Nick Chubb remembers opponent’s words
ATHENS — Georgia tailback Nick Chubb started his ninth collegiate game Saturday. And for the ninth consecutive time, he ran for more than 100 yards.
Not that Chubb needs extra motivation, but he apparently found some in a comment earlier in the week by a Louisiana-Monroe defensive lineman suggesting that the Warhawks could stop or slow the projected Heisman Trophy candidate.
“We, like, laughed at it,” Chubb said. “But when it was time to play, we’re going to realize those guys thought they were going to stop our running game, which (is) our bread and butter. That was kind of disrespectful to us, so we came out here and showed them we can run the ball against them.”
Louisiana-Monroe’s Gerrand Johnson had told reporters: “Much due respect to Nick Chubb, (but) I can’t wait to play against the guy. He’s an awesome talent, but I’m not going in … thinking ‘he’s gonna get his (yards), but oh well.’ … We never talk about guys saying, ‘He’s gonna get his.’ I don’t care who you are.”
Chubb got his yards Saturday — 120 on 16 carries.
He scored Georgia’s first touchdown on a 14-yard run, almost untouched, and its fourth touchdown on a 23-yard run.
As a team, the Bulldogs had 243 rushing yards against Louisiana-Monroe, including 73 by Keith Marshall and 41 by Sony Michel.
“We did what we knew we were going to do — run the ball,” Chubb said. “It doesn’t matter what you say.”
Despite only eight starts last season, Chubb had 1,547 rushing yards — the most in UGA history by a freshman not named Herschel Walker.
About the Author
Tim Tucker, a long-time AJC sports reporter, often writes about the business side of the games. He also had stints as the AJC's Braves beat writer, UGA beat writer, sports notes columnist and executive sports editor. He was deputy managing editor of America's first all-sports newspaper, The National Sports Daily.
