Georgia emerged from the SEC Championship still undefeated at 13-0 and the clear No. 1 heading into the College Football Playoff.
But, that second half of the Bulldogs’ 50-30 win vs. LSU on Dec. 3 raised some questions heading into their semifinal matchup Saturday vs. No. 4 Ohio State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, mostly centered around their pass defense.
Between starting quarterback Jayden Daniels (16-of-24 passing for 208 yards, one touchdown, one interception) and backup Garrett Nussmeier (15-of-27 passing for 294 yards, two touchdowns, one interception), Georgia allowed LSU to rack up 502 passing yards. The second half, in particular, got messy, with Nussmeier and the Tigers actually outscoring the Bulldogs in the final two quarters, 20-15.
Granted, the Bulldogs still won by 20. But it’s worth noting given the team they’re about to take on in the Buckeyes, who own the No. 2 scoring offense in the country (44.5 points per game) and are led by quarterback C.J. Stroud, who averaged 278.3 passing yards per game (No. 14 in FBS) and threw for 37 touchdowns this year (tied for No. 3). For context, Georgia’s defense allows 215.1 passing yards per game (No. 49 in FBS), though it owns the No. 2 scoring defense (holding opponents to 12.77 points per game, on average).
Georgia’s secondary will be tested, and on Monday sophomore Kamari Lassiter addressed what the defensive backs have worked on since the SEC Championship.
“Ohio State definitely has a lot of great receivers, great quarterback, and we’ve got a lot of respect for them,” Lassiter said. “I’ll say during the LSU game, not trying to backtrack too far, but we did have some lapses during that game in the second half. We just really needed to recenter and refocus after that win and during this time off and just get back to the basics of Georgia football.
“... In the secondary, we’ve just been harping on technique and working on our base coverages, working on Day 1 things and just mainly technique and gaining more confidence and stuff like that.”
In particular, Lassiter gave props to Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., tied for third nationally with 12 touchdown receptions: “He’s a really good player. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He’s very physical. He’s a big long guy with a pretty big catch radius. He just seems like he pays attention. He has a lot of attention to detail during the game, and I think that’s what makes him a pretty good player.”
Georgia coach Kirby Smart praised Stroud, whom he tried to recruit to UGA. Stroud is first in the nation in quarterback efficiency rating (176.25) and second in yards per attempt (9.4).
“He has a really good disposition about him,” Smart said. “He’s not real high, not real low, not real emotional. He keeps a really level head, which to me at quarterback is one of the No. 1 qualities you can find. He came on a visit to our place as well and got to see him at the Heisman. He’s just matured. To see him grow, he’s always had tremendous arm strength and touch and velocity on throws, but he’s become a complete quarterback there in their system.”
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