missouri 0. Yeah. I guess that qualifies as a statement.
“I know Todd is one of the best players in the country,” quarterback Hutson Mason said, and the slow boil began …
“But we had a chip on our shoulder. We don’t have Todd and everyone thinks that the world is falling apart. We needed to show everybody, and show ourselves, that there’s 10 other guys on offense making this thing go and there’s 11 guys on defense. A lot of emotions went into it.”
The NCAA can’t take this away.
Would it violate bylaws if Georgia sent them an autographed football?
It was Gurley’s first game under an indefinite suspension, but as coach Mark Richt said in amusing understatement, “I didn’t see the team affected in a negative way.”
The offense was extraordinarily efficient, even if it was devoid of the pyrotechnics Gurley normally would provide. Freshman Nick Chubb carried the ball 38 times. It was like watching a wreck ball continually be swung against a deteriorating wall. He averaged only 2.8 yards per carry in the first half (21 for 59) but 4.9 in the second (17 for 84). Totals: 143 yards. He also caught four passes and was rewarded on his 42nd offensive touch with a touchdown, a nine-yard run in the fourth quarter that completed in the scoring.
Georgia’s longest offensive gain was 18 yards and they actually managed only 10 points off five Missouri turnovers. But it converted 12 of 19 third downs with the starters and Mason was the picture of poise and efficiency: 22 for 28 passing, 156 yards and one touchdown pass.
He also scored Georgia’s first touchdown on a kind-of-chaotic 11-yard, bobbling the ball along the way and fumbling it on a strip as he crossed the goal line. “It probably looked pretty un-athletic,” he cracked.
Mostly what Mason did was lead. He inspired teammates with a pregame speech.
“He fired us up,” linebacker Jordan Jenkins said.
Minus Gurley, Georgia needed two things: strong quarterback play and great defense. They got both.
We may have seen the Dogs’ young defense grow up against Missouri. Defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt started his sixth lineup in as many games, including five different secondaries. But they forced five turnovers (four interceptions and Missouri’s first lost fumble of the season). They held the Tigers to 28 yards on their first six possessions and 147 yards in the game.
Third down conversions: zero.
Missouri was ranked 23rd, even if it didn’t look the part. Georgia had not shut out a ranked opponent since 1982 (38-0 over Florida), and had never blanked a ranked opponent on the road (the win over Florida technically was at a neutral site).
“We want to be great. We want to be dominant, especially on defense,” Damian Swann said.
Swann said he speaks to Gurley “every day.”
When asked if players were angry, given their teammate’s suspension, Swann said, “I wouldn’t say angry. But we do feel some kind of weight. We know how much Todd means to us. So when accusations come out and we don’t really know if it’s true and then the guy gets suspended … you’re taking him away from what he loves to do.”
He referenced the emotions of the week, then added, “When you turn on the world wide news and you see a friend of yours on TV — that’s not the attention that you want, especially for the accusations that he’s getting. But it’s not the first time it’s happened to anybody in college football and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last.”
Some Georgia players believe Gurley will be cleared eventually to return to the team. Richt chose not to speculate.
“I’m not going to make any predictions,” he said. “I have no idea, I really don’t.”
Losing a leading Heisman Trophy candidate is bound to have some impact. But in this game, Georgia looked anything but traumatized.
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