Georgia football: Top 10 plays from first half of 2022 season
Georgia fans have had some reasons to be concerned as they’ve watched their team jump out to a 7-0 start in 2022. They’ve also had plenty of reasons to cheer.
DawgsHQ has gone back through the first seven games of the season and we’ve gathered what we believe to be the Bulldogs’ top plays. We share those with you below in chronological order.
Malaki Starks’ interception: Georgia vs. Oregon
This is pretty incredible way to announce your presence to the rest of College Football. Starks shows off incredibly skills on this play. He’s covering the slot receiver from safety depth. He locks on to his man and adjusts to the football like a seasoned wide receiver.
Chris Smith’s interception: UGA vs. Oregon
Starks’ interception was an incredibly display of athleticism and ball skills. Smith’s interception is due to an equally impressive amount of experience and intelligence. With Oregon trying to get something going offensively, Smith doesn’t bite on the screen action in front of him. He instead hangs back, reads the eyes of Bo Nix, and jumps the route for a big interception.
Stetson Bennett’s touchdown pass: Georgia vs. Oregon
In case you didn’t watch in real time, it’s pretty clear that Georgia did a lot right against Oregon. It had been all Bulldogs up until this point and Bennett ripped the Ducks’ hearts out on this play. There’s not much to analyze. His first and second reads weren’t there, forcing him to improvise. Bennett made a man miss, put the ball in his left hand to get around two more defenders, and found Ladd McConkey to put Georgia up 28-3 at the half.
Malaki Starks’ interception: UGA at South Carolina
This wasn’t a good throw or decision but the fact that Starks was in such great position is really impressive. South Carolina tried to attack the Georgia true freshman with a wheel route but he was all over it. Spencer Rattler never came off of that read and Starks, again, made an incredible adjustment to the football.
Brock Bowers receiving touchdown: Georgia at South Carolina
This is the biggest Georgia pass play of the season and Bowers does a lot of the work himself. Bennett gets the ball to him quickly and just lets him demolish the South Carolina defense. The sophomore tight end is lethal in space, making two men miss on his way to the end zone.
Brock Bowers rushing touchdown: UGA vs. Kent State
Bowers can do it all. You don’t often see tight ends take a handoff and go 75 yards with it, but that’s what the Georgia tight end did on this play. He gets the jet sweep handoff, picks up a great block from Darnell Washington, and out runs the Kent State defense to pay dirt.
Malaki Starks saves touchdown: Georgia at Missouri
Starks’ hustle on this play is a big reason why Georgia got out of Columbia with a win. The Bulldogs scuffled through most of this game and this play is an example of that. Starks is supposed to be covering the receiver man to man on the play but when that receiver starts watching the play, the Georgia freshman does the same. That allows him to see the run as it breaks out and he runs it down. Missouri moved early on the very next play and UGA held the Tigers to three points.
Darnell Washington’s big catch: UGA at Missouri
Washington has had some incredible catches this year. He had two that were probably better than this one against Vanderbilt last Saturday. Those catches weren’t as big as this one, though. Maybe Georgia gets a play from someone else if Washington doesn’t catch this ball, maybe it doesn’t. This chunk play led to the Bulldogs first touchdown of the game. If we’re giving credit where it’s due, it’s an excellent throw from Bennett as well.
Stetson Bennett’s touchdown run: Georgia vs. Auburn
Todd Monken dialed up the quarterback draw here with Auburn in man-to-man coverage. He was probably hoping for a nice chunk of yards but what he got was a 64-yard touchdown. The blocking was great and Bennett showed off his wheels.
Dominick Blaylock’s touchdown: Georgia vs. Vanderbilt
There were at least a half dozen more impressive or exciting we could have picked from the first half of the season. We included this one because it’s an important milestone in an incredible comeback story. Blaylock suffered a torn ACL in December of 2019. It ended what was a promising true freshmen season. He fought his way back from that injury only to tear the same ACL in August of 2020.
The Georgia wideout returned to the field in 2021 but wasn’t quite himself. He has started to look like his old self the past few games and that includes a really nice play here. Blaylock makes a nice catch behind a diving defender, shows good body control to stay in bounds, and walks in for the touchdown.
