The No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs played at their home away from home Saturday and remained undefeated this century at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium with a 45-0 victory over the Yellow Jackets. It was Georgia’s first shutout of Tech since 1964.
Playing before a mostly red-and-black crowd that made it look a UGA home game, the Bulldogs won their fourth in a row over Tech and extended their overall win streak to 16 games, dating to last season. That’s the second-longest streak in school history, one shy of the record 17 games established from 1945-47.
The victory gave Georgia a 12-0 regular-season record for the first since the national championship season of 1980. But Georgia coach Kirby Smart wasn’t ready to discuss accomplishments.
“I hate to just demean it. It’s a big deal. It’s an honor. It’s great,” Smart said in the postgame locker room. “But it’s the next step in the process for this group. This group has had a single-minded focus. It never said, ‘Hey, let’s go 12-0.’ It just said, ‘Hey, let’s beat everybody we play.’”
Georgia will put its perfect record on the line Saturday against No. 3 Alabama in the SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Crimson Tide (11-1, 7-1 SEC) needed four overtimes to dispatch Auburn 24-22 in the Iron Bowl later Saturday night.
“It means a lot; first 12-0 season, first undefeated season since 1982,” Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett said. “It’s a big accomplishment. But, you know, now the real fun starts.”
Next week, the Bulldogs not only will be looking to win their second SEC championship since 2017 under coach Kirby Smart, but also to snap a six-game losing streak to Alabama and legendary coach Nick Saban. Georgia has lost to the Tide in their past two matchups in Atlanta, 26-23 in overtime in the 2017 College Football Playoff championship game (Jan. 8, 2018) and 35-28 in the 2018 SEC Championship game. The Bulldogs held second-half leads in both of those contests.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Georgia served notice that it would be coming back to face Bama with one of its best offensive players. Star split end George Pickens, out since sustaining a torn ACL during spring practice in March, returned to the field. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound junior caught his first pass of the season on a 5-yard quick-hitch play 11 seconds into the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Georgia was playing without a couple of starters because of injuries and lost another one during the course of the game. Senior Kearis Jackson, who starts in the slot and returns punts, suffered a rib injury on a punt return in the first quarter and did not return. Left tackle Jamaree Salyer (foot) and safety Christopher Smith (knee) did not dress out but watched the game from the sidelines.
As for Saturday’s game, it was just another illustration of the widening gap between Georgia and the Jackets. The shutout was Georgia’s first of Tech since Vince Dooley’s first team recorded a 7-0 win in 1964. With the loss, Tech (3-9) finishes with only three wins for the third consecutive season under coach Geoff Collins. And the losing margins against the Bulldogs have only grown during his tenure. The teams did not play last year because of the SEC’s conference-only schedules dictated by pandemic protocols in 2020.
The competition, such as it was, didn’t last long. Tech mishandled the opening kickoff return and had to start from its own 9. Then, the Jackets proceeded to punt after all six of their first-half possessions, three of those on three-and-outs.
Georgia, already leading 17-0 90 seconds into the second quarter, increased that lead two minutes later when quarterback Stetson Bennett connected with tight end Brock Bowers on a simple slant pattern. The freshman turned up field with the perfectly thrown ball and outran the entire Tech secondary down the middle of the field for a 77-yard touchdown to make the score 24-0 with 11:03 still to play.
Bowers’ set Georgia records for receiving yards in a season (652) by a tight end and by a freshman. And with a 9-yard touchdown in the third quarter, Bowers has 10 receiving touchdowns on the season, second only to Terrence Edwards’ 11 in 2002.
Bennett, who played every possession through the third quarter, had an excellent afternoon, too. The senior completed 14 of 20 passes for 255 yards and four touchdowns before leaving the game after Georgia’s eighth offensive series, which was the last of the third quarter.
JT Daniels handled one series in the fourth quarter and led the Bulldogs on a all-running 51-yard scoring drive. Redshirt freshman Carson Beck came in for Georgia’s final possession, again all handoffs.
“Hats off to our opponent. That’s a really good team,” Tech coach Geoff Collins said. “They’re obviously the No. 1 team in the country for a reason. They’re really good at every single phase of the game.”
The Bulldogs gained 463 yards, with 208 of it coming on the ground. Kenny McIntosh led them in rushing with 66 yards, 59 of this came on his touchdown run late in the third quarter.
It was the third shutout of the season for Georgia’s defense, which came No. 1 in the nation in points allowed (7.5 pg). Tech became the seventh team this year to be shutout in the first half by the Bulldogs. Then, for the sixth time this season, Georgia carried a shutout to the fourth quarter.
But linebacker Nakobe Dean, who led the Bulldogs with six tackles, wasn’t really interested in talking about Saturday’s accomplishments.
“It’s a step in the right direction as far as we’re on top. But so what?” Dean said in his postgame interview. “What I keep reiterating is ascending and getting better every week. I feel like I’ve said this several times before, but what we have done during this regular season is all good, but it don’t matter because it’s always about how we finish the season. If we don’t finish the right way, none of this really matters. You know what I’m saying? So, for me, it’s always about how we finish and I’m thinking about the next one right now.”
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