Georgia’s offense struggled against FCS opponent Samford on Saturday, especially in the red zone. Despite dominating the visiting Bulldogs 33-0, the No. 2 Bulldogs felt like they underperformed.
Georgia piled up 479 yards of total offense and was 7-of-8 in trips to the red zone, which generally makes a head coach happy, but it didn’t sit well with Kirby Smart.
“Any time you get in the red zone for us, it’s a priority for the offense and defense to be elite,” Smart said after the game. “We talked all off-season about our defense. Last year it was pretty good in the red zone. The offense didn’t score the touchdowns they needed to (today). They did that the first game, and we didn’t today. We have to go back and watch the tape. We have to get better at that. We can’t go through games just kicking field goals.”
The Bulldogs’ first two possessions were trips to the red zone, but they were held to field goals. They finally got into the end zone on their third drive with a one-yard rush for quarterback Stetson Bennett, which put Georgia up 13-0.
Bennett chalked up Saturday’s offensive woes to the Bulldogs’ execution on offense.
“They weren’t happy, but neither were we,” Bennett said. “We don’t want (to settle for) field goals when going down there. We came out ready to play and take on Coach (Chris) Hatcher and that program. I just think we didn’t execute. Sometimes that happens, but we’ve got to go back and watch the film to see.”
Georgia scored seven touchdowns in its first seven possessions against Oregon in Week 1. The Bulldogs had six drives in the first half versus Samford and scored on each. But they were forced to kick three field goals. Athletics Bennett admitted he knows that can’t happen against opponents moving forward.
“I’d hope that we know that it’s not going to be handed to us, but if we didn’t know, then I’m sure this is going to be a good reminder we’re going to have to get back on Monday,” he said.
“We still had around 500 yards of offense, we didn’t punt in the first half, we still had a good day. But, it was not our day; it was not the day we wanted to have. We’re going to get that fixed.”
Bennett wasn’t as sharp as he was in the season opener against the Ducks, although he still fared well, completing 24-of-34 passes for 300 yards and a touchdown. He also had a rushing score versus Samford.
Following Bennett’s one-yard rushing touchdown on Georgia’s second drive, he found freshman wideout Dillon Bell for a three-yard scoring connection. The Bulldogs then led 20-0 with 8:48 remaining in the second quarter.
Georgia placekicker Jack Podlesny nailed a 26-yarder on the next drive, but the Bulldogs would find the end zone one more time before the first half was over. Senior running back Kenny McIntosh punched it in from one yard out with 55 seconds remaining in the quarter. UGA led 30-0 at the intermission.
Still, that didn’t sit well with Smart.
“We cash in two red zones, we’re probably sitting here feeling pretty good about our one offense, right? Because we’d scored maybe one field goal, and now we’re 7 plus 5, I don’t know how many drives. We had six,” Smart said. “Maybe we’re 12 out of 13 touchdowns, and you had one field goal. That doesn’t bother you.
“But when you don’t get it multiple times in the first half, and then the second half you come out and you don’t get it, and then you put Carson (Beck) in, and he didn’t cash in on a chance in that area, it’s something you’ve got to be working on. I’ll guarantee you it’s easily fixable, but a lot of it comes down to execution.”
Bennett also acknowledged some of the blame falls on his shoulders.
“We’ve got to execute to our standard and not the opponent, but we had some penalties, I missed some throws, we had some drops and missed some blocks,” he said. “It was just some mental lapses. Overall, Samford has a good team, but we didn’t execute in some areas, especially in the red area and third down as the game went on. We should have finished some of those drives out, so this was not as good a day as we had hoped.”
Georgia (2-0) will begin conference play next Saturday at South Carolina (1-1). The matchup between the Bulldogs and Gamecocks will begin at noon EST.
