Two weeks from today Georgia will take the field in Atlanta to play its first game of the 2022 season. The No. 3 Bulldogs will take on the No. 11 ranked Oregon Ducks in one of the biggest games of the opening weekend of the college football season.

But while the season is closer than ever, Georgia’s mind is about as far away from taking on the Ducks as it is from Athens to Eugene, Ore.

“It’s not about Oregon. It’s about us,” Georgia linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson said on Thursday. “We’ve got to keep building connection, keep doing what we’re doing. Lock in. We’re not worried about Oregon right now.”

Related: Jamon Dumas-Johnson ‘ready for the challenge’ of being the next standout Georgia football linebacker

Georgia will get a chance to do that today, as the team holds its second scrimmage of the fall. The Bulldogs will go good on good, as they did last Saturday.

The offense had the upper hand per those who were in attendance for the first scrimmage. That was to be expected, per head coach Kirby Smart. The Georgia offense is much more experienced at this point in time and it was the first time Georgia truly tackled as if it were a game.

The head coach is hoping for a much better effort from the defense this go around.

“We have to look ourselves in the eyes, as coaches, and figure out what guys we have to do the best and get them to go execute that at the best,” Smart said last Saturday. “We have good football players on this team, we didn’t necessarily play with the right energy and enthusiasm across the board as a whole today. There was some good individual performances, but all in all, I think we have to have a better scrimmage next Saturday.”

Georgia still has a good bit to figure out before taking on the Ducks to start the season. Position battles at both guard spots and the second cornerback spot are still ongoing.

The Bulldogs are also hoping to get a number of young players up to speed. Wide receiver Dillon Bell, tight end Oscar Delp and safety Malaki Starks were all freshmen who got extensive run during the scrimmage last week. Except for them to be heavily involved once again as Georgia wants them to be prepped to the best of their abilities before the first game of their college careers.

“It gives a chance to go out there and see what we’re working with,” defensive back Chris Smith said. “Second scrimmage isn’t where it stops though. We still have a whole two weeks before the game and we’re going to continue to improve.”

It will also be interesting to see what kind of improvements the defense makes. Smart was critical of the effort level and leadership of the unit following the first scrimmage. Those are things that this group can fix and control, as the Bulldogs must replace eight starters from last season.

Players such as Smith and Dumas-Johnson will be tasked with being the vocal leaders of the defense this season. Saturday will be just as big for them as it is for those fighting for playing time.

“We just try to improve like we always do,” Smith said. “We’re always going to go to the doctor no matter what so no matter what we do on Saturday, it’s going to be something to improve on. We not going to have a perfect day at all. We’re never going to have a perfect day. We just try and build and be a complete defense the best that we can.”

Related: Georgia football defense called out by Kirby Smart after first scrimmage: ‘I’m a little disappointed’

Georgia won’t go straight from the second scrimmage to prepping for Oregon. The Bulldogs still have next week to continue to work on themselves but the first official game week arrives.

So while the Oregon game looms large in the grand scheme of things, the Bulldogs are far more focused on what is directly in front of them.

“We’ll look that way when it gets here,” Smith said of the Oregon game.

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