A final couple of notes on the Missouri game

Bill Connelly’s advanced box score summary of the game has a few interesting statistical tidbits.

Georgia ran 96 plays on offense.  If you think that’s a lot, you’re right.  A quick scan of cfbstats.com reveals that’s the most plays Georgia’s run in a game at least since 2008.  The question from here on is whether that’s an outlier, or if the Dawgs really are morphing from a pound and ground approach.  It’s worth noting that Georgia still racked up an impressive 37:18/22:42 advantage in time of possession, despite throwing the ball so much, even as Missouri tried to let the air out of the ball in the second half with its lead.

Georgia was great on third downs early on.  Especially Eason:  “It allowed Jacob Eason to begin the game 6-for-6 on third downs for 72 yards. Only one of the completions stretched more than four yards beyond the first down marker — 10 yards on third-and-10, 11 on third-and-7, five on third-and-4, eight on third-and-6 — but it kept the chains moving, and it allowed UGA to build an early 14-10 lead.”

But not so great as the game progressed.  “After starting 6-for-6, on his last 13 third-down attempts, Eason was just 3-for-12 for 28 yards and a sack.”  You can probably attribute much of that to a breakdown in pass protection.  As Bill notes, in the middle part of the game, Mizzou’s d-line really came to life and pressured the hell out of Eason.  I don’t know how much of that was due to adjustments by the Tigers’ defense and how much was due to Georgia’s o-line wearing down.  It’s not like Georgia’s offense sprung to life after mid-game, either — the Dawgs went more than two full quarters between McKenzie’s two touchdown receptions, although to its credit, the line did a good job on that last scoring drive.  Perhaps it’s fair to say that asking six guys to handle 96 plays might be a bit much.