Good Day, UGA: The plays of the season edition

Maurice Smith's game-winning pick 6 against Auburn was Georgia's play of the season.

Perry McIntyre Jr.

Posted 4 years ago

Good day, UGA. Welcome to your one-stop shop for all the relevant UGA football news and takes every Monday through Friday. In today’s edition, we look at Georgia’s best plays from this season. Did someone say “Play”?

Plays of the season

We are in college football limbo. There still is tons of (possibly excellent) football to play this year, but the Army-Navy game on Saturday is it for more than a week. Georgia doesn’t play for another three weeks, so it would be ill-advised to go all-in on bowl preview info at this point. So, since it’s Friday, and there is no team news to talk about, I figured I’d take a crack at Georgia’s five best plays from this past season. Let me know in the comments section what plays you thought should be higher or lower, as well as ones that weren’t included but should have been.

5. Jacob Eason’s 47-yard TD pass to Riley Ridley vs. Tennessee

This would be No. 1 if not for what happened afterward. (Try not to think about that too much.) But even though that happened, we should still remember the excellence of this Eason pass and Ridley reception. It shows the inherent talent both players possess and further exemplifies Eason’s poise in late-game situations. Yes, a few minutes later it was ruined. For a few brief moments, though, man, was it special.

4. Nick Chubb’s 55-yard TD run vs. North Carolina

The 2016 season still had so much promise when Chubb broke off this long touchdown run, and the biggest reason for that was Chubb himself. The success of this team was always going to hinge on him, and we thought there would be no drop-off when he returned from injury with more than 200 yards against UNC. We didn’t know how weak the offensive line really was and that those yards against UNC would account for more than a fifth of his rushing yards this season. On the whole, Chubb was not close to the level he played at as a sophomore, but he was still capable of making stunning plays. This was one of them.

3. Isaiah McKenzie’s 82-yard punt return TD vs. UL Lafayette

Isaiah Mckenzie's 5th career punt return for a TD, the most in #UGA history pic.twitter.com/rh1s6qnVpw

— Dayne Young (@dayneyoung) November 19, 2016

This return TD set UGA records for career punt return touchdowns and career return touchdowns. If McKenzie did to other teams what he did for the Ragin’ Cajuns, this may have been a different year for Georgia. Luckily, the “Human Joystick” has one more year to beef up his Georgia records and win percentage,

2. Jacob Eason’s 20-yard TD pass to McKenzie vs. Missouri

This was the first time we truly saw the potential of Eason. He reads the field well. It’s a perfectly weighted ball. McKenzie comes down with a wonderful catch. Georgia wins the game. It’s everything you want wrapped up in a single play. How can that be beaten?

1. Maurice Smith’s pick 6 vs. Auburn

Congrats to Maurice mo-hawk money smith earning Sec defensive player of the week pic.twitter.com/syPXO6hdCP

— Bryce Dixon(UGA) (@dixonbryce) November 14, 2016

Damn, it feels good to beat Auburn.

The win over Auburn is arguably the only thing that kept this season from becoming an utter disaster, and it’s all thanks to Smith. His touchdown off the pick of Sean White was Georgia’s only one of the game. It’s a shame the Bulldogs only got one season of Smith. But at least he’ll be remembered fondly by fans for making this pick and securing a major upset.

A shortage of football this weekend

We should all go outside instead of sitting in front of TV screens all Saturday. Soon, it’ll be too cold and there will be too much football to watch. Sip of beer for the workin’ man.