ATHENS — Georgia coach Kirby Smart was clear in acknowledging his team has areas to improve, as impressive as the 45-7 win over Marshall looked on the scoreboard.
The Bulldogs have one more warm-up game on their schedule — hosting FCS Austin Peay at 3:30 p.m. next Saturday — before the SEC gauntlet begins with a road trip to Tennessee on Sept. 13.
It has been an eye-opening week of SEC play, with most future foes looking better than expected, and others sure to be intent on improving.
Alabama, most notably, will be playing with an of desperation after a shocking 31-17 loss at Florida State in Tallahassee on Saturday.
The Tide clearly missed starting tailback Jam Miller, who injured his shoulder in fall drills, as it struggled to rush for just 87 yards on 29 carries against a revitalized Seminoles team coming off a 2-10 season.
Alabama has a 7:45 p.m. game with Louisiana-Monroe next Saturday to get back on its feet before Wisconsin comes to Tuscaloosa for a noon kick on Sept. 13.
Both the Tide and the Bulldogs will have a bye week before they meet at 7 p.m. between the hedges in Athens on Sept. 27.
Here’s a look at opponents on Georgia’s remaining schedule and how they fared:
Austin Peay, Sept. 6
Austin Peay will come to Sanford Stadium with unexpected momentum after the program beat Middle Tennessee 34-14 on the road to score its first win over an FBS team since 1987.
There was nothing flukey about it, as Austin Peay out-gained Middle Tennessee 343-153 yards and controlled the clock for 38 minutes, 35 seconds to MTSU’s 21:25.
Quarterback Chris Parson, a transfer from Mississippi State, was 11-of-20 passing for 142 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 11 times for 34 yards, presenting a dual-threat that Smart’s defense will carefully scheme
At Tennessee, Sept. 13
Georgia’s next big test comes in Knoxville against a Tennessee team that’s intent on making a second-straight appearance in the College Football Playoff.
The No. 24-ranked Vols showed a balanced attack in running up 493 yards of offense in their 45-26 win over Syracuse at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta in the Aflac Kickoff Game.
Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar debuted with 247 yards and three touchdowns and tailback Star Thomas sparked the run game with 92 yards on 12 carries as the Vols jumped to a 38-14 lead through three quarters.
“Their offense ran the ball extremely well,” said Fran Brown, a former Georgia assistant coach in his second year as Syracuse’s head coach. “I think the run game was what opened up their passing game a little bit.”
The Tennessee defense recorded five sacks and held Syracuse to 2.3 yards per rushing attempt.
Alabama, Sept. 27
The Tide scored first, but second-coach Kalen DeBoer said his team has to start faster after Florida State roared back to go up 24-7 en route to a 31-17 upset victory.
Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson was 23-of-43 passing for 254 yards and 2 touchdowns in his second career start, but the Tide managed only 17 points on seven drives into Florida State territory.
“…. We can’t play on our heels,” said DeBoer, who was 9-4 in his first season taking over for Nick Saban. “Last year isn’t this year. It’s going to be an uphill climb for us, but you can’t think of it in the big scope of things. You have to focus on the moment, and the next moment is what happens tomorrow.”
Alabama receiver Ryan Williams left the game with a concussion with 6:07 left in the fourth quarter, but he, along with Miller, are expected to be back on the field when the Tide plays Georgia in four weeks.
It was the first time the Tide lost a season-opener since losing to UCLA in 2001 and Alabama’s fifth loss in its last six road games.
It was DeBoer’s fourth loss to an unranked team in 14 games — Nick Saban lost four games to unranked teams in 17 seasons.
Kentucky, Oct. 4
The Wildcats wouldn’t appear to be a big threat on Georgia’s schedule, but that was also the case entering last season, and Kentucky played a Bulldogs team featuring 13 NFL draft picks within a point before falling 13-12 in Lexington.
The Wildcats opened their season with a 24-16 win over Toledo, the Mid-American Conference favorites and a program that beat Mississippi State on the road last season 41-17 and finished its season with a 48-46 six-overtime bowl win over ACC-member Pitt.
Kentucky quarterback Zack Calzada, a seventh-year transfer who came out of Lanier High School to play for Texas A&M, Auburn and Incarnate Word, was 10-of-23 passing for 85 yards and an interception and 10 carries for 14 yards and a rushing touchdown.
The Wildcats ground attack featured Dante Dowdell, who had 14 carries for 129 yards and a 79-yard touchdown that gave UK a 24-9 lead with 9:22 left.
At Auburn, Oct. 11
The Tigers got off to a fast start with a 38-24 win at Baylor as transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold showed off his dual-threat abilities on Friday night in Waco, Texas.
Arnold, the No. 3 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, was an efficient 11-of-17 passing for 108 yards, doing most of his damage on the ground with 137 yards and 2 touchdowns rushing on 16 carries.
“I knew they were gonna run the quarterback, and there was a design for quarterback runs that we really should have fit up better than we did,” Baylor coach Dave Aranda — a note defensive wizard — said.
“ (Auburn’s) quarterback was instructed to see that and just take off running. So he would abort whatever play he had and just run.”
The Tigers rushed for 307 yards and were 3-for-3 in the red zone while not committing any turnovers.
The Auburn defense also roared, recording four sacks and five tackles for loss.
Ole Miss, Oct. 18
Lane Kiffin made sure the Rebels weren’t sleeping on Georgia State, and new starting quarterback Austin Simmons took care of the rest in a 63-7 win.
Simmons, who led Ole Miss on a touchdown drive in relief of Jaxson Dart against Georgia last season, was 20-of-31 passing for 341 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in the blowout victory.
The Rebels rolled up 695 yards of total offense, including 295 on the ground — the area Kiffin said Ole Miss would have to be better at than a season ago.
“I was really pleased with the offensive balance,” Kiffin said. “We’ve got things to work on, too. We had the two turnovers, and we’ve got to tackle better.”
Vs. Florida, Nov. 1
The Gators opened the season by breezing to a 55-0 win over an overwhelmed Long Island, scoring more points than any time in the Billy Napier coaching era.
DJ Lagway was 15-of-18 passing for 120 yards and three touchdowns before giving way to back-up quarterback Tramell Jones Jr., who was an impressive 12-of-18 passing for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
The Gators dominated throughout, holding Long Island to just two first downs and 86 total yards.
Tailback Jaden Baugh broke the century mark with 104 yards rushing to lead the Florida ground game.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve shut out an opponent in The Swamp, and I thought the defense got a score and I thought we tackled well,” Napier said.
“I think it was a good night … we played turnover-free football, we got som takeaways, I thought we tackled well and overall, the operation was pretty clean.”
At Mississippi Sate, Nov. 8
The Maroon Bulldogs scored touchdowns on their first three drives of the second half to pull away for a 34-17 road win at Southern Miss on Saturday.
Quarterback Blake Shapen was 26-of-34 passing for 270 yards with a touchdown and interception in his first game back from the season-ending shoulder injury he suffered last September.
Mississippi State totaled 465 yards, 188 coming on the ground as it averaged 4.5 yards per carry while holding the Golden Eagles to 2.9 yards per rushing attempt.
Texas, Nov. 15
Arch Manning’s debut did not go as planned as the No. 1-ranked Longhorns fell to No. 3 Ohio State on the road, 14-7.
Manning struggled through a 17-of-30 passing performance that netted only 170 yards with an interception, a TD pass but only seven points.
Texas was just 1 of 5 on fourth-down conversions, including getting stopped twice inside the 10-yard line, most notably on a fourth-and-goal at the Buckeyes’ 1 when Manning was stuffed on a QB sneak.
“The expectations were out of control on the outside,” Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian said. “But let’s finish the book before we judge him, this is one chapter and we have a long season.”
Manning, the preseason Heisman Trophy favorite, took responsibility for the defeat.
“They’re a good team, but I thought we beat ourselves a lot and that starts with me,” Manning said. “I’ve got to play better for us to win.”
Manning was off target 37 percent of the time, per ESPN, which represent the worst metric of that kind by a Texas quarterback in 10 seasons.
The Longhorns defense gave up only one pass play longer than 20 yards.
Charlotte, Nov. 22
The 49ers had a tough Friday night, falling 34-11 to Appalachian State in a home game.
Charlotte scored first to take a 3-0 lead, but the 49ers managed only 76 yards rushing on 29 carries and turned the ball over twice.
Georgia Tech, Nov. 28
The Yellow Jackets pulled out a 27-20 win at Colorado behind Haynes King heroics.
King broke loose on a 45-yard scoring run with 1:07 left for one of this three rushing touchdowns on the night.
King was 13-of-20 passing for 143 yards and was intercepted once.
“Defensively, we gave up 463 yards of total offense, they ran for 320 yards, and you’re not going to win with those statistics,” Colorado coach Deion Sanders said.
“Tried many things. We tried blitzing, trying to fill every gap, but we couldn’t get the job done. They were much more physical than we were. They were much more aggressive.”
Georgia Tech won despite turning the ball over on its first three drives in the game.
“We talk about, you know, playing the next play, and that’s all we talk about — next play, next play, next play, play, next play, and the resiliency of these guys really showed,” Yellow Jackets coach Brent Key said.
“And you’ve got three turnovers in your first three drives, and it’s real easy for everybody to start pointing fingers and talking and whatnot. That’s the identity that we want to have, and we’ll continue to have.”
