Daniels, Pickens lead Bulldogs to win

No. 9 GEORGIA 49 NO. 25 MISSOURI 14

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Georgia quarterback JT Daniels is confident that wherever he tosses it, George Pickens will make the catch.

Daniels threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Pickens, as the No. 9 Bulldogs broke away from 25th-ranked Missouri 49-14 Saturday.

“I’ll never overthrow George,” Daniels said. “I’ll always throw it up and give him a chance. A 50-50 ball with George is an 80-20 ball.”

Zamir White ran for 126 yards and a score while Georgia (7-2) dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Missouri (5-4) managed just 200 yards of offense after topping the 600-yard mark each of the last two weeks.

“I think Missouri’s a good football team — I really do — and they’re a team that’s growing, young, getting better, and we were able to overpower them in the second half,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said.

Smart said his players had great practices on Monday and Tuesday despite being eliminated from contention for the Southeastern Conference championship game last weekend. Florida and Alabama, the two teams that beat the Bulldogs this year, will play for the title next week.

The score was tied at 14 when Pickens reached to his shoe tops to gather a 36-yard touchdown toss from Daniels in the final minute of the first half. They connected again on the first drive of the second half, with Pickens catching a short pass on a slant route, stepping out of a tackle attempt and racing 31 yards for a score.

Daniels completed 16 of 27 passes for 299 yards. Pickens caught five passes for 126 yards and James Cook caught a touchdown pass and ran for a score.