ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia won its season opener, 48-7, on Saturday, and the outcome was never really in question. Yet the takeaway from Sanford Stadium was that the Bulldogs didn’t play particularly well against Tennessee-Martin, their small-time FCS visitor. And there may be some merit to that, given some of the home team’s early strain.
But perspective is going to be hard to find this season. The last time anyone had seen Georgia in action, it was running roughshod over TCU, 65-7, in the College Football Playoff Championship game. That capped a 15-0 season and completed a run of 29 wins, one loss and two national championships over the past two seasons. Only occasionally during that streak have games been close.
This one wasn’t really, either, but it lacked the dominance to which the Bulldogs have become accustomed. Georgia led only 17-0 at halftime, and its starters on offense and defense remained in the game well into third quarter.
That could be explained with all the newness on the field for the Bulldogs. Georgia started the game behind new quarterback Carson Beck, new offensive tackles, new backs and an entirely new set of wide receivers. Accordingly, they were slow to get going.
The Bulldogs punted three times in the first half and faced third down seven times, converting only three of those. Georgia ran the football but not at will. Beck hit on 14 of 21 passes but threw no touchdowns. It was all kind of — blah.
It wasn’t until the 8:29 mark of that half that the sellout crowd got something to be truly excited about. That’s when Beck connected with Mekhi Mews on a tunnel screen to left, and the 5-foot-8 jitterbug took it 56 yards for a score.
It wasn’t even three minutes later when freshman running back Roderick Robinson plunged in for another score and 31-0 lead. That sent many fans to exits and many of Georgia’s starters to the sideline.
Beck left the game with a decent line: 21-of-33 passing (63.6%) for 294 yards and a touchdown. Kendall Milton ended up being the first running back in and had 53 yards on nine carries on a short night.
Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton both played at quarterback, and the Bulldogs finally got a look at their other backups. Vandagriff gave the crowd a thrill when he matched the day’s long completion with a 56-yard strike to Rara Thomas early in the fourth quarter. That was followed immediately by a 21-yard TD pass to tight end Oscar Delp.
The Skyhawks, champions of the Ohio Valley Conference the past two years, scored on a touchdown pass with 6:39 to play. The 75-yard scoring drive against Georgia reserves got the visitors over 250 yards yards gained and surely will bring scorn from coach Kirby Smart. But it truly was meaningless at that point.
A lot of frontline players sat out for Georgia, including star receiver Ladd McConkey and running back Daijun Edwards. There were a lot of first-time starters. Beck was one of five on offense, freshman Peyton Woodring made his debut at place-kicker and outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss, cornerback Daylen Everette and inside linebacker Xavian Sorey each got their first starts on defense.
In the end, the win gets the still-No. 1-ranked Bulldogs to 1-0 and extends their win streak to 18 games, which is the longest in school history. Georgia surpassed its scoring average of a year ago (41.2 ppg), but the last seven came on a pick-six interception by freshman Kyron Jones with just 1:59 to play.
Georgia will play host to Ball State on Saturday afternoon in a home game that replaced the road game against Oklahoma that was lost after the Sooners joined the SEC. The Bulldogs will look to make significant improvement from this game to that one.
But with yet another victory and another near-shutout under their belts, there’s really not much to about which to complain. Many folks will, though.