Even when things were going well for Georgia's football team Saturday, they weren't going nearly well enough.
The Bulldogs led No. 1 LSU 10-0 at the end of the first quarter of the SEC Championship Game, but the lead would have been 21-0 if not for two dropped passes.
That clearly doesn't suggest Georgia would have won the game even if those plays had been made -- LSU, after all, scored 42 unanswered points -- but the wasted opportunities nevertheless nagged at the Bulldogs in the aftermath of their 42-10 loss to the Tigers.
"Against a team like LSU, you've got to take points when you can get them," Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray said. "You've got to execute. But we definitely missed a couple of shots early."
Although ultimately overshadowed by LSU's second-half domination, these were Georgia's two most glaring examples of wasted opportunity:
- Wide receiver Tavarres King was in front of a defender in the end zone on the Bulldogs' opening drive of the game. A third-down pass from Murray went off a leaping King's fingertips. Instead of getting seven points, Georgia settled for three on the next play from a 40-yard Blair Walsh field goal.
King said after the game that the pass was "very catchable," adding: "We had several opportunities to go up big in the first half. We left some plays out there, [and] that was one of them. You've just got to focus at all times."
- Georgia immediately got the ball back after the field goal with a well-executed onside kick. A third-down Murray pass down the right sideline found freshman wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell open around the LSU 5-yard line. But Mitchell, trying to run into the end zone before securing the catch, dropped the ball. The Bulldogs attempted another field goal on the next play, and Walsh missed this one from 45 yards.
"It was tough at first," Mitchell said of dealing with his drop, "but my teammates said, "Just forget about it.' . . . As long as you play this game, mistakes happen. You can't be perfect."
If those two plays had been executed, Georgia would have led the nation's top-ranked team 14-0, rather than 3-0, midway through the first quarter.
The Bulldogs scored their only touchdown of the game with 42 seconds remaining in the first quarter, when Murray and tight end Aron White connected on a 12-yard pass to complete a six-play, 44-yard drive. That gave Georgia a 10-0 lead, which would have been 21-0 at that point if not for the two drops.
"We definitely knew, going into this game, we had to execute when we had chances," Murray said.
In the end, though, LSU clearly was the superior team.
Tyrann Mathieu's 62-yard punt return in the second quarter cut Georgia's lead to 10-7, and LSU took the lead on a two-play drive following a Murray fumble at the UGA 26-yard line early in the third quarter. The Tigers thoroughly dominated from then on.
Georgia had 134 offensive yards in the first quarter but only 36 in the next two quarters combined. The Bulldogs committed three turnovers in the second half, none in the first.
"We just weren't making plays the whole second half," Murray said.
Defensively, Georgia allowed LSU only 12 yards and no first downs in the first half -- but 225 yards and 13 first downs in the second half.
"They're a very talented team," Murray said of LSU. "There's a reason they're No. 1 in the nation."
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