— There has been good reason to question Georgia’s worthiness as a Top 25 team for three straight weeks.
The No. 12 Bulldogs have had 10-point deficits in each of their two games against FBS teams, and they struggled to beat FBS Nicholls by only two points.
Even so, Georgia players say their confidence is soaring as they prepare to play No. 23 Mississippi on Saturday. That’s because Georgia (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) keeps finding ways to win.
The most dramatic example of the Bulldogs’ determination came in last week’s 28-27 win over Missouri when it took the lead on Jacob Eason’s 20yard touchdown pass to Isaiah McKenzie with 1:31 remaining.
Eason, a freshman, threw the go-ahead scoring pass on a fourth-and10 play. That was just the pickup in morale the Bulldogs needed following the shaky 26-24 win over Nicholls.
“It says a lot about who we are,” Georgia linebacker Reggie Carter said Monday. “We’re starting to create an identity as a team who always fights and plays hard. ... I love my team, I just really love this team.”
The Bulldogs have staged successful comebacks after trailing North Carolina 24-14 in the third quarter and Missouri 10-0 in the first half.
“I think it has shown a resiliency in our team, being able to have those kinds of wins,” said fullback Christian Payne. “It shows we’re not going to stop, we’re not going to give up or anything like that. We’re going to keep fighting, keep chopping, until we get the victory.”
McKenzie has emerged as a go-to playmaker on a team which began the season leaning heavily on tailback Nick Chubb. Georgia won its SEC opener against Missouri even as Chubb was held to 63 yards rushing without a touchdown.
McKenzie, best known as a return specialist in his first two seasons, leads the SEC with five touchdowns and is second with 101.7 yards receiving per game. He set career highs with 10 catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns against Missouri.
Eason passed for 308 yards with three touchdowns and one interception in his second start. Eason played every snap, and his game-winning drive affirmed he has a solid hold on the starting job.
Coach Kirby Smart said last week he wasn’t ready to declare a firm winning in the long competition between Eason and senior Greyson Lambert. Smart said Monday Eason will start against Ole Miss.
“Jacob’s going to be able to start our game, assuming he has a good week of practice,” Smart said. “That’s the plan going forward, that if he continues to practice well and do the right things then he’ll be the starter.”
Smart said he won’t allow Eason — or any freshman — to be interviewed this season. “We’ve got a policy here, and Jacob Eason adheres to that policy, too,” Smart said.
Eason has not been available for interviews since signing day in February. Even though Georgia has not approved any media requests to interview freshmen this season, Monday was the first time the policy was clarified to be in place
It was especially critical for the offense, a supposedly once-in-a-generation amalgam of skill players that had looked rather ordinary in its two opening games. Watson was adamant that no one had panicked, but yet he apologized to fans before last week’s game for the “negative energy” he felt he brought to the Troy outing.
There was no need for any “I’m sorrys” this time around, just further refinement and focus to get the ACC season started off right, Watson said.
“Nothing that we were too frustrated about,” Watson said. “Great teams improve throughout the season every week. We got better, a lot of people got more experience. It was something we really needed going into this week.”
The Tigers finished with a season-high 555 yards. Watson was nearly flawless in less than a — half of play, completing Clemson quarterback 12 of 15 throws for 152 Deshaun Watson said yards and three touchthe Tigers’ much-needed downs. His receivers, breakout performance who committed eight over South Carolina drops in a 30-24 win over State was good the fifthTroy a week earlier, also ranked Tigers — and performed well. Their came at exactly the right performance made up time. for the loss of reliable
The offense, slugHunter Renfrow, who had gish through a pair of TD grabs in Clemson’s six-point wins over first two games but is out Auburn and Troy the for about a month with a first two weeks, explodbroken hand. ed in a 59-0 victory over Clemson co- offenSouth Carolina State on sive coordinator Tony Saturday. Sure, the FCS Elliott said his offense’s Bulldogs were clearly rebound began at the end overmatched, but Watson of the Troy game where said Clemson (3-0) got the the Tigers scored 17 chance to correct errors points in the fourth quarand gain some rhythm ter, all of them necessary with its Atlantic Coast to lock things up against Conference opener at the pesky Trojans. Georgia Tech (3-0) comClemson carried that ing up Thursday night. into a 31-point opening
“We’re very conquarter against South fident,” Watson said Carolina State. Monday. “We’ve got a lot “It was good to see of swagger on both sides the guys come out and of the ball.” have fun,” Elliott said. throughout the season.
Clemson offense heads into matchup with Tech on a high
“The biggest thing is taking the pressure off and getting back to doing what we do: Play fast, distribute the ball, guys having fun in everybody else’s success.”
Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said Clemson, who beat the Yellow Jackets 43-24 at Death Valley last year, will be his team’s most talented opponent so far.
“They’re going to come in here with a bunch of cats,” he said. “We’ve got to see if we can line up and play with them. We didn’t a year ago, two years ago we did. I don’t think we’ll be afraid, but we’ve got to play.”
The challenge for Clemson is to carry that success into Georgia Tech, where the Tigers haven’t won since Elliott was a junior receiver who caught a 9-yard TD pass to beat the Yellow Jackets in 2003.
“You get those stories from your parents, ‘This hasn’t happened since I did it,’” Elliott said, laughing. “I was telling some of guys, ‘We hadn’t won down in Atlanta since the last time I played.’”
Watson, a native of Gainesville, Georgia, about an hour north of Atlanta, has some bad memories of facing Tech. As a freshman in 2014, Watson injured his knee and would eventually need offseason surgery, in the first half of Clemson’s 28-6 — its last regular-season defeat.
“I have flashbacks about that,” said Watson, who had missed the previous three games with a hand injury. “I was excited to play and then that first quarter going down. Of course, it’s going to pop up in my mind, but it won’t be anything too serious.”