The Georgia Bulldogs came into this season with a clear defensive mission: stop the run. And through 13 games, they’ve done more than just improve - they’ve turned it into a calling card.
Georgia enters the playoff ranked fourth in the nation in rushing defense, giving up just 79.2 yards per game on the ground. That’s not just solid - that’s elite.
And if their most recent performance is any indication, this unit is peaking at just the right time.
In the SEC Championship Game, Georgia’s front seven delivered a statement. Facing Alabama - a program that’s built its identity on physicality in the trenches - the Bulldogs held the Crimson Tide to negative rushing yards.
That’s right: Alabama finished with minus-3 yards on the ground. It was the first time since 1968 that Alabama had been held to negative rushing yards in a game, and the first time Georgia had pulled off that feat since 2020 against Tennessee.
That’s rare air.
Even when you strip out sack yardage - which can skew college rushing stats - the numbers are still lopsided. Alabama managed just 20 rushing yards on non-sack attempts, averaging a meager 1.5 yards per carry. That’s domination, plain and simple.
Kirby Smart’s defense didn’t start the year with guarantees. In fact, Smart admitted he wasn’t sure how good this group would be against the run until the SEC schedule kicked in.
“As the season evolved, and we’re playing high-level opponents, we were stopping the run pretty well and we were running the ball,” Smart said. “The SEC schedule is kind of what allowed me to realize we were going to be better.
I don’t know that I would say we hit our standard or that, you know, those two-national-championship-years standard, but we improved in that area. And we needed to improve in that area, and it was big for our team.”
That improvement wasn’t optional. Georgia finished 37th in the nation in rushing defense last season - the lowest mark of the Smart era.
That wasn’t up to the standard in Athens, and the team knew it. So they made it a point of emphasis from the start of fall camp.
“Stopping the run, that’s a main factor on our defense,” said outside linebacker Quintavius Johnson. “Coming into fall camp we knew that we wanted to stop the run and basically just having that mentality of stopping the run.”
The mentality has turned into results. Only one opponent - Mississippi State - managed to crack 140 rushing yards against Georgia in the regular season. And when it mattered most, against Alabama, the Bulldogs delivered their best performance yet.
Now comes the next test: the 2026 Sugar Bowl.
Georgia will face a playoff opponent that knows how to run the football. Tulane might not be a household name like Alabama or LSU, but they’ve carved out a reputation for getting it done on the ground.
The Green Wave is averaging 170.2 rushing yards per game this season, good for 55th nationally and ninth in the AAC. They’ve topped 170 rushing yards in six different games, including a 199-yard, three-touchdown effort in the AAC Championship Game against North Texas.
Much of that production comes from quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who’s been a dual-threat weapon all season. With 610 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns, Retzlaff is the kind of player who can stress a defense in multiple ways. He’s not just scrambling for first downs - he’s a legitimate part of Tulane’s run scheme.
Earlier this season, Tulane faced Ole Miss and lost big, 45-10. But even in that blowout loss, the Green Wave found some success on the ground, rushing for 178 yards at 4.6 yards per carry. That’s a number that will get Georgia’s attention.
The Bulldogs already saw Ole Miss once this season and came out on top, 43-35, in a game where the defense held the Rebels to a season-low 88 rushing yards. That was also one of Ole Miss’ least efficient rushing performances of the year, averaging just 3.7 yards per carry. Georgia’s ability to bottle up Kewan Lacy and the Rebels’ ground game was a key reason they came away with the win.
So as Georgia prepares for the Sugar Bowl, the formula is clear: stop the run, control the tempo, and force Tulane into uncomfortable situations. It’s a formula that’s worked all season - and one that could carry them deep into the playoff.
This Georgia defense may not be a carbon copy of the units that won back-to-back national titles, but it's starting to look like it belongs in the same conversation. The numbers say so.
The tape says so. And if they keep playing like this, the rest of the playoff field is going to have a serious problem on their hands.