Tennessee, Georgia’s next opponent, had the day off on Saturday. And for all intents and purposes, the Bulldogs did, too.
The only difference is Georgia conducted an actual contest at Sanford Stadium. Only it wasn’t. A struggling team from Troy left even more disillusioned after the Bulldogs put a 66-0 whipping on their visitors.
The victory came a week after the 13th-ranked Bulldogs (2-1, 0-1 SEC) suffered an agonizing 38-35 SEC loss to South Carolina. So what does it mean as they prepare to resume conference play against the Vols (2-1, 0-0) at the same time next Saturday?
“That’s a good question,” said Georgia senior quarterback Hutson Mason. “I really don’t know what it did for us. No offense to Troy by any means, but the competition in this league is going to be better than what we played today. So today was all about just taking care of business. … We showed up; we played great.”
Georgia certainly did. The 66 points was the most the Bulldogs scored in a game since defeating Northeast Louisiana 70-6 in 1994. The largest margin of victory was the greatest since beating The Citadel 76-0 in 1958.
To be clear, Georgia probably could have reset those marks, too, had it wanted. The Bulldogs dressed out 106 players for the game and played 78 of them. Mason (97 yards passing, 2 touchdowns) played basically played one half, Heisman Trophy candidate Todd Gurley (6 carries, 73 yards) played only two offensive series and the Bulldogs still led 45-0 at halftime.
Meanwhile, their fill-ins had field days. Freshman tailback Sony Michel had 155 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries. Backup quarterbacks Brice Ramsey and Faton Bauta accounted for three more scores. The defense registered two more takeaways and recorded their first shutout since blanking Auburn 38-0 two years ago.
It was unmitigated rout.
“A great day, obviously,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “The score, you can’t asked for much more than that. But I can’t say it was flawless, by any means.”
There were some issues here and there. Backup tailback Keith Marshall injured his right knee late in the third quarter and had to be helped off the field. The early word was that, pending MRI testing, it doesn’t appear to be another season-ending injury for the junior. And safety Quincy Mauger had to leave the game early with a shoulder injury that Richt also deemed minor.
Meanwhile, sophomore safety J.J. Green was ejected on the third play of the game for targeting. And Richt complained that the Bulldogs punted poorly.
Otherwise it was 60-minute highlight reel for the Bulldogs. They rolled up 547 yards on offense — including 367 rushing — and limited the Trojans to 216 yards, or an average of 3.5 per play.
“I can’t sit here and say this prepared us for Tennessee, other than sometimes it’s just good to keep playing ball,” Richt said.
It was a big day for first-time players. Georgia got a 52-yard punt return for a touchdown plus another 49-yard run on offense from freshman flanker Isaiah McKenzie. Redshirt freshman Tramel Terry, seeing the first action of his career at safety, had a shut-out preserving interception in the end zone in the third quarter. Ramsey connected with Chris Conley on a 39-yard strike on third-and-long and finished with 66 yards and a touchdown on 4-of-8 passing.In all, 11 Georgia players hit the field for the first time against Troy.
“I enjoyed it,” Ramsey said of his first college experience. “A little bit antsy out there at the beginning, but I calmed down and started letting the ball go and throwing it like I can.”
Troy has enjoyed extended periods of success under coach Larry Blakeney — including 2007 when it lost to the Bulldogs 44-34 — but is struggling this season. Playing without their injured starter at quarterback, the Trojans fall to 0-4 for the first time since 1982.
The Bulldogs can expect considerable much more resistance from Tennessee, which rested in Knoxville on Saturday, recovering from a 34-10 road loss to No. 6 Oklahoma.
“I thought the maturity of our team was at a very high level,” Mason said. “There was really no lag from the South Carolina game, no feeling sorry for ourselves. It’s hard to keep any team in the world to zero points. Pretty flipping good job of moving on if you ask me.”
