ATHENS — It took all of six seconds for Georgia to make clear that Saturday would not be a strenuous day. That’s how long the Bulldogs’ first offensive possession lasted before they notched their first touchdown, a 22-yard pass from Carson Beck to Dillon Bell.
That would come after Tennessee Tech lost four yards and punted in four plays, and Georgia’s Anthony Evans returned said punt 46 yards. And so the rhythm of the Bulldogs’ home opener at Sanford Stadium was established.
Georgia scored on every first-half possession but the last, which ended on Beck’s failed Hail Mary attempt for Young in the end zone as the clock expired. But it was 24-0 by then, most of the home crowd headed to the house and the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs headed to a 48-3 victory.
That unsuccessful, one-minute-offense situation before halftime represented few failures on an otherwise exemplary day for Beck. Georgia’s senior quarterback posted Heisman Trophy-like numbers in what ended for him as a seven-possession day. He tied a school record with five touchdown passes and finished 18-of-25 passing for 242 yards. He also gained 18 yards on three rushes, with a long of 11. Beck exited the game for good less than three minutes into the second half with a gaudy QB rating of 219.3.
As for the prospect of hanging around longer and pursuing that elusive sixth TD pass, Beck scoffed.
“I could care less,” said Beck, whose touchdowns went to five different receivers. “Whether we run it in six times, who whether I throw it six times, a win is a win. We’re 1-0 in Week 2. I’ll watch film, and we’ll try to get better, then we’ll move on to next week.”
The game also represented the Georgia debut of running back Trevor Etienne. A heralded junior transfer from Florida who was suspended for the opener against Clemson, Etienne started for the Bulldogs on Saturday and finished as the team’s leading rusher. He gained 78 yards on five carries added 14 yards on two receptions, all in the first half.
Asked what Etienne added to the offense, Georgia coach Kirby Smart shrugged.
“I don’t think we know that yet,” Smart said. “It’s hard to tell from today. I wouldn’t judge on today. We’ve got a good stable of backs, and I’m fired up about our backs.”
One of those backs was sophomore Branson Robinson, who scored on a 13-yard touchdown 54 weeks after undergoing major knee surgery.
What else Georgia can take from this game into its next one – the SEC opener at Kentucky on Saturday – is uncertain. As its status as a 53-point underdog suggested, Tennessee Tech was a severely overmatched visitor, venturing between the hedges from the FCS’s Ohio Valley Conference. And the Golden Eagles (0-2) dutifully played their role as a well-compensated sacrificial lamb. The fourth quarter was cut to 10 minutes so they could hurry to their bus with their $550,000 check and get back to Cookeville, Tennessee, with what pieces of the team that were left.
To Smart’s chagrin, Tennessee Tech did have a couple of moments in which it demonstrated some resistance. Trailing 17-0 early in the second quarter, the Eagles finally knocked out a couple of first downs – two on third-down conversions – and possessed the football for more than seven minutes. Once in Georgia’s territory, the visitors were pushed backward again and ended up having to punt.
The Golden Eagles were able to move the ball again on the final possession of the game. Facing a defense full of the Bulldogs’ backups, they drove 60 yards in seven plays and converted a 32-yard field goal just as time expired.
Safety Dan Jackson was among the Georgia defensive starters who were fully engaged from the sideline and imploring their counterparts to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.
“We preach nobody in the end zone,” said Jackson, who created the Bulldogs’ only takeaway with a fumble recovery that set up a touchdown. “We don’t want to let anybody score. Shutouts are a big deal, and that’s what we pride ourselves on. It is what it is, but we’ve just got to keep fighting and keep getting better.”
A smattering of boos could be heard from the sparse Georgia crowd that remained to the bitter end. They didn’t appreciate the visitors resigning themselves to a field goal that otherwise was meaningless to the outcome.
Neither coach, though, had a problem with it.
“I wanted to get something positive out of the game,” Tennessee Tech coach Bobby Wilder said. “I wanted to execute that. We are going to need that at some point to win a football game.”
Said Smart: “I think it was a great lesson. It’s more frustrating giving up two third downs and letting them have an eight-minute possession. That’s frustrating.”
Smart was generous with neither his praise nor his criticism with the way Georgia performed on offense or defense.
“Hard to measure our success today,” the Bulldogs’ ninth-year coach said. “Last week was a great performance by our defense. Today was what we should do.”
As for Beck’s record-tying performance, Smart said: “Today was about a lot of other players. Not about Carson.”
Georgia’s longest scoring drive came late in the second quarter and covered 80 yards. Etienne took care of more than half of that on first down, taking a handoff at right guard, then cutting hard to the outside and going 45 yards. Georgia would need six plays to cover the remaining 35 yards, the final 10 coming on Beck’s third-and-8 pass to Dominic Lovett right at the right-side goal-line pylon. That was Beck’s third TD pass of the day, made the score 24-0 and left only 1:11 on the clock.
The Bulldogs had an opportunity to add to the onslaught, getting the ball back with 45 seconds left in the first half. But the execution of their one-minute offense left much to be desired. Starting at the Georgia 40, a false-start penalty on first down set the tone, and Beck was left to attempt a 42-yard heave at the buzzer, and it fell incomplete.
“That drive is something we can go back and watch film on and improve in that area,” Beck said. “But we move on fast around here. We came out in the second half and scored two touchdowns immediately, so it’s more about how you respond.”
The Bulldogs expect much more of a challenge Saturday when they’re in Lexington, Kentucky, for the SEC opener against the Kentucky Wildcats (7:30 p.m., ABC). Georgia’s hosts likely will be in a foul mood after losing to South Carolina 31-6 at Kroger Field on Saturday.
“I don’t think I’ve been up there when it wasn’t a battle,” Smart said. “There’s never been a time I went to that stadium and played the game and said, ‘well that was easy.’ It’s never easy up there. It’s never easy on the SEC road at all.”
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