Morning, y’all!
Starting off today with a random question: Has everyone been enjoying the trivia questions lately? Are they too easy, too difficult or just right?
I try to keep it balanced on different topics and levels of obscurity but y’all let me know if there’s a topic you’d like me to research and add. You can email me at sarah.spencer@ajc.com if you have any thoughts!
Moving on to football, one of the biggest questions entering Georgia’s matchup with Oklahoma is how the Bulldogs will handle a stout Sooner defense. We talked about that quite a bit, but even with the news of star defensive lineman David Stone’s potential injury, it’s still relevant:
“To be honest with you, there’s not a guy on their defense that comes in — and they rotate guys — that doesn’t play with great pad level and great effort,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “When you turn on the tape, they run to the ball like they’re in elite shape. They don’t get tired. They strike. They knock back. They get off blocks, and he’s the leader of that, but they all do.”
For all the concerns about the Oklahoma offense entering Saturday, the Oklahoma defense is more than capable of winning the game. The Sooners rank in the top-10 in scoring defense, passing defense and yards per play allowed, even with a loss to Michigan.
Oklahoma coach and defensive play-caller Brent Venables has long been one of the best defensive minds in the sport. While Saturday will be the first time he and Smart face off as head coaches, there is history between Smart and Venables.
He was the defensive coordinator for Clemson in 2021. That was the last time Georgia did not score an offensive touchdown in a game.
“The way they go about their business, they are violent. They play hard,” Smart said. “They play with a purpose. They are very intelligent. They know what they’re doing as well as you know what you’re doing. They do a great job of formationing things and understanding what your tendencies are.
They play really hard. When you get good, talented players playing with fundamentals, they don’t get blocked. They might get blocked, but they don’t stay blocked. They get off blocks. They’re hard to block.”
Georgia’s offensive line knows it will have to be at its best on Saturday if the Bulldogs are to win, let alone maintain their elite offensive play thus far.
The Bulldogs have rushed for at least 200 yards and scored at least 45 points in all three of their wins. Yet there will be a massive jump in competition for Georgia, something the offensive line has long known.
“They’re definitely similar to some of the guys we face during practice,” center Drew Bobo said. “They’re big and athletic. And just they do a lot of different things defensively, so just being able to see what they do up front and watch that on film has been good.”
Saturday will be the first time Bobo is able to use both of his hands in a game. He played with a black club on his left, non-snapping hand for the first three games after suffering a finger injury during preseason camp.
While the Bulldogs have been strong on the ground so far, Georgia did have some issues in pass protection against Arkansas. Georgia gave up three sacks on the afternoon after not having given up any in its first two wins.
For as weak as Arkansas might be, it does have quality players in its defensive front. Quincy Rhodes, who picked up a sack on Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton, could well be a first-round draft pick.
Georgia’s offensive line knows it won’t win every rep in SEC play. That’ll be especially true against an Oklahoma defensive line that might be the best Georgia faces all season.
“You can’t really point fingers on the field and stuff like that,” offensive lineman Earnest Greene said after the win over Arkansas. “You trying to figure out what happened, and then as soon as we get to the sideline with the iPads, figure out what happened and see if it was technique-based or if it was a bad lie or if somebody just got beat.”
If someone struggles, Georgia does have options it can turn to on the offensive line. The Bulldogs have made it a point to get freshman Ekene Ogboko some extra reps with the first-team offense. While Juan Gaston is still the team’s starting offensive tackle, Georgia knows the value of having another player who can play winning football.
Venables vague on Stone status, but clearly uptight about offense
Venables said the status of his star defensive player was unclear, but he left no doubt how he felt about Oklahoma’s offense.
The Sooners (2-1) play at No. 2 Georgia (3-0) 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday at Sanford Stadium, and injured defensive tackle Stone and struggling quarterback John Mateer are the two biggest storylines.
“I know it was reported that he was hurt in (Monday’s) practice,” Venables said of Stone, a projected first-round NFL pick and All-American. “He wasn’t on offense. I guess that was out there. … When he got banged up, he ran his knee into a scout team player in a jog-through and kind of popped out.
“We’ll see where he’s at, …The X-rays were positive, I guess. … He said his pain (is) a two out of 10 right now, so we’ll go from there.”
The Sooners offense, meanwhile, has had a hard time going anywhere on the football field as it ranks last in yards per game in the SEC and second-to-last in points per game among league teams.
“Let’s not make it more than it needs to be, but those small screw-ups are a big deal, it affects everything,” Venables said at his press conference. “This is my message to the players, man, ‘That stuff ain’t OK,’ and if it happens in practice, it’s going to happen in the game.
“We’re fortunate we won the (New Mexico) game; does that shake your confidence? Yeah, it sure does …. “
Mateer, a second-year transfer from Washington State who was among Heisman Trophy favorites last season before injuring his thumb, ranks ninth among SEC quarterbacks in passer rating, which measures quarterback efficiency.
Mateer is completing 62.7 percent of his passes and has six touchdown throws and three interceptions with a rating a 154.2, well off the pace of SEC leader Stockton, but ahead of such notable names as Jared Curtis (147.8), Arch Manning (139.3) and LaNorris Sellers (138.0).
Still, it’s not up to the high expectations set for Mateer, and the Oklahoma player acknowledged that after the 14-6 win against New Mexico on Saturday.
“I’m tired of getting up here and saying that I keep making mistakes,” Mateer said. “I believe it will change, I do, I’m being tested, and I believe I’ll persevere.”
Smart said the Bulldogs’ defense will do its best to prepare for the Sooners’ talented quarterback.
“Obviously his athleticism pops out at you, he’s hard to tackle, he breaks a lot of tackles, he’s tough,” Smart said. “You talk about the run game, he runs inside, he runs outside. He runs to pass, he scrambles to throw. He’s made explosives with his legs.
“I think back to last year, his growth, because we didn’t play them. You saw his highlights and you saw the things he’s done. He’s become even more that way this year in terms of understanding our conference, when to run, when not to. He’s done a good job of it.”
Smart’s comments indicate Venables may opt to use Mateer more as a runner when he faces the Georgia defense than Oklahoma has in the first three games.
Mateer rushed for 431 yards and eight touchdowns in 12 games last season, but he has only 69 yards rushing this season and has been sacked five times, including three times in a 17-10 loss at Michigan on Sept. 12.
Read Mike Griffith’s full story here.
Trivia time
What is Georgia’s all-time record against the Sooners?
Georgia football has another walk-on success story at receiver
Cambridge High School has two of its former receivers turning heads at Georgia.
The first, true freshman Craig Dandridge, is the team’s leading receiver. Dandridge was a top-100 overall prospect in the 2026 class who’s flashing clear NFL potential, along with remarkable composure and competitive character.
Then there’s the other guy. The one nobody saw coming.
Except maybe Will Taylor.
Taylor, now a senior, came to UGA as a preferred walk-on in 2023. He received one college offer from Furman, but that wasn’t committable.
He planned to go to college for academics. Until Georgia called at the 11th hour and invited him to join the team as a preferred walk-on.
Flash forward four years. That was the player his teammates were raving about after the Arkansas win.
“Will Taylor came a long way, but the crazy thing is, since I got here my freshman year, man, Will Taylor has been a Dawg on the scout team,” junior safety KJ Bolden said. “He makes us so much better on scout team. We just knew that guy’s time was coming eventually. Whether it was special teams or offense, we just eventually knew his time was coming.
“He works really hard. He runs his routes hard. He just does everything hard. You wouldn’t expect Will to be a walk-on the way he goes out there in practice every day. I’m so glad he’s earned this opportunity to go out there and show it because he’s been doing it.”
Read Jeff Sentell’s full story here.
Trivia answer
1-0 (Georgia’s only game against Oklahoma came in the epic Rose Bowl showdown on New Year’s Day in 2018, with the Bulldogs coming back to win the shootout, 54-48, in double overtime)
