Kirby Smart raises bar on Georgia after ‘lackadaisical at times’ 43-6 win over Missouri

ATHENS — Georgia coach Kirby Smart cited a sloppy start and a lack of focus at times during the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs’ 43-6 win over Missouri on Saturday.

To be clear, Georgia did win decisively.

RECAP: How Georgia scored, complete stats from 43-6 win over Missouri

But Smart doesn’t want his team to play to the scoreboard. He wants them to play to a standard of excellence.

Smart wasn’t the only one in Sanford Stadium that was less than satisfied with the level of execution.

“The players on our team certainly felt that way, because it was addressed in the locker room after the game,” Smart said. “Some of those guys stood up and didn’t feel like it was our best effort.

“It was a little lackadaisical at times. Some of that was more defensive than it was offensive, in my opinion.”

Disney Dawgs

So maybe Georgia didn’t look like a national championship team on Saturday, despite what some of the so-called “Disney Dawg” fans who focused strictly on the scoreboard might want to be projected.

And it’s the head coach sending that message through the media, not the other way around.

“I think our guys got a little bit of a wake-up call today,” Smart said. “This was probably a sub-par outing for us, in terms of execution and play style.”

High standards and critical self-analysis are what set championship teams apart.

“If it ain’t broke,” Smart once famously said, “find a way to make it better.”

That was the message again on Saturday when a feisty Missouri team jumped out to a 3-0 lead and found surprising success running the football and stopping the run.

Line dance

The Tigers, somehow, rushed for 121 yards against Georgia’s elite defense, which had averaged allowing 75.6 per outing.

This, even though, Missouri was missing its starting quarterback and went with a two-QB rotation of former 3-star prospects.

“Why were they successful on third down? I thought we were running up the field,” Smart said, referring to his defensive front.

“We had two times where we didn’t get in our gaps, and you have to be disciplined,” he said. “Everybody on the field has to do their job or you have a hole. ... You can’t be selfish. You have to buy into your job and do your job.”

Missouri’s defensive front was doing its job, and so was the safety being brought up into the box to stop the run against a Georgia team missing its best offensive lineman in Jamaree Salyer (foot).

Zamir White was held to 14 yards on 9 carries by a defense that ranked last in the nation against the run entering the day.

James Cook had a bit more success (9 carries, 41 yards) thanks to a 17-yard burst, while Kenny McIntosh had 5 carries for 8 yards.

Lack of focus

“We had a couple of comments on the headset from Matt (Luke) about Broderick (Jones) having a couple of missed assignments,” Smart said, referring to the second-year player starting in place of Salyer.

“Lack-of-focus plays where he could’ve gotten up the field and helped a guy in the run game.”

Offensive coordinator Todd Monken, ever the creative play-caller, went a more unconventional route to find yardage on the ground.

Kearis Jackson had a 37-yard jet sweep and Arian Smith had a 15-yard carry.

And Missouri did have to pay for selling out to stop the run, with Stetson Bennett connecting on some deep throws to Kearis Jackson and Jermaine Burton en route to a 13-of-19 passing performance for 255 yards.

But the general takeaway from Smart was that Georgia didn’t play as well as it will need to play moving forward.

“Our team has to improve and that’s the biggest thing, is not falling victim to this narrative that’s out there,” Smart said, referring to any concept that Georgia is far above any other team in the nation and incapable of being beaten.

“We have to get better because the game is getting nothing but bigger and bigger and bigger each week.”