ATHENS — To hear Georgia’s defensive players tell it, the turning point of Saturday’s game came before kickoff:
“They were standing around, stomping on the ‘G’ at midfield, trying to act like it was their house,” said linebacker Cornelius Washington, referring to the Mississippi State players. “They were making a mockery of the ‘G.’”
“I knew that was a mistake; you just don’t do that,” linebacker Christian Robinson said. “[Quarterback Chris] Relf was up in my face, yelling at me. I said, ‘OK, all right, you can win [in pregame], but we’ll win the game.’”
“They just didn’t know what they were getting themselves into, man,” safety Bacarri Rambo said.
Washington again: “Anytime your manhood is tested, you’re going to rise to the occasion. I feel like that’s what we did today.”
The Georgia players were describing what they perceived to be an intentional show of disrespect by Mississippi State during pregame warmups.
Whether their perception was correct is debatable. Georgia coach Mark Richt didn’t see the incident, but after speaking with one of the game officials, he was satisfied that the Mississippi State players weren’t trying to disrespect the home team.
Still, Richt had no complaint about how his players perceived the incident and used it as emotional fuel for a 24-10 victory.
“The end result was our guys’ blood got hot, and it helped us start fast,” Richt said.
“It fired us up a lot,” Georgia cornerback Sanders Commings said. “There was so much energy after that. They felt they could just huddle up on our ‘G,’ but we got them off of it. And that carried over into the game.”
Georgia’s defense sacked Relf on the fourth play of the game and forced a punt on Mississippi State’s first series.
“That let them know ... this was our turf, and we were going to defend it, no matter what,” Rambo said.
“They picked the opening of the game, before the game, to try to set the tone,” Robinson said. “We set it on the field” during the game.
“It put us in the mood to go out there and stop them — more than just win the game, but beat them so they wouldn’t want to come back here,” Robinson said. “It’s been, like, 50 years [actually 55] since a Mississippi State team has come in and won here in Athens. We didn’t want to be that team, and I think we proved defensively that wasn’t going to happen.”
Georgia’s defense held Mississippi State to 56 yards rushing and 213 yards total, recorded five sacks and forced three turnovers (interceptions by Williams and Commings and a fumble recovery by Commings).
“Today, defensively, we rocked,” said Washington, who had two sacks. “We executed our plays. We communicated. We went out and got things done.”
Said Commings: “The guys up front did a great job of getting pressure on the quarterback, and the guys in back were able to make plays because of that.”
Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said the key was: “Don’t let [Relf] run the ball. And from there, make them do things they don’t like to do. That’s the way to play defense.”
Relf, who had 109 yards rushing in Mississippi State’s 24-12 victory over Georgia in Starkville last year, was held to 31 net rushing yards on 15 carries Saturday. Under much pressure, he completed 19 of 31 passes for 157 yards.
Georgia’s defense has allowed only one touchdown in the past three games, none Saturday. Mississippi State’s only touchdown came against the Georgia offense — a 72-yard interception return in the fourth quarter.
“This is a very interesting season for us,” Rambo said. “The coaches see the potential in us and know how good we can be. But we just have to continue to get better every week.”
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