ATHENS — No. 14 Missouri certainly has a chance to beat No. 1 Georgia on Saturday afternoon. Some might say the best chance of any team so far this season. Should the Tigers pull off the upset, they will have achieved something exceedingly rare.
The Bulldogs simply don’t lose at Sanford Stadium under Kirby Smart. Not anymore.
They did at first. In fact, three of the four home losses for Georgia occurred in 2016, Smart’s first season as head coach. Since then, the Bulldogs are a stout 39-1.
The one loss after that was about as flukish as they come. Quarterback Jake Fromm threw three interceptions, and kicker Rodrigo Blankenship, who had been perfect in the previous five games and most of his career, had a field-goal attempt blocked and then missed a 42-yard attempt in the second overtime as three-touchdown underdog South Carolina won 20-17. Will Muschamp, now Georgia’s co-defensive coordinator, was the Gamecocks’ head coach for that game, which was played Oct. 12, 2019.
The Bulldogs haven’t lost at home since. Their record on their home field – which was aptly named Vince Dooley Field at the beginning of that 2019 season – is 23-0 since then. That’s one shy of the school-record streak that was established by Dooley’s teams from 1980-83.
“It’s a collective effort, right? We all chip in on this,” Smart said after the Bulldogs’ practice Tuesday night. “We practice hard; we beat the hell out of each other out there at practice. We want to put a good product on the field, and we want to defend our turf. Championship teams at Georgia have not lost at home. So, you better not lose at home.”
Georgia (8-0, 5-0 SEC) hasn’t in a long time and most of the games haven’t been close. Texas A&M lost to the Bulldogs 16-13 in Athens on Nov. 23, 2019. Since then, only Mississippi State has stayed within a touchdown, and that was when attendance was limited due to COVID-19 pandemic protocols.
Since the stadium was returned to full-capacity seating, there have been nothing but blowouts. The victims include Missouri, which lost 43-6 on Nov. 6, 2021. The Tigers are posted as a 14.5-point underdog for Saturday’s game (3:30 p.m., CBS).
Georgia’s home schedules the last few years haven’t been great. Only 12 of the home games in the Smart era were to ranked teams. The Bulldogs are 11-1 in those games.
That one loss to a ranked opponent came to No. 11 Tennessee in 2016. That one, like the other three losses, easily could have ended up Georgia wins:
- Oct. 1, 2016 – Tennessee, 34-31: After a celebration penalty forced Georgia to kick off from its own 20 with 10 seconds remaining, Joshua Dobbs completed a 43-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings as time expired.
- Oct. 15, 2016 – Vanderbilt, 17-16: Inside the final minute, Georgia was unable to convert on fourth-and-1 at the Vandy 41 when the Bulldogs called an outside running play for 5-foot-7, 175-pound receiver Isaiah McKenzie, with 5-10, 230-pound Nick Chubb acting as lead blocker. McKenzie was stopped short, and the Commodores ran out the clock.
- Nov. 26, 2016 – Georgia Tech, 28-27: Coach Paul Johnson’s Yellow Jackets scored the winning touchdown with 30 seconds to go. Georgia led by 13 points with 6-1/2 minutes to play.
- Oct. 12, 2019 – South Carolina, 20-17 (2 OT): Blankenship missed a 42-yard field-goal attempt in second overtime. It was his first miss of the season.
So, it can be done. Georgia can be beaten between the hedges. But it’s been a long time and, generally, takes some crazy circumstances for visitors to pull it off the upset. Obviously, they have to keep it close. The average margin of defeat for the Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium under Smart is 2.0 points.
Mizzou staying grounded
Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz held his weekly press conference in Columbia on Tuesday to discuss Saturday’s matchup against No. 1 Georgia. Now in his fourth year at the helm of the program, Drinkwitz spent much of his time trying to keep the game in perspective for both fans and media, who have labeled it a do-or-die matchup for the Tigers (7-1, 3-1 SEC).
“There’s going to be two different narratives,” Drinkwitz said. “If we lose, there’s nothing left to play for because of what’s at stake in the game, which we know is not true. If we win, everybody will assume that we have to win the East, which is not true because we still have three games left against SEC opponents.”
The only goal, Drinkwitz said, is to “be 1-0 this week.” But he knows that’s not how the game is being viewed nationally. CBS (3:30 p.m.) is carrying the game to a national TV audience because of its SEC championship and playoff implications.
After visiting Georgia, the Tigers still have home games remaining against Tennessee and Florida and will conclude the season on the road against Arkansas.
“The job of the media and social media is to create narratives,” Drinkwitz said. “Our job is to ignore them and try to be 1-0.”
Balanced Bulldogs
Balance in football doesn’t just mean an even distribution of running and passing yards. It can also extend to a team’s relative strength on both offense and defense.
Georgia has that going for it this season, as it has the past two. The Bulldogs are tied for seventh in the nation in scoring offense at 40.5 points per game. They also happen to be ranked No. 7 in scoring defense as well, giving up 14.8 points per game.
That balance extends to the all-important area of third-down conversion rate. Georgia’s defense is No. 1 in the nation by allowing teams to convert on third down only 25% of the time. On the flip side, the Bulldogs are ranked No. 3 nationally in third-down offense, converting 56% of the time.
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
