Georgia used its preseason slate to learn what this group really is, and the final tune-up offered a pretty clear warning.
The Bulldogs rolled through exhibitions against Georgia State and Charlotte, but Clemson forced them into a fight. Georgia still showed some resilience, climbing out of an 11-point hole and getting a Kanon Catchings 3-pointer to tie the game, only to fall 82-80 on a buzzer-beater put-back.
What separated the Tigers was the work on the glass. Clemson piled up 25 second-chance points, grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and finished with a 38-35 edge overall in rebounding. For Georgia, that was a familiar problem.
Heading into Monday night’s season opener against N.C. Central, coach Mike White said the issue is still front and center.
“Defensive rebounding continues to be just like last year, our Achilles’ heel, as it was at Clemson,” White said.
White said the Bulldogs made defensive rebounding “a huge point of emphasis” during the off week, and he wants to see the fix show up immediately rather than later in the season.
“It needs to be right now for this team at this point of this season, and did a better job of it today. Now we got to do a better job of it on Monday night,” White said. “We got to have carryover... and a bunch of just good guys that know that it’s a deficiency.”
The players expected to help clean that up include Ole Miss transfer James Scott, Saint Louis transfer Brady Dunlap, Kareem Stagg, freshmen David Ugonna Ike and Mading Kuany, who White thinks will make a major impact this season.
Georgia’s early schedule should be manageable, with N.C. Central, Presbyterian and Florida Gulf Coast up next. The real measuring-stick game arrives Nov. 13, when the Bulldogs head to North Carolina.
White believes the Clemson exhibition could pay off when Georgia walks into Chapel Hill.
“I’m sure it will be rocking at North Carolina at a different level because it’ll be regular season,” he said. “But some of those adversities we’ll face in that game, we got a chance to face the other day.”
Still, White isn’t letting the Bulldogs look past Monday’s opener. N.C. Central went 14-18 last season, but the roster has been almost completely rebuilt, with 14 newcomers and only one returning player.
“Monday night is huge for us against a program that’s won a lot of games and is always competing at the top of their league,” White said. “We’ve got to continue to get better to be our best version.”
In Other News...
Georgia Fans Face A Pricey Road Test For Ole Miss
Georgias trip to Oxford is shaping up as one of the more expensive road dates on the schedule, with the Bulldogs set to face Ole Miss at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. The game will air on ABC, and for fans hoping to make the trek, the early ticket market is already steep, with seats starting at $315 on StubHub, $330.40 on Ticketmaster and $336 on VividSeats.
It will be Georgias second night game of the season and the second-to-last road game on the schedule, which only adds to the appeal for traveling fans looking for a marquee SEC atmosphere. For those weighing the cost, though, this one is already asking for a premium before the Bulldogs even take the field in Oxford. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Just Got A National Title Endorsement Fans Will Notice
A national title conversation around college football quarterbacks always gets attention, and Danny Kanell added another layer to it by naming five teams he believes have signal-callers good enough to win it all. Georgia made the list, as did Miami, USC, Ole Miss and Notre Dame, with Kanell pointing to the kind of quarterback play that can carry a team through the biggest games. For the Bulldogs, it is another reminder that the margin at the top of the sport is often defined by who can handle the pressure under center when the stakes rise.
The Ole Miss mention is the one that will likely stick with fans around the SEC, especially with Kanell highlighting both Gunner Stockton and Trinidad Chambliss as part of the Rebels' quarterback picture. He also singled out Darian Mensah at Miami, CJ Carr at Notre Dame and Jayden Maiava at USC, tying the discussion to performances and the matchups ahead. For Georgia, the takeaway is less about the praise itself and more about the company it keeps, because any list built around national title quarterbacks is really a snapshot of where the sport thinks the real contenders are headed. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Faces A Nightmare SEC Race If The Bulldogs Slip
Georgia and Kentucky are sitting in the best position the SEC has to offer right now, with each carrying just one conference loss and looking like the clearest path to Atlanta if they can keep winning. For the Bulldogs, that makes this weekend feel bigger than a single game, because the league table is tight enough that one slip could turn a comfortable setup into a far messier race.
If Georgia or Kentucky loses, the SEC could suddenly be staring at a six-way tie for first place among teams with two conference losses, with LSU, Alabama, Texas, Missouri, Ole Miss and Tennessee all in the mix. From there, the leagues tiebreaker rules would come into play, and the remaining weeks would go a long way toward deciding who gets the championship-game nod and who is left watching the math unfold from the outside. [Read more 🡒]