ATHENS — Carson Beck threw for a career-high 459 yards and tied the school record for completions in a game with 36 as the No. 5-ranked Georgia Bulldogs defeated Mississippi State 41-31 here at Sanford Stadium on Saturday. So, there’s that.
About 850 miles away and a half-hour earlier Saturday, No. 1 Texas was putting the finishing touches on a 34-3 win over 18th-ranked Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
With those results in the books, the Bulldogs will begin preparation for a thousand-mile trip to take on the Longhorns in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 19. They will do so with some trepidation.
The Bulldogs’ victory – their FBS-leading 28th in a row at home – did little to quell some of the concerns they had entering Week 7 of the 2024 season. Their defense, decimated by Alabama two weeks ago, continued to give up explosive plays. Penalties were a constant enemy. Georgia’s offense, while piling up yards and first downs, was inefficient at times, ineffective on the ground, and too often sloppy with the football. A pair of interceptions thrown by Beck – there probably should have been more – and a fumble that luckily for the Bulldogs went out of bounds, kept Mississippi State engaged until the end of the game.
“We certainly helped them with some dumb, dumb, dumb penalties,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “We gifted them basically 14 points on two error plays, and we gifted them three first downs, all third-and-longs, which I’ve never been a part of since I’ve been at Georgia.”
To its credit, Georgia’s offense came through when it had to. With momentum fully on the visiting sideline with 11 minutes to play, the Bulldogs did their best not to give the ball back. Georgia consumed 7:26 of the fourth quarter on an 16-play, 81-yard scoring drive that ended with Trevor Etienne’s 1-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal with 3:33 to play.
That touchdown loomed large for a couple of reasons. First, Etienne looked to be stopped for a loss on the initial hit behind the line of scrimmage. But the junior running back and first-year transfer from Florida managed to stay up and keep driving his legs. With additional help from his Georgia teammates, he was able to fall over the goal line. Second, Mississippi State would score another touchdown less than two minutes later.
The visiting Bulldogs failed to recover their attempt at an onside kick with 1:46 to play. Georgia’s Dillon Bell recovered which, with State exhausted of timeouts, meant the Bulldogs could take a knee on three consecutive plays to finalize victory.
With it, Georgia improved to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in SEC play. Mississippi State falls to 1-5 and 0-3 in conference play.
“Lessons? I don’t think that much of it carries over to Texas,” Smart said. “You know, defensively you can’t give people things. We literally gave them 14 points. I’m not talking about the fourth-and-2 where we don’t cover the guy in the flat. I say they earned that. We gave up back-to-back wheel routes the first half, and we gifted them three third downs in the second half.”
Beck finished with 459 yards on 36-of-48 passing, three touchdowns and two interceptions. The 36 completions tied Eric Zeier, who did it twice at Georgia, and Cory Phillips, who was the last Georgia player to complete 36 passes, in 2000.
Arian Smith led the Bulldogs with 134 yards receiving and a touchdown, and Bell added 82 on five receptions. Georgia totaled 605 yards of offense, but could manage only 146 on the ground, with wide receiver Anthony Evans getting most of that on a 52-yard run off a reverse. Etienne had 35 on 11 carries and Nate Frazier added 43 on 10.
“I’m very confident in our offense, and we just showed that we’re capable of going out there and scoring (to win the game) if we have to,” Beck told reporters after the game. “We can throw it, we can run it, whatever it takes, to score. Two plays, five plays, 15 plays. We’ve had some long gruesome drives for the defense, wearing them down. I think that’s huge at the end of the game in the fourth quarter to shut it out.”
The visiting Bulldogs got 306 yards and three touchdowns from freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren. Junior receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. had 103 yards and led three wideouts with receptions of 35 yards or more.
“Man, our guys responded. They answered the challenge, answered the ball,” State’s first-year coach, Jeff Lebby said. “I hate that we’re sitting here disappointed. We’re frustrated they we’re not on the right side of it. But our guys continuing to fight like for each other like that, I’m proud of them.”
Georgia looked to be well in control of the outcome when it received the second-half kickoff and quickly drove down the field on a three-play, 75-yard scoring drive to go ahead 34-10.
But instead of pinning their opponent right there, the Bulldogs let them up. Twice Georgia had the visitors stopped on third-down plays only to see the plays overturned by penalty. The first was interference on freshman cornerback Chris Cole, the second was a facemask penalty on Chaz Chambliss when he pulled off Van Buren’s helmet during a sack.
“We’re off the field,” Smart said. “I don’t want to say we were undisciplined, just bad timing.”
Blessed with new life, the visiting Bulldogs went the rest of the way for an 8-play, 75-yard scoring drive punctuated by Johnnie Daniels’ 19-yard TD run. That cut Georgia’s lead in half, 34-17, with 8:27 left in the third quarter.
That seemed no more than a nuisance the way the Bulldogs were moving the football. Indeed, Georgia got 52 yards on a reverse by Evans on the first play from scrimmage and very quickly was back in Mississippi State’s red zone.
But then Beck’s pass for Lawson Luckie in the end zone was picked off by MSU cornerback DeAgo Brumfield for a touchback.
“I thought it was a blatant holding on their guy,” Beck said of his second interception. The first pick he threw was deflected at the line of scrimmage on Georgia’s opening possession.
Understandably inspired now, the Maroon Dogs beat Georgia deep – again. This time it was a 42-yard pass to Coleman down the State sideline. State scored five plays later on a play-action pass on fourth-and-goal from the Georgia 2. Running back Davon Booth was wide open on the play, which came with 2:40 still left in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs reached midfield on their next possession, but then had to punt for the first time in the game with 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
This time Georgia’s defense held. A sack by Damon Wilson forced the Maroon Dogs into third-and-16 at midfield and their pass attempt fell incomplete.
That effectively was the end of the game for MSU’s offense. Georgia would not give the ball back.
