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Red-zone woes frustrate Georgia despite comfortable win

On3 imageby:Jake Rowe•09/10/22•

JakeMRowe

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Photo: Tony Walsh

What a difference a week makes. That statement is often used to describe some sort of improvement but when it comes to Georgia beating Samford 33-0 on Saturday, that isn’t the case.

After scoring touchdowns on their first seven possessions against Oregon a week ago, the Bulldogs had a tough time finishing off drives against their opponent with the same mascot. Georgia marched inside the seven times, and came away with a touchdown on just three of those. That includes short field goals in its first two possessions.

It didn’t appear as if the Bulldogs were way off. It was an errant pass here or a missed block there. Something was going right for Georgia to score at least three on its first six possessions, but it didn’t go right where it mattered most.

“Any time you get in the red zone for us, it’s a priority for the offense and defense to be elite in the red zone,” Kirby Smart said after the game. “We talked all offseason about our defense. Last year it was pretty good in the red zone. The offense didn’t score the touchdowns they needed to. They did that the first game and we didn’t today. We have to go back and watch the tape. We have to get better at that. We can’t get end games just kicking field goals.”

Truth be told, Georgia should have had touchdowns on those first two possessions. Stetson Bennett IV, who threw for 300 yards and a score, overshot a wide-open Jackson Meeks on UGA’s fourth play from scrimmage.

The next time Georgia had it, Bennett had chances to hit Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington for touchdowns on consecutive plays. Each of those tosses were too high for the talented tight ends to come down with it.

After touchdowns on their next two drives, the Bulldogs failed to punch it in once again. This time a holding penalty was too much to overcome. An unnecessary roughness penalty gave it to Georgia at the Samford 11-yard line but Xavier Truss was flagged for holding on the very next play.

That put Georgia in a 1st and 20 situation from the Samford 21-yard line and a third down pass to Dillon Bell in the end zone fell to the turf. Jack Podlesny came on to hit a 26-yard field goal to push the Bulldog lead to 30-0.

There’s a ton of respect between these two programs. Smart and Samford head coach Chris Hatcher go way back to 2001 when the latter hired the former as defensive backs coach at Valdosta State. The two coaches even agreed at the start of the fourth quarter to shorten the final period to 12 minutes. But respect or not, Bennett knows that Georgia is capable of much better when it gets near the end zone.

“[The coaches] weren’t happy but neither were we,” Bennett said when asked about the red zone issues. “We don’t want to have field goals when we go down there. I think we came out ready to play today. We were ready to take on Samford and coach (Chris) Hatcher and that program he has over there. I just think sometimes we didn’t execute and sometimes that happens. We’ve got to go watch film.

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