Five things to know for top-ranked Georgia football vs. Kent State in Sanford Stadium
Georgia football — now top-ranked in both of the major polls — hosts Kent State Saturday at 12 p.m in Sanford Stadium. Here are five things to know about the matchup:
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Lack of sacks doesn’t tell pass rush story
Georgia is seemingly hitting on virtually all cylinders so far this season, outscoring opponents by a whopping 130-10.
So how is it that the Bulldogs are tied for last in the nation in sacks with one with Air Force, Ball State, Eastern Michigan, and Utah State?
It doesn’t tell the story of the pressure that Georgia is getting on opposing quarterbacks.
Georgia has 43 pressures through 3 games, according to its own statistics.
“They win their 1-on-1s,” Kent State coach Sean Lewis said. “They do a great job with their scheme. The kids execute it and communicate it. It is textbook in terms of their communication, the way they handle trade, shifts, motions so people are not out of place. And then they’re very, very technical. They’re very disciplined and masters of their craft. ...They defeat a block, they slip a block, they make a play, they strain. Hang onto the ball carrier or affect the quarterback in such a way that he’s got to pump or clutch the ball.”
Defensive lineman Nazr Stackhouse came around the left side of the South Carolina line to pressure on a throw that safety Malaki Starks picked off on a wheel route. Rian Davis brought pressure on a blitz on Trezman Marshall’s interception. Smael Mondon blitzed Spencer Rattler when he threw into double coverage leading to Dan Jackson’s first career interception.
“We had him rattled and he made a rush decision,” Jackson said.
Georgia’s pressures per game of 14.3 is down from 19.6 last season.
Freshman end Mykel Williams and defensive tackle Jalen Carter lead the Bulldogs with 6 pressures.
“Our job is to be disruptive and pressure the quarterback, affect the quarterback,” coach Kirby Smart said. “But that doesn't always equal sack the quarterback, which is, you know, obvious this year, that that's been tough to do. …, You know, looking at that last year, you're saying, I'm not going to get sacked, I'm not going to get hit. And they're trying to protect them by what they do.”
Georgia safeties have accounted for four of the team’s interceptions—two for Malaki Starks and one each for Christopher Smith and Dan Jackson.
"Pressure. Pressure causes turnovers,” Smart said. “"That's it. When you got a guy flushed out the pocket, he's running for his life, he's moving. He doesn't have long, he doesn’t have a clean pocket. He simulates pressure, he thinks there's pressure. There’s a backer coming, this guy's coming. They don't know what is going on, and you create doubt and they make mistakes. That's created a lot of them."
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Kent State giving it a go
Given what the world saw Jordan Davis and Travon Walker do at the NFL combine, maybe Kent State’s Lewis isn’t being hyperbolic with this observation of Georgia’s offensive linemen.
“They move as athletic as some of our skill guys,” he said.
Kent State trucked Long Island last week 63-10, but now it gets No. 1 Georgia after losing 45-20 to Washington and 33-3 to Oklahoma.
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“We’re going down there to compete, we’re going down there to win,” Lewis said. “We’re going to handle our business and prepare and give ourselves a chance.”
Kent State is 106th of 131 FBS teams on ESPN’s SP+ ratings, two spots below Georgia Tech.
“I know you guys don't ever listen to anything we say in here, but this is a really good football team and they have played two really good football teams,” Smart said. “And you watch the first half of the Oklahoma game, you have no question how good they are. And they, really, played Washington well outside of a couple of drives. Washington scored on them. But outside of that, they went toe to toe with Washington.”
Oklahoma didn’t score until 18 seconds left in the first half for a 7-3 halftime lead and then scored 24 third quarter points and added a safety.
“They’ve played some big games,” Georgia wide receiver Ladd McConkey said. “We know they’re going to come in here ready, ready to play.”
Kent State is 23rd nationally in rushing offense at 221.3 per game, but 123rd in passing yards allowed at 294.7 and 125th in pass efficiency defense at 170.06. Linebacker Khalib Johns has 4 sacks.
“If we can just worry about and focus on each moment to moment and not get our nose too far over our skis with anything just because we’ve played with some people,” Lewis said. “They’re good teams. We played with them, but at the end of the day we didn’t win.”
The changes at the Star position
Georgia turned to an athletic linebacker to shore up the secondary after a starter from the national championship game’s career with the Bulldogs came to an end.
William Poole, who started against Alabama in both games last season at the “Star” nickel back spot, did not travel to South Carolina and on Monday, Smart said he was “dealing with a personal matter and he's going to focus on that and his health and well-being.”
Outside linebacker Darris Smith worked with the defensive backs during pregame warmups Saturday.
Poole posted to Instagram Monday that he was giving up his sixth season of eligibility for personal reasons. He missed the first four games of last season for academic reasons but mentioned he received a bachelor’s degree in communication studies. He thanked Smart for being “demanding yet always supportive.”
Javon Bullard has started at the “Star” this season with Tykee Smith as the backup.
“It’s definitely going to hurt us,” safety Christopher Smith said. “We’re going to continue to move forward as a team and plug and play the best that we can.”
Poole, who had 14 tackles and 4 pass breakups last season, played 13 snaps this season, all in the opener against Oregon.
“We've kind of been chugging along,” Smart said. “Poole played some there in the third down situations against Oregon. But he was working more at corner. But we've got the guys we've got, and we got to get the guys we've got better to go where we want to go.”
The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Smith, a four-star prospect from Appling County, was told when he was recruited he had the sill set to learn multiple positions and play in space. Smart doesn’t consider it a move to safety/star.
“It's really more of a development decision for him,” he said. “It's not a position change. He played Jack in the game. He played outside linebacker in the game.
Nose guard Zion Logue likened Smith to a former start outside linebacker for Georgia who also trained at the Star.
“He kind of reminds me of Adam Anderson a little bit,” Logue said. “When I went back watching Darris in track, it’s crazy. Somebody that big that can run that fast that can cover tight ends and possibly cover a slot receiver. When he learns how to play the position, he’s going to be very good.”
Checking in on return game
Georgia’s punt return team is certainly getting opportunities this season.
Opponents have punted 18 times—three times more than the Bulldogs have.
McConkey posted a 16.4 yards per return average on punt returns last season but he wasn’t the primary returner.
This year, he is, averaging 11.0 on four returns. The Bulldogs are eighth in the SEC and 63rd nationally
McConkey is looking for more explosive, big plays.
“I feel like I could have made a little bit more on some of those returns,” McConkey said. “The biggest thing is protecting the ball. That’s kind of what they tell us….Obviously they want you to return it and get a big return but possession is the main thing. I feel like there’s some stuff I can work on and we can work on as a unit.”
McConkey’s long return was 21 yards against Samford. South Carolina executed a successful fake punt for a first down last week and the Bulldogs nearly had a turnover on a punt that caromed off a player.
“That’s something I’ve got to do a better job of kind of clearing everybody out,” McConkey said. “I’ve got to see it, they can’t see it. I’ve got to communicate to all of those guys and tell them to get out of the way. It was only a bad play. It’s a good thing we recovered it.”
Even though Georgia is averaging 43.3 points per game, Smart wants his return units to not just settle for giving the ball to the offense.
Georgia is 16th on kickoff returns with a 27.5 average on two Kearis Jackson returns.
“We are trying to score on every kickoff return we get the ball, on every punt return we get the ball,” he said. “We're aggressive. We think we are going to outwork and out practice people at those things to put pressure on them. Our goal is to strike fear in every part of the game in our opponent. That might be the one edge that puts us over the top. We are not telling them to fair catch it. We are telling them to be smart. We have to do a better job in that unit to create space for him.”
Carson Beck making most of opportunities
Comfortable leads have meant backup Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck has seen action in every game. He’s come off the bench in the third quarter each week.
The redshirt sophomore has a 192.88 passing efficiency—better than even Stetson Bennett’s albeit with a smaller sample size. Beck is 15 of 19 for 178 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions.
“Carson's done a good job,” Smart said. “He's playing with a lot of confidence. He understands our system. He's another year in being in the system. And you remember, there's a point in time where he probably had more reps than Stetson did in terms of volume of work because he took a lot of reps as the two when Stetson took some as the three (before the 2021 season). So he's got a lot of work. He's intelligent. He understands what the defense is doing. He understands his protections. He knows where to go with the ball. He's accurate.”
Against South Carolina, Beck hit Oscar Delp for a 28-yard touchdown pass and led the offense on an 88-yard, 13-play drive before a 21-yard field goal.
“He’s got one of the best arms I’ve ever seen,” Jackson said. “He can zip the ball in the flat real quick or expose you with the long ball. He’s really talented.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Here are five things to know for Georgia football vs. Kent State
