Georgia heads into another home date riding the kind of momentum that changes the feel of a Saturday before kickoff even arrives.
No. 2 Georgia, 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the SEC, will host Vanderbilt at 12:45 p.m.
ET on SEC Network. The Bulldogs are coming off a 41-13 win over Oklahoma, while Vanderbilt arrives at 3-1 overall and 0-1 in league play after a 21-15 loss at Auburn.
Kirby Smart made it clear this week that Georgia isn’t taking the matchup lightly.
"A lot of respect for Clark [Lea]. He's one of the best voices in our room.
He does a lot for college football. He's super intelligent, and I enjoy the friendship I have with him," Kirby Smart said on Monday.
"We started getting ready for these guys today. They've got a great program, a great team.
Arguably should've made the playoffs last year with the record they had, teams they beat. He does a tremendous job there.
They're really a physical football team made in the same mold with a defensive coach as us."
Georgia’s last outing was the kind of performance that puts a game away early and never lets it breathe. Chris Cole recovered two John Mateer fumbles, and one of those turned into a touchdown return. The Bulldogs forced four turnovers in all and kept Oklahoma off the board until there was 10:26 left in the third quarter.
The biggest swing came the first time Cole touched the football. Mateer coughed it up on third-and-goal, Cole scooped it, and went 85 yards for a touchdown. Instead of a possible 14-7 game, Georgia turned it into a 21-0 surge and never let the Sooners back into it.
With Georgia installed as a heavy favorite again, the national media and Dawgs247 predictions point in the same direction for Saturday’s game. Here’s how the experts see it playing out.
In Other News...
Kirby Smart Seemed To Send A Message In Georgias Vanderbilt Win
Jared Curtis did not suit up in Vanderbilts recent meeting with Georgia after the quarterback, who had flipped his commitment from the Bulldogs to the Commodores last year, was injured. Georgia handled the game the way a team trying to stay in the thick of the national title race needed to, while Vanderbilt came away with its season outlook looking far less secure than the one in Athens.
Afterward, Curtis made his way toward Kirby Smart, setting up a moment that drew attention for what happened as much as what did not. Smarts body language suggested he was not eager to linger, and the interaction felt like the sort of understated sideline scene that can say plenty without anyone having to say much at all. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Left Vanderbilt With Two Concerns Alabama Will Test
Georgia left Nashville with a win and a cleaner record, but not a clean bill of health on the details that usually travel with them into bigger games. The Bulldogs beat Vanderbilt 38-14 to move to 5-0, and Carson Beck turned in another efficient day by completing 25 of 32 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns. Even so, the outing had the kind of uneven stretches Georgia cannot ignore when the schedule sharpens, especially with the ground game not finding much rhythm.
The defense also had its lapses, most notably on third downs, and Alabama is the sort of opponent that tends to expose those cracks quickly. Georgia did settle in after halftime and looked more like itself down the stretch, but next weekend brings a far sterner test of whether those second-half corrections can carry over. For a team that has mostly handled business through September, the trip to face Alabama now feels less like a checkpoint and more like a revealing exam. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Is Already Pressing Georgia On One Concern Before Alabama
Vanderbilt kept things interesting for a half before Georgia pulled away for a 38-14 win, scoring the final 17 points to close it out. Clark Lea had reasons to point to some progress on the Commodores side, especially in protection and the run game, while Kirby Smart came away talking about the kind of things he likes to see from his own team this time of year: conditioning, execution and the steadier finish that can matter when the schedule tightens.
Smarts focus now turns quickly to Alabama, and it sounds like he is already sharpening one concern before that matchup arrives. Even after a comfortable win, Georgia is still looking to clean up areas that can become costly against a better opponent, and Smart did not hide that there is more work to do before the next test. [Read more 🡒]