Todd Gurley may or may not practice with the Georgia Bulldogs this week and he may or may not play against Arkansas on Saturday. Other than to say, “Todd’s still on our team,” coach Mark Richt wasn’t offering many details on Sunday about the eligibility status of his star tailback.
But Richt made it clear that, regardless of what happens with Gurley, the Bulldogs know they can win with Nick Chubb in the backfield. That notion became fact this past Saturday as the freshman from Cedartown ran for 143 yards on 38 carries in Georgia’s 34-o win at Missouri.
“We’d seen him in practice and we’d seen him in games,” Richt said of Chubb. “Todd obviously is the guy who’s gotten a lot of attention for the yards he’s getting and being the lead guy. But every time Nick got in there he looked pretty impressive.”
The Bulldogs’ confidence in Chubb and the other tailbacks made it easier to deal with the news that they would be without Gurley just 48 hours before playing Missouri in a Top 25 matchup this past Saturday.
“There was hardly any change in plans,” Richt said. “All of our backs basically run the same plays, so it really wasn’t a big deal.”
With Chubb and sophomore Brendan Douglas (13-65) getting the majority of carries, Georgia managed 210 yards rushing against the 23rd-ranked Tigers. The Bulldogs also got 169 yards on 23-of-29 passing from quarterback Hutson Mason and the first road shutout of a ranked opponent on its field in school history.
The college football world was clearly impressed with Georgia’s performance in the face of adversity. The Bulldogs (5-1, 3-1 SEC) moved up to No. 10 in both The Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches’ rankings on Sunday. Georgia will put that record and ranking on the line this Saturday at 4 p.m. when it plays a resilient and fast-improving Arkansas team in Little Rock. The Razorbacks (3-3, 0-3) held Alabama to just 66 yards rushing and were a blocked extra point from possibly beating the No. 7 Crimson Tide this past Saturday in Fayetteville.
“Well, I’ll tell you what, they’re a physical bunch of players now,” Richt said. “They’re a reflection of their coach (Bret Bielema), a tough, hard-nosed guy. Those guys are playing that way on both sides of the ball. It’s going to be a tremendous physical challenge for our players, no doubt.”
As for the tailback position, Richt said freshman Sony Michel (shoulder) probably won’t be ready this week but can possibly make it back for the Nov. 1 game against Florida. However, he said junior Keith Marshall (knee, ankle) could return after missing the past three games.
“I really hope so,” Richt said. “Just watching him run straight ahead last week he looked really good. But I didn’t see him try to change direction or anything like that.”
Richt insists he doesn’t know whether Gurley might have his eligibility restored before the team leaves for Little Rock.
“I have no idea,” he said. “We’ll start practicing. But whether Todd was there or not we’ll do the same things.”
Richt started to get annoyed when the line of questioning on his weekly Sunday teleconference continued to be about Gurley’s situation.
“I’d like to talk about this next game or we might just end this thing,” he said. “It’s not going to be about all this stuff. I do not know anything. So my answer is, ‘I don’t know.’”
