ATHENS — Georgia’s good. Vanderbilt’s not.
There’s not much else that needs to be known about the homecoming game conducted between the hedges at Sanford Stadium on Saturday. As an SEC war simultaneously was being waged 210 miles north in Knoxville, Tenn., the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs (7-0, 4-0 SEC) occasionally had to strain but not often enough to leave any doubt about the eventual outcome, which ended in a 55-0 Georgia victory.
Notably missing several key players again because of injury, the Bulldogs’ next task will be healing during an off-week before the annual clash with Florida on Oct. 29.
With their third consecutive loss to a top-10 team, the Commodores (3-4, 0-3) have to travel next week to Missouri. Georgia has beaten Vandy 117-0 in the past two meetings.
This particular proceeding was a decidedly different affair than what was happening on Rocky Top. Scoreboard watching was an all-game pastime as No. 3 Alabama and No. 6 Tennessee were locked in a back-and-forth battle at Neyland Stadium that kicked off at the same time. Finishing well after his game, even Georgia coach Kirby Smart delayed his postgame news conference until seeing the final outcome. The No. 6-ranked Volunteers broke a 15-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide on a last-second field goal, winning 52-49.
“We thought it was going to go to overtime,” Smart said. “But I heard as I was walking in that they nailed the field goal.”
Indeed. As for Saturday in Athens, the Bulldogs punted once and took a knee once on the way to a 28-0 halftime lead. A personal-foul penalty left the Commodores with a scoring opportunity at the end of the second quarter. But then a grounding call was followed by a missed field-goal attempt.
And so it went. Even the Bulldogs’ scoring drives lacked scintillating highlights. And some of the ones that were, scintillating that is, weren’t.
It looked as if freshman receiver Dillon Bell had gone 66 yards for a touchdown with a catch midway through the first quarter. But an exhaustive video-replay review determined his elbow had touched the ground on the attempted tackle. Same thing happened on what appeared like a beautiful toe-tapping grab by Kearis Jackson late in the game.
No matter. The Bulldogs simply proceeded with an offensive formula they would stick with all day. That is, no-nonsense demonstrations of fundamental football executed with superior personnel.
Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken was nothing if not patient calling plays. Ten plays, 75 yards; four plays, 42 yards; 11 plays, 81 yards; 10 plays, 55 yards. So went the Bulldogs’ offense, which was more than happy to possess the football for nearly 20 ½ of the game’s first 30 minutes and 39 of the full 60.
“They were playing really deep with their safeties; they got back,” said Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett, who broke a three-game streak without a passing touchdown with two in the first half. “When that happens, it’s hard to hit shot plays. But it’s easy to throw underneath and get first downs, get 6 (yards), get 7, get 15 and move down the field. If they make you do it, then you’ve gotta do it.”
Accordingly, Georgia piled up 30 first downs while calling 41 pass plays and 38 rushes.
The last drive of the opening half typified the slow bleed of Vanderbilt that characterized the afternoon. There was a 34-yard pass to Darnell Washington to start the drive and a 21-yarder to Ladd McConkey on third down in the middle of it. That was the first of three third-down conversions. The last one was a 10-yard touchdown pass to Dominick Blaylock.
PAT, kickoff, defensive stop, repeat.
Washington was the star of the day, if there was one. The 6-foot-7, 280-pound tight end from Las Vegas recorded career highs with four catches and 78 yards receiving. Daijun Edwards scored his fifth TD of the season and led the Bulldogs with 49 yards on 10 carries. What was left of the crowd got pretty excited when tight end Arik Gilbert hauled in the first TD of his Georgia career on a 4-yard pass from Carson Beck.
By then, Bennett and most of the other Georgia starters were out of the game. The last play for the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback was holding for a 35-yard Jack Podlesny field goal. The play before he was lit up on a hard tackle as he ran out of bounds on the Vanderbilt sideline and came up wind-milling his right shoulder.
Bennett insists he’s OK, but Smart had seen enough, as had most of the crowd, which by then had left to catch the end of Bama-Tennessee. Bennett led a Georgia offense that finished with 579 yards. After not throwing a touchdown pass in the previous three games, Bennett threw two in the first half and totaled 289 yards on 24-of-30 passing. Backup Beck matched him with two TD throws and went 8-of-11 passing for 98 yards.
The Commodores could do nothing on offense. Their 10th first down didn’t come until the play on which the final buzzer sounded. That gave them 150 yards – total. They were 5-of-13 on third downs.
“We still feel like we missed a lot of opportunities on the ball when it was up in the air,” Georgia linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson said. “We got a punch-out, and that’s what we were looking to do. Once you get one, they start coming in bunches.”
There wasn’t much Vanderbilt representation in the crowd at Sanford Stadium, but the small black-clad group in the northwest corner had its greatest rejoicing to that point when the Commodores’ defense finally held Georgia to a field goal on the Bulldogs’ first possession of the second half. That made the score 31-0 and seemed to suck out whatever oxygen remained in the air above Dooley Field.
The only moment of true consternation for Georgia fans came a few minutes earlier when McConkey had to be helped off the field. The 6-foot, 185-pound sophomore was unable to get up under his own power after hauling in a pass on the UGA sideline for an 18-yard gain. After a long examination inside the Bulldogs’ medical tent, McConkey left with his helmet on but stood among his position mates for the remainder of the game.
Starting guard Xavier Truss also needed trainers’ help getting off the field after a third-quarter play. Smart insisted that they’re both going to be OK. But getting as many players as well as possible during next week’s bye is a priority.
“We got to play a lot of players,” Smart said of Saturday’s game. “We’re a beat-up, banged-up football team going into the off-week. It’s going to be important that we give these guys (time) to get well.”
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