Georgia’s defense has changed the conversation this fall, and nowhere has that been clearer than in the pass rush. A year ago against Florida, the Bulldogs couldn’t get near the quarterback. This time around, they turned the rivalry game into a nightmare for the Gators, piling up four sacks and four turnovers in a 27-8 win.
That kind of disruption is exactly what Georgia will need again Saturday night in Oxford.
The Bulldogs head to Mississippi with plenty on the line in a game that carries College Football Playoff and SEC title implications for both teams. Georgia also has a chance to answer last year’s upset Sugar Bowl loss to Mississippi, while Pete Golding is trying to move to 2-0 against Kirby Smart.
Last season’s Sugar Bowl was a rough one for Georgia’s front. Chambliss kept slipping away from pressure, extending plays and creating the kind of off-schedule damage that swung the game.
It was the end point of a pass rush problem that lingered all year. Georgia finished with 20 sacks, the fewest of any SEC team or Playoff team that season.
This year looks different. Georgia’s 26 sacks rank third in the SEC and seventh in the country, and the improvement has come from a lot of familiar faces taking a real step forward.
Harris and Johnson have both put together their best seasons as Bulldogs, and both came away with strip-sacks last week. Chris Cole has become one of the three best defenders in the country.
Khamari Brooks and Anthony Lonon Jr. have emerged as late-down options. Raylen Wilson and Justin William can be dangerous blitzers.
Elijah Griffin has added real interior pressure as a second-year defensive tackle.
For Griffin, the change starts with belief.
“Ultimately I feel like we're more together, and I feel like we have more belief this year,” Griffin said of what’s changed with Georgia’s defense. “We believe in what we're capable of. I feel like last year we believed, but I feel like we didn't believe hard enough, like in what we could do and what we're capable of.”
Smart said the improvement has also come from the defense functioning more cleanly as a unit.
“It's a collective effort. You don't get a sack because of you,” he said.
“You get a sack because of the pocket push on one side or the other or scramble or flush, just different ways to create pressure and confusion for quarterbacks. We've been better at that this year, and that's helped us in terms of affecting the quarterback."
That matters even more against Chambliss. Smart said Georgia wasn’t disciplined enough the last time it faced him, and the rush angles left too many escape routes open. This week, the Bulldogs will need to stay connected snap after snap and trust each other to keep him contained.
Smart said there’s nothing you can do to “trick” a quarterback like Chambliss, and Georgia will have to beat him the hard way.
“It's the down-in, down-out decision-making that he's really elite at, the accuracy that he's elite at,” Smart said. “The release, the decision.
He's just pinpoint. He has an anticipation of windows that's probably unmatched.”
If Georgia wants to leave Oxford with the kind of win that keeps its title hopes rolling, getting Chambliss off rhythm may be the biggest key of all. The Bulldogs’ pass rush has already made a leap. Saturday is another chance to prove it can decide a game.
In Other News...
Georgia Fans Got An Ugly Glimpse Of The Oxford Atmosphere
Georgias trip to Oxford brought the usual SEC road-game heat, but the atmosphere turned uglier after a pass interference call went against Ole Miss. Fans in the stands responded by throwing trash and bottles onto the field, forcing a pause in the game while stadium officials and officers worked to calm things down and get the crowd to stop.
For Georgia supporters, it was a jarring look at just how volatile that environment can get when the tension spikes. The incident quickly spread across social media, where fans and observers weighed in on the scene and the broader behavior in the stadium, adding another layer to a rivalry setting that already carried plenty of edge. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Fans Wont Like What The SEC Just Did To Sanford Stadium
Georgias trip to Ole Miss ended in a 42-7 rout, and now the Bulldogs are headed back to Sanford Stadium for a home date with Missouri on Saturday, Nov. 14. The matchup is set for 3:30 p.m. EST, with ABC carrying the broadcast and streaming available through the ESPN app and Fubo TV.
The timing and setup only add to the intrigue for Georgia fans, who will see their team return home as a sizable favorite. DraftKings Sportsbook has the Bulldogs laying 13.5 points, a number that reflects both the recent blowout in Oxford and the expectation that Georgia should be in control again in Athens. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Defense Turned Ole Miss One-Dimensional From The Opening Series
From the opening series, Georgias defense made Ole Miss look like a team trying to solve a problem with one hand tied behind its back. The Bulldogs were disruptive from the start, piling up pressure on Trinidad Chambliss, forcing him off his spot and repeatedly knocking the Rebels behind the chains with sacks and tackles for loss on the way to a 42-7 win.
Kewan Lacys absence only sharpened the imbalance, leaving Ole Miss without its injured tailback and putting even more on Chambliss to carry the offense. Georgia never gave him much room to settle in, and the Rebels spent most of the afternoon chasing the game rather than threatening to change it. [Read more 🡒]