Georgia’s unbeaten run rolls on into Saturday’s meeting with Vanderbilt, and the Bulldogs are still looking like one of the few teams in college football that has avoided a real stumble through the first month.
The oddsmakers agree. Georgia opened as a 24.5-point favorite over the Commodores, about the same cushion it had against Arkansas.
Through four weeks, the Bulldogs have also covered the spread every time out, which is not exactly a routine development in this sport. For a team that has been this clean from week to week, it’s a sign of just how steady Georgia has been so far.
The bigger storyline, at least the one that figures to follow this game all week, is Vanderbilt freshman quarterback Jared Curtis. Curtis was last seen flipping his commitment from Georgia to Vanderbilt the day before Signing Day, and coaches who have faced him have said he is a special talent. That decision is likely to draw plenty of attention leading into Saturday, even if Kirby Smart brushes it off as a non-issue.
Still, it will hang around as the subplot, whether Smart likes it or not. Personally, the move doesn’t seem worth getting worked up over.
Everyone makes choices based on what matters to them, and some players want development, competition, and a chance at national championships. Others want to be told they could start as a true freshman and get a cameo in a Nate Bargatze movie.
Life’s all about priorities, you know?
There’s also still some fresh tape to sort through from Georgia’s win over Oklahoma. Dean Legge at SI laid out the good, the bad, and the ugly from that one, but the part worth lingering on is the third quarter. That was the stretch where Georgia seemed to go to sleep, and by that point it was playing probably its worst football of the season.
Kirby Smart’s postgame message cut right to the point: great teams can’t afford those lapses. Against another top team, a few empty minutes can flip everything in a hurry.
Ole Miss saw it against LSU. Ohio State saw it after losing to Texas.
College football doesn’t care how well you’ve played for three quarters if the fourth one turns messy.
That’s the challenge in front of Georgia now: not just winning, but stringing together all four quarters against opponents it can bury in two.
In Other News...
Kirby Smart Hinted At A Bigger Georgia Role Fans Will Notice
With Vanderbilt next on the schedule, Kirby Smart used his weekly availability to touch on the usual game-week checkpoints and a few broader themes around Georgias roster. He praised Clark Leas work with the Commodores, pointed to players such as Jared Curtis and Thomas Blackshear as part of the discussion, and walked through the kind of injury and practice updates that tend to shape how the Bulldogs prepare from one Saturday to the next.
Smart also spent time on the kind of player development questions Georgia fans tend to notice over the course of a season, offering thoughts on London Humphreys, JJ Hane, Dwight Phillips and Jordan Hall. Taken together, the remarks suggested a coach looking beyond the immediate matchup, with more attention on how individual roles are taking shape and where the Bulldogs may be leaning as SEC play keeps moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Brock Bowers Is Already Giving Georgia Fans A Reason To Watch
Brock Bowers wasted no time reminding everyone why Georgia fans still track his every move on Sundays. Back from a knee injury, the former Bulldogs star was the focal point of the Las Vegas Raiders offense in a 35-27 win over the New Orleans Saints, piling up 10 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown in a performance that looked awfully familiar to anyone who watched him in Athens.
There was more Georgia flavor in the result, too, with Nakobe Dean leading the Raiders defense with a team-high 12 tackles and helping close the door with a game-sealing fumble recovery. At 3-0, Las Vegas is leaning on multiple former Bulldogs in all three phases, and for Georgia fans, that makes the Raiders an especially relevant watch even before the full story of this season takes shape. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Just Got An Alabama Twist It May Not Have Wanted
Georgias first night game of the season is now set for a spotlight slot, with the SEC announcing that its matchup with Alabama on Saturday, Oct. 10 will kick off at 7:30 p.m. EST. It adds another layer to a meeting already carrying plenty of weight, since both teams are undefeated and the result is expected to ripple through the SEC race and the College Football Playoff picture.
For Georgia, the timing only sharpens the stakes of a game that figures to draw national attention from the opening snap. Alabama is always a measuring stick, but this one arrives with both programs in strong position and the kind of atmosphere that can make an early October showdown feel a lot bigger than a single conference game. [Read more 🡒]