ATHENS — Warde Manuel’s message came through loud and clear. The College Football Playoff selection committee’s chairman cited Alabama’s dominant play the past three weeks as one of the reasons they had the Crimson Tide ranked higher than any other two-loss team.
The latest victory in Bama’s run was a 52-7 win over Mercer, an FCS opponent. The Crimson Tide moved up three spots.
Got it. To stay in the committee’s good graces, one needs to beat the brakes off overmatched, lower-level opponents.
Enter Massachusetts. No. 10 Georgia’s opponent Saturday (12:45 p.m., SEC Network) at least is an FBS school. But the Minutemen (2-8) have fallen on some tough times. They just fired coach Don Brown, who was 6-28 in three seasons, and will be under the direction Saturday of interim coach Shane Montgomery, the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Georgia will be the third SEC opponent of the season for UMass. The Minutemen lost to Mississippi State 45-20 and Missouri 45-3.
It would seem the Bulldogs have no choice but to try to beat them worse. That’s never been the style of Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who prefers to play a lot of reserves in matchups such as these. Then again, should he not give the committee what it apparently wants?
“I’ve repeatedly said I don’t know what they’re looking for,” Smart said of the selection committee. “They can’t define it. It’s not simple. … Everybody debates it and I don’t have time to waste energy on it.”
Such is the backdrop for Saturday’s matchup, the fifth of six home games at Sanford Stadium this season. The sixth will come Nov. 29 against archrival Georgia Tech (7-4), which defeated N.C. State (5-6) 30-29 on Thursday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Everything you need to know about Georgia-UMass game
- When: 12:45 p.m. Saturday
- Where: Sanford Stadium (capacity 93,033)
- Rankings & record: No. 10 Georgia (8-2, 6-2 SEC); Massachusetts (2-8)
- TV/radio: SEC Network/Georgia Bulldogs Sports Network
- Weather: It’s expected to be cool and clear, about 55 degrees at kickoff with an afternoon high of about 59 degrees.
- Series: Georgia leads 1-0
- Last meeting: The Bulldogs won 66-27 in Athens on Nov. 17, 2018. Georgia compiled 701 yards of offense, the second-highest total in school history, 426 of which came via the run game. UMass wideout Andy Isabella caught 15 passes for 219 yards and two TDs.
- Tickets: The game is sold out, but tickets are available on the secondary market below face value.
Storylines for Georgia-Massachusetts game
Senior Day
Georgia is holding Senior Day on Saturday, which is unusual in that it is not the final home game of the season. That will come six days later when the Bulldogs play host to archrival Tech, which is a 7:30 p.m. game.
Logistically — and emotionally — UGA figured it made more sense to conduct the annual pregame rite of passage before a day game against a lower-tier opponent rather than an extremely meaningful contest against an intense rival.
“Their parents will get to bring more people to the game, and it’s a lot better fit for them,” Smart said.
There was a time when Georgia would announce how many seniors would be participating in the ceremony, who they are and what’s their major. Not anymore.
Between players with COVID-19 eligibility who have graduated, underclassmen who may or may not turn pro at season’s end and redshirt sophomores and juniors who might have enough credit to graduate and move on if they choose, that’s an increasingly complicated endeavor. As it is, Georgia lists 16 seniors and graduate students listed on the 2024 roster. Many more than that likely will be honored.
It will be interesting to see what Xavier Truss decides to do. A sixth-year senior, the offensive lineman from Rhode Island participated in Senior Day festivities in 2022 and ‘23.
With a win Saturday, Georgia’s 2024 seniors will break the record of 51 wins it shares with the 2023 class.
Eyes on Beck
One player who definitely will participate in Senior Day is Carson Beck. A fifth-year quarterback from Jacksonville, Beck chose not to join in the pregame ceremony last November before facing Ole Miss in the regular-season finale. It would be another month before Beck announced he was returning to UGA for a fifth season. He finished with 306 yards passing and 2 touchdowns in a 52-17 win over the Rebels.
Fast forward to this week and it has been an up-and-down final season for Beck. A year after that banner day, he passed for only 186 yards with an interception and a fumble in a 28-10 loss to Ole Miss in Oxford. But he came back Saturday to produce one of his better passing performances of the season: 347 yards and two TDs in a 31-17 win over No. 7 Tennessee.
It has been a challenging season for Beck. He has seen his completion rate drop 7.3 percentage points to 65.1% and his interceptions double to 12 from six last season in only 10 games. However, he may have discovered something Saturday.
Beck had three runs for 32 yards, including one for a 10-yard TD. Perhaps he hasn’t been running the football enough?
“I think he makes good decisions on when to do that,” Smart said. “I think our offensive staff does a tremendous job of utilizing his ability to run on certain plays.”
Beck joked after the game that people have forgotten he was a dual-threat quarterback coming out of high school. His coach begged to differ.
“More like 75-25,” Smart cracked.
Loose balls
While Georgia did not have a turnover in its 31-17 win over Tennessee, it certainly could have. The Bulldogs put the ball on the ground at least three times, but never lost possession.
Receiver Dillon Bell fumbled the ball on a jet sweep around left end, and Anthony Evans recovered. Arian Smith recovered his own fumble at the end of a 23-yard reception one play later. And what initially looked like a fumble when tight end Oscar Delp was hit hard after a long reception was ruled an incompletion. The Tennessee sideline thought otherwise.
As a result, Georgia did not commit a turnover Saturday for the first time in seven games. But the Bulldogs still sit 11th in the SEC in turnover margin at minus-2. They have commmitted 15 turnovers, 12 via interceptions, while recording just 13 takeaways on seven fumbles and six interceptions.
“We had bad exposures Saturday, and we’ve had some bad exposures throughout the year, like when guys catch balls and the ball is loose,” Smart said. “I’m honestly more focused on our defense. Why don’t we get people with bad exposures? The teams we play have more bad exposures, but we don’t get more out. So, I’m trying to solve that problem.”
Where’s Gunner?
Because Saturday’s game is a non-conference one, Georgia can dress as many players as it wants. Chances are that number will top 100. The Bulldogs’ hope is that all will play.
One player Georgia would especially like to see in action is Gunner Stockton. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound, third-year sophomore from Tiger allegedly is the Bulldogs’ backup quarterback. However, he hasn’t taken a snap in a game since Sept. 7. That was the Week 2 blowout of Tennessee Tech (48-3).
Stockton as 10-of-12 passing for 90 yards in that game and had three carries for 2 yards, which included a 7-yard sack. Stockton’s only other appearance was at the end of the 34-3 season-opening win over Clemson on Aug. 31. He did not record any stats in that point.
At this point, though, it’s only an assumption that Stockton is the backup quarterback. Georgia has two other scholarship signal-callers in sophomore Jaden Rashada and freshman Ryan Puglisi. Neither have played this season, though Rashada has traveled to all of Georgia’s away games.
“They all get work each and every week,” Smart said. “We throw them in there in practice. ... Sometimes they throw with (the first team and the second team) on the scouts to get even more work. Every rep you can possibly get them right now (is important). You’re like, ‘How many times can I get a quarterback to go back there and have to make a decision and grow as a player?’”
Booming it
Georgia senior punter Brett Thorson was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Ray Guy Award this week. A native of Melbourne, Australia, Thorson stands fourth nationally with a 46.3 average, has forced 12 fair catches this season, dropped 19 within the 20-yard line and bombed 13 punts 50 or more yards. Thorson’s long this season was 58 yards, the Bulldogs are sixth nationally in net punting at 43.5 and opponents have had six returns for 18 yards, which also stands sixth nationally.
Thorson infamously recorded his first career tackle Saturday when Tennessee’s Boo Carter returned one 26 yards. Georgia football had fun with that one, getting Thorson to do a mock presentation to the team this week as an “expert tackler.”
“That was coach Smart’s idea,” said Thorson, who dressed in Spike Squad attire for the presentation at Monday’s team meeting. “At first I thought, ‘this could come back and bite me.’ ... But then I thought, why not? The idea was to get a laugh and get the team going.”
Actually, the long return represented somewhat of a regression for the Bulldogs’ beloved punter. He did not give up a single return last season. This year Georgia has allowed six for 18 yards.
Havoc rate picks up
While Georgia’s defense has not been nearly as stifling as we’ve become accustomed, it has picked it up in the area of havoc rate in recent weeks. The Bulldogs recorded five sacks against Tennessee, giving them 26 for the season.
The pace has picked up considerably lately while the Bulldogs were navigating the most difficult portion of their schedule. After recording only 11 sacks through the first six games of the season, Georgia has notched 22 in the past four against Texas, Florida, Ole Miss and Tennessee.
Likewise, the Bulldogs have recorded 26.5 tackles for loss over that same stretch. Outside linebackers Chaz Chambliss and Jalon Walker lead the way with 5.5 apiece. Defensive end Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins has three, and Damon Wilson and Mykel Williams each have two.
“In our defense, you can’t be selfish,” Chambliss said. “When plays come to you, they come to you. When you go out there and try and force plays, that’s when you don’t have people trusting you on your own defense. It’s just being in the right gap at the right time.”
What about UMass?
Why is UMass coming to Georgia to play a third SEC team this season? There are at least 1.9 million reasons.
That’s how many dollars the Minutemen were guaranteed by the Bulldogs for playing at Sanford Stadium. That ties Alabama (for Western Kentucky) and Auburn (New Mexico) for the highest home-game buys in the nation this year. UGA inked the deal with the Minutemen in 2019, less than a year after beating them 66-27 in Athens.
For UMass, it will be their third game against an SEC opponent in three weeks. It lost to Mississippi State 45-20 on Nov. 2 in Starkville and fell to Missouri 45-3 in Amherst, Massachusetts, on Oct. 12.
You read that right: Missouri played at UMass. Oddly, the Tigers played the Minutemen in a rare home-and-home arrangement with an SEC team.
Meanwhile, Mississippi State got a much better deal from UMass. State paid the Minutemen $700,000 to play them three times. The teams also met in Starkville in 2015 and 2017. State paid $325,000 for the first two games, then $375,000 for this year’s tilt, which originally was scheduled to be played in 2020.
The Minutemen (2-8) currently are an FBS independent. They fired coach Don Brown after his kicker missed a potential game-winning field goal in regulation and then the team lost to Liberty 35-34 in overtime Saturday. Next year they will compete in the Mid-American Conference.
