For the first time all season, the duo of JT Daniels and George Pickens were game-wreckers. The pair took a tightly contested game in the first half and just blew it wide open.

Pickens had his best game of the season, catching five passes for 126 yards. It was his first 100-yard game of the season. Daniels threw for 299 yards and three touchdowns, another strong performance for the Georgia quarterback.

The two were at their best on the final drive of the first half and the first drive of the second half. Those two drives were credited with swinging the game as the Bulldogs would go on to score the final 28 points of the game, with Daniels calling the sequence “an absolute game-changer.”

On the final drive of the first half, Daniels drove the Georgia offense 75-yards down the field. With a Missouri defender sprinting towards him, Daniels uncorked a ball to Pickens.

Related: George Pickens grabs Game Ball in Georgia’s 49-14 win

The sophomore wide receiver, despite being interfered with on the play, was able to come down with the 33-yard pass for a touchdown.

“It was George 1-on-1. That’s what it looks like with George 1-on-1,” Daniels said. “I’ll never overthrow George. A 50-50 ball with George is really an 80-20 ball.”

The touchdown gave the Bulldogs a 21-14 lead going into halftime. The Bulldogs got the ball back for the first possession of Missouri and went back to what was working well.

This drive ended with a 31-yard touchdown pass to Pickens on a slant. The Bulldogs went up 28-14 on the play, and the rout was on. The Bulldogs would score touchdowns on their next three drives to push the final margin to 49-14.

It was undoubtedly the best game of the season for Pickens. Kirby Smart also called it the most balanced-effort for Georgia on the offensive side of the ball, as the Bulldogs rolled up 615 yards of offense.

Smart didn’t come out and say it was the best game of the season for the Bulldogs, in part because he knows that as good as Pickens is, he has another gear that he can reach.

“George still hasn’t reached his full potential,” Smart said. “He’s so good at adjusting to the ball with his body. A lot of times he ends up covered because he doesn’t release the right way but he wins the one-on-one. JT has a lot of confidence in him.”

This was just the third game that the Pickens-Daniels connection was on display. In those games, Pickens has 16 catches for 238 yards and three touchdowns. In the four games before Daniels’ rise, Pickens had just 13 catches for 140 yards.

Daniels and Pickens are both eligble to return next year and have the ability to build on what they’ve done this year. Daniels was asked about his future after the game and said he hadn’t put much thought into it.

The Bulldogs do have a game next week against Vanderbilt and a bowl game looming. Those games offer the chance for Daniels, Pickens and the whole offense to continue to get better, especially as they get more comfortable in offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s system.

“They’re hearing plays and concepts for the 50th time instead of the fifth time,” Smart said. “Where that falls and who gets that credit really doesn’t matter. What matters is we’re playing better and we still haven’t reached our potential.”

Daniels and Pickens showed that this offense can wreck teams if you don’t give proper attention and respect to Pickens and the Georgia passing attack.

And with two more games and a full offseason, the potential of what the Daniels-Pickens combination might look like is about as high as Pickens’ vertical leap.

JT Daniels praises Georgia offense after win over Missouri

 

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