The Athletic has live coverage of Georgia vs. Ole Miss
ATHENS, Ga. — Officially, the run didn’t happen. Nazir Stackhouse rumbled down the right sideline only in your imagination, not the scorebook, where a penalty negated all 44 of the glorious yards covered by the 320-pound defensive lineman. Never happened. Which is ridiculous because that run was all anyone on the Georgia football team could talk about afterward.
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“On the sideline, you’re hoping something like that happens, but no idea it would be Naz,” Georgia center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger said of his roommate.
Georgia safety Javon Bullard was downfield and didn’t see the play at first, but heard enough to turn around.
“The crowd tells you a lot,” Bullard said. “I just see Naz running down the sideline, and I’m like, ‘Yoooo.’”
“It was slow motion,” coach Kirby Smart said. “We told him after the game we have to get his piano off of his back.”
BIG MAN MOVING
Watch live on CBS #GoDawgs | @TheStackHouse_
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) November 4, 2023
Told that Stackhouse claimed he hit 18 mph on the run, Smart answered deadpan: “No chance. The only chance he did that was on a bike or a car.”
On his own two feet, Stackhouse did not make that run, technically, but he did make the interception that preceded it, which was magical enough. The first of his life, he said, and the latest evidence that this incarnation of the Georgia football team is just different.
It’s not as dominant as its two predecessors. It’s not built on defense, or even on offense. It doesn’t have, at least not at the moment, a single dominant player that its fortunes depend on. But this Georgia team is still unbeaten, surviving on a week-to-week basis perhaps because it’s not dependent on one single player, unit or anything.
This game, won 30-21 by Georgia, was one of those rare regular-season games where you came away with more respect for both teams. No. 12 Missouri played well enough and close enough to show its ranking and record are legitimate. If the Tigers drop in any of the updated rankings, it’s not fair.
Georgia, while it didn’t play well enough to cover the spread, again showed the clutch gene. The same way it escaped at Auburn, the same way it rallied after halftime against South Carolina. When the defense slips, the offense picks it up. When the offense struggles, the defense steps up. And when a freshman kicker is needed to kick the longest field goal of his young career, Peyton Woodring comes through with a 48-yarder with 3:57 left, providing the breathing room.
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“Big-time players make big-time plays,” quarterback Carson Beck said of Woodring.
Yes, he said that about a freshman kicker. A team loaded with NFL prospects, including Beck, got the two biggest plays on Saturday from a freshman place kicker and a veteran defensive lineman making the first interception of his life.
“It’s unreal,” Stackhouse said, recounting when Missouri’s Brady Cook threw it in his stomach with around eight minutes left, after the Tigers had driven to midfield, down six points. “I was (just) making sure he didn’t pump fake me. I wanted to bat the ball away and he put the ball in my hands. It’s a dream come true for a lineman. Obviously, I didn’t score the touchdown. My legs were getting really heavy. It’s exciting for the first couple seconds, then when you’re on that stride your body is saying, I don’t think you’re going to get it.”
The interception itself was enough. The defense did its job and got the takeaway. Then the offense drove from its own 30 to the other 30, and Woodring kicked the field goal. And when it went through, you could feel Sanford Stadium exhale.
Smart said the decision to kick the field goal was his toughest call of the night.
“There’s a lot of analytics that will tell you not to kick that field goal,” Smart said. “If we don’t hit the field goal and they go down and score it’s certainly a tough situation. … Because of Peyton and what he’s been able to do, we kicked it.”
This is the same Woodring who began the season missing three close field goals in the first three games. It’s appropriate. Georgia’s offense hasn’t been perfect this year, going from clunky at the start of the year to elite-level then back to clunky for parts of Saturday — two straight three-and-outs in the second quarter after having no three-and-outs the previous two games. Then the second half — touchdown, touchdown, field goal, field goal.
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Then there was the defense, which had some rough moments. Yet another opening-drive touchdown by the other team. Missouri’s Cody Schrader had the best performance by a tailback against Georgia in the last few years. Their quarterback Cook also ran free a few too many times.
But when stops were needed, the Bulldogs got them. A strong second quarter to offset the offensive stumbles. Stackhouse’s interception. And Bullard’s interception on the next drive to close any thoughts of a miracle comeback.
“We definitely won’t be perfect when we watch things on film,” Van Pran-Granger said. “But the most important thing is understanding that we found a way how to win.”
Van Pran-Granger, the only current starter (with Brock Bowers out) who was also a starter on the 2021 and 2022 teams in the postseason, was asked what it was about this group that makes it have that clutch gene.
“That’s hard to say. Because no offense, but that sounds a bit arrogant. We try our hardest not to be that,” he said. “I think it’s understanding that when we have great opponents, when you have a team that’s like that and can score really, really well, it’s taking advantage of your opportunities. It’s understanding that every opportunity is valuable. You can’t afford to have too many three-and-outs, too many punts. You need to put points on the board because although our defense will hold up, there’s only so much they can do when the other team is explosive.”
That was Missouri, but it’s also the next two opponents. Ole Miss comes in next week at 8-1 and just scored 38 points (on Texas A&M). Then Georgia has to go to Tennessee, which is 7-2 after putting up 51 points (on UConn). Then whatever comes after that, whether it’s the SEC Championship Game or the College Football Playoff or both.
The qualifiers have to go in there because Georgia could be an imperfect team that finally has a bad day and fails. Or it could be that this team, while not as talented and dominant as in 2021 or 2022, makes up for it with intangibles.
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“We’ve got a disciplined football team. They do what we ask. They don’t get a lot of stupid penalties,” Smart said. “They believe in each other. They believe that if they don’t win the last moment, they’ll win the next moment. And if you win enough moments you can be pretty good. And we won enough moments tonight.”
(Photo of Carson Beck: Steve Limentani / ISI Photos / Getty Images)
