Georgia Defense Paves the Way for Win Against Missouri

Columbia, Missouri was a sad place with the Georgia Bulldogs‘ crushing defeat of the Missouri Tigers.

Despite the absence of star running back Todd Gurley, Georgia still held Mizzou scoreless and freshman Nick Chubb ran for 143 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Hutson Mason scored a touchdown and threw to Michael Bennett for a touchdown. Brendan Douglas, who has had very little playing time, scored his first touchdown of the season with an elaborate forward flip. However, the real star of the UGA-Mizzou game was the Bulldog defense.

Georgia intercepted the ball four times this game. Quincy Mauger snagged two balls from Missouri quarterback Maty Mauk, Damian Swann grabbed one and Dominick Sanders gained 22 yards for the Bulldogs with his interception. To add insult to injury, Mauk was sacked three times. Mizzou didn’t make a third down conversion once, had only 50 rushing yards and 97 passing yards. Frustration radiated off of the Tigers as Mauk was forced to throw incomplete passes multiple times to avoid a blitz. As the game went on, the Georgia defense’s confidence grew.

Holding Mizzou back allowed the Bulldog offense more time to figure out its strategy against the Tigers. In a way, the defense gave Mason and the offensive a sense of security and calm when it came to decision making. The defense’s confidence was rubbing off, and Mason threw beautiful complete passes, Chubb’s rushing game became more pronounced and Douglas was given far more opportunities to prove he is not a force to be ignored.

Eventually, Mason was given a rest as backup quarterback Brice Ramsey took the field halfway through the fourth quarter and continued the team morale with complete passes and perfect hand offs.

Missouri was blanked for the first time since 2002 against Kansas State because of the Dawgs. It’s also the second shut out for Georgia this season. Even though Georgia felt shock and pain from the suspension of Gurley this week, the Bulldog defense and the rest of the team rose to the occasion to post a dominant SEC win.

Related: Nick Chubb Needs to Step Up in Gurley’s Absence

Gabrielle McMillen is an SEC College Football writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow her on Twitter @GabbyMcM ,“Like” her on Facebook or add her to your network on Google