georgia samford Stetson Beck

ATHENS — Count the oddsmakers among those bought into the Georgia football offense.

Coach Kirby Smart’s No. 2-ranked Bulldogs are a 52-point favorite over the FCS Samford Bulldogs in the teams’ 4 p.m. meeting on Saturday in Athens.

The line could be viewed as one reflection of how far Georgia football has come under Smart as he enters his seventh season. The 2017 SEC Champion Georgia Bulldogs beat Samford by a 42-14 count when the teams most recently met.

It’s safe to say that, regardless of the betting line, this is a name-your-score kind of game for Smart.

The biggest question for the Georgia coaching staff is if they allow Stetson Bennett a high volume of passes again.

Bennett’s 25-of-31, 368-yard performance in the 49-3 win over Oregon marked only the fourth time in his 18 starts that UGA threw more passes than it had rushing attempts in the game.

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That’s why Bennett made it clear he’s not necessarily expecting another heavy throwing load.

“It worked today,” Bennett said after the Oregon game, “but who’s to say we don’t run it 40 times next week.”

Two of the previous games Bennett threw more passes than UGA had rushing attempts came in 41-24 losses to Alabama: 2020 in Tuscaloosa, and 2021 in the SEC Championship Game.

The other occasion was a 56-7 win over FCS Charleston Southern that saw four UGA QBs combine for 37 passes, Bennett throwing 14 of them.

Smart could have added incentive to showcase the pass game more, however, after recent high-profile losses on the recruiting trail with legacy quarterback Arch Manning choosing Texas, and elite receivers seemingly shying away.

“We want people that want to come to play in this offense, and I think when you watch what they did today … you’re saying, ‘Man, I’d love to play in that offense, they throw the ball around,’ " Smart said on Saturday, sounding more like the recruiter version of himself than his normal terse, postgame press conference self.

“They throw the ball around, they toss it around, 30 for 37 for how many yards?”

Indeed, backup Carson Beck got quality reps and the offense showed no drop-off as the third-year quarterback moved the ball down the field for a touchdown, finishing 5-of-6 passing for 71 yards with a 95.3 QB rating that was only a tick off Bennett’s 97.3.

Georgia isn’t as likely to use no-huddle or tempo approaches, as it did against Oregon, unless needed.

Smart said in the same press conference that “we don’t have the depth we need at the skill positions, we’re talking running back and wide receiver.”

Fewer plays and a running clock will be UGA’s best friend Saturday, whatever the methodology.

Monken can play ball control without handing off, with predetermined, high-percentage quick passes on the perimeter equating to what are known as “long handoffs.”

Dan Lanning said Oregon purposely forced action to the perimeter rather than die a slow death with Georgia running up the middle and setting up the play-action shot game.

Samford doesn’t have the personnel to stop Georgia at anything the Bulldogs want to do, and that’s where this game comes back to what Smart wants his team to work on with South Carolina on deck.

Mybookie.com has the Bulldogs favored by 16 in the Sept. 17 game in Columbia.

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