Georgia 49, Middle Tennessee 7: ‘Dawgs not perfect, but far too close for the Raiders

Well, that’s about what you would have expected. Georgia looked a little rusty early before pulling away for a 42-7 halftime lead en tour to a 49-7 win over MTSU.

Elijah Holyfield had a career day, churning out 100 yards on 8 carries, including one 66 yard jaunt through a huge hole (though he never found the end zone). Jake Fromm turned in another Frommian performance, completing 10 of 12 passes for 128 yards and 3 touchdowns. Neither saw action in the second half of a game in which neither was needed.

Tyler Simmons and Justin Fields both did what no UGA tailback did: rush for a touchdown. Jeremiah Holloman continues to look like an emerging stud outside, snagging 3 catches for 90 yards and his first career touchdown.

And Mecole Hardman scored on both a touchdown reception and a 70 yard kick return. As I declared yesterday, Hardman is something else entirely from an athletic perspective. You can't teach it. You can't really gameplan to counteract it. If you're Jim Chaney, you just keep making sure he gets his touches and then let him make you look great.

All told Georgia tallied 484 yards on 56 terribly efficient offensive plays. There were more penalties than Kirby Smart will be comfortable with (7 for 54 yards), and while there were no turnovers for the ‘Dawgs there was one near-disastrous fumble which Ben Cleveland earned his postgame steak and potato by falling on.

Georgia will need to play cleaner to beat Mizzou. This wasn't a perfect effort but it was a solid reminder that this team’s meh effort in a noon snoozer is still several steps above what prior UGA teams rolled out under similar circumstances. The ‘Dawgs will now embark on a seven game run of SEC games comprising the meat of their schedule, beginning a week from today in the good Columbia. Until later...

Go ‘Dawgs!!!