Daijun Edwards, Georgia ground game get it done in fourth quarter

Georgia was down 19-12 going into the fourth quarter. By the time the Bulldogs got the ball in the final 15 minutes, it was a two-score game, trailing 22-12. And to that point, they hadn’t had much success running the ball at all, totaling just 66 yards on the ground. But when push came to shove in the fourth quarter and the offense needed to get into the end zone, it was the ground game that sparked a life in Georgia’s offense, rushing for 107 yards in the final quarter of play Saturday night, and helped the Bulldogs walk away victorious.

“I hate that we had to do that. It begs the question why we couldn’t do that earlier,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said about the offensive success of the final two drives, specifically on the ground. “The determination they showed. We always talk about rising to the competitive nature of the opportunity. The opportunity arose tonight and they answered the bell. If we don’t answer the bell earlier then we won’t be a very good football team. We’ve got to improve in those areas. It’s not like we haven’t been working on it prior to tonight. We’ve seen some of those things show through. Give Missouri a lot of credit. They tried to make us one-dimensional. It was tough sledding tonight. We didn’t have our best night for sure.”

Smart isn’t wrong to wonder why things were different in the fourth quarter. Georgia got the ball, and things just seemed to click. After an incompletion from Stetson Bennett on a ball intended for Brock Bowers on 1st and 10, Kenny McIntosh broke free for a gain of 27 yards. That opened things up for Bennett to execute on consecutive chain-moving passes to Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and Darnell Washington. Then, it was back to the ground with Daijun Edwards carrying on 1st and 10 for a gain of 6 yards, McIntosh on 4th and 2 to keep the drive alive at the Missouri 4 and Kendall Milton punching it into the end zone for Georgia’s first touchdown of the game.

Todd Monken wasn’t done going to the ground though. Once the defense got the Bulldogs the ball back, McIntosh once again got the drive going with a big run. On the first play of the drive he picked up 6 yards before breaking off a 22-yarder into Missouri territory. Bennett to Rosemy-Jacksaint for 13, to Dominick Blaylock for 15 and then to Brock Bowers for 12 more and Georgia was once again at Missouri’s doorsteps. Edwards would punch it in and give Georgia its first lead of the night, one that was all it needed.

“He’s tough, man. He’s from the neck of the woods where they grow up playing football where they’re five, six-years-old and he just wants to carry the football,” Kirby Smart said about Edwards. “He took some shots tonight and got some hard-earned yards at the end. The physicality at the end of the game was really impressive by our offense. We do that drill every Friday and say you have to get two first downs on the defense and they’re allowed to put every guy they have in the box. I’ll be danged if they put every guy in the box and we still got two first downs and we couldn’t do it all night.”

But wait, there’s more! Georgia’s defense forced a three-and-out, giving the offense the opportunity to force Missouri to use all three of its remaining timeouts and put the game on ice. After Milton rushed for 1 yard on 1st and 10, it was a 12-yard gain from Edwards that moved the chains. He followed that up with a 9-yard gain that forced Missouri’s first timeout. Then, it was back to Edwards once again after the stoppage in play, picking up 6 and a first down while also forcing a second timeout from Eliah Drinkwitz. After that, a 4-yard run, Missouri’s third and final timeout followed by a 4-yard pickup and a 7-yard first down run to send the Bulldogs into victory formation.

“It was the difference in the game. That and Pod, right. The toughness he showed, the resiliency he showed on that last drive,” Smart added on Edwards’ toughness. “Let’s be honest, Kenny and Kendall did a great job too. Kenny is out there like a wounded man. I mean the guy was running for the team. Great effort, great toughness, running over people. There’s no way you can say he was 100 percent. He was doing it for his team.”

“We knew we had to run the ball, they (the offensive line) road graded them, Darnell, Brock, the tight ends and the wide outs blocking, them protecting the ball to get the first downs for us, it was huge,” Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett added on what impressed him from the fourth quarter drives. “It was just — you know, four quarters in an SEC game is hard. And at the end it was like, let’s see what’s going to happen. Everybody got it done, and I’m proud as hell.”