The No. 1-ranked Georgia football team is expected to roll all over Missouri next Saturday in Athens, opening as a 37 1/2-point favorite even though it has one of the more curious and unsettled quarterback situations in college football.
The Bulldogs (8-0, 6-0 SEC) clinched the SEC East Division on Saturday with their 34-7 win over Florida and Kentucky’s road loss at Mississippi State.
The last time UGA was a 37-point favorite was earlier this season at Vanderbilt.
That was the last time quarterback JT Daniels played, and the Georgia offense raced out to a 35-0 lead in the first quarter before coach Kirby Smart pulled Daniels and inserted Stetson Bennett.
Daniels missed the next three games with strained lat before being cleared for the game with the Gators last Saturday.
Smart, however, kept the preseason Heisman Trophy favorite on the bench and started Bennett because he said he wanted to maintain “continuity.”
Smart said Daniels was healthy enough to play, and he did not seem to be in the doghouse, as the head coach and Bennett both said Daniels stayed involved and supportive.
Bennett was 10-of-19 passing for 161 yards with a TD and two interceptions against the Gators.
It makes for an unpredictable quarterback situation for Georgia entering the week, though UGA’s defense is such that it doesn’t matter which quarterback gets the start.
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The Bulldogs’ No. 1-rated defense helped Georgia break open a 3-0 game late in the second quarter with three forced turnovers in 2 1/2 minutes. The offense needed only two plays and 47 yards during the 21-0 run that put the Bulldogs in control.
Smart did not say which quarterback he planned to start moving forward, and few could hazard a guess, as the management of the position has been erratic.
Earlier in the season, even with Daniels the clear-cut starter and healthy, Smart surprised many by rotating Bennett into games Daniels started against South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
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Missouri will be left guessing if it will get the ground-and-pound attack with Bennett under center, or the high-flying explosive offense it faced with Daniels at quarterback last season.
Daniels led the Bulldogs to a 49-14 over the Tigers in Missouri last season with a 16-of-27 passing performance that was good for 299 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Tigers’ coach Eli Drinkwitz, who called last year’s meeting with Georgia a “measuring stick,” has his Tigers coming off a 37-28 road win at Vanderbilt.
