ATHENS — Georgia’s run defense has never been a weakness this season. Preaching the importance of stopping the run all offseason long clearly took hold for this team.

“Stopping the run, that’s a main factor on our defense,” outside linebacker Quintavius Johnson said. “Coming into fall camp we knew that we wanted to stop the run and basically just having that mentality of stopping the run.”

To date, Georgia has not given up more than 150 rushing yards in a game. That happened five times in 2024.

But perhaps the biggest difference in this defense from the beginning of the season to the end has been how Georgia’s run defense performed in the closing month of the season.

In games against Texas, Charlotte, Georgia Tech and Alabama, the Bulldogs gave up just 128 rushing yards in total.

Those four performances helped shoot Georgia back into the nation’s elite in terms of stopping the run. Entering the College Football Playoff, Georgia ranks fourth in the country and first in the SEC in run defense. Each team in the top seven in run defense made the College Football Playoff this season.

It’s the first time since the 2022 season that Georgia ranks inside the top-10 in run defense. That season ended with a national championship. The year before, the Bulldogs ranked second nationally in that statistic and also won a national title.

“I don’t know that I would say we hit our standard or that, you know, there’s two national championship years standard, but we improved in that area,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “And we needed to improve in that area. And it was big for our team.”

As for when Smart knew his team had taken a step forward, he circles Georgia’s first true road game against Tennessee.

Tennessee finished the game with 125 rushing yards on 34 carries. The year prior, the Volunteers rushed for 146 yards on 39 carries.

What is perhaps telling about that effort is the Volunteers held the lead early and late in that contest. But because Tennessee couldn’t drain the clock, by running the football, it gave Georgia time to mount a comeback. A missed field goal late in the fourth quarter helped as well, but Georgia never would’ve been tied with the Volunteers if Georgia’s defensive front had not held up for much of the game.

The same can be said for when Georgia took on Ole Miss in October. The Rebels held a 35-26 lead at the start of the final period. But Ole Miss would finish with only 88 rushing yards on 24 carries and suffer its only defeat of the season to this point.

It is the only time this season that an opponent has held the Rebels to under 100 yards rushing.

“At the end of the game, if you have to run the ball and you have to stop the run, especially when you get into cold weather or tough elements, those are things that matter the most,” Smart said. “And we didn’t do those well last year, guys. And that was what we were hanging our hat on this year was, can we stop the run and can we run the ball? And we were gonna do that come hell or high water.”

Unlike in pass coverage, a dominant run defense demands a group effort. It requires the defensive line to strike blocks and prevent offensive linemen from getting up field.

Clean linebackers help limit longer runs. It’s no coincidence that CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson are playing their best football as the run defense has taken major strides forward.

Allen led Georgia in tackles this season and earned First Team AP All-American honors for his play. But Allen suffered a knee injury against Texas, forcing him to miss the win over Charlotte and limit him against Georgia Tech.

The rest of the defense stepped up around Allen to continue to stifle the opposing rushing efforts. Georgia’s last three Power 4 foes — Alabama, Georgia Tech and Texas — all had their worst rushing efforts of the season against Georgia.

If the Bulldogs build upon that level of effort in the College Football Playoff, the Bulldogs could be geared for a lengthy College Football Playoff run. Of the teams on Georgia’s half of the bracket, only Texas A&M had a rushing offense that ranked in the top 30 nationally in terms of rushing yards per game.

The song for Georgia all season remains the same. It’s not a defense that pressures the quarterback — Georgia ranks last among College Football Playoff participants in sacks — or forces many turnovers, as the Bulldogs have just 12 in 13 games.

But this group excels at stopping the run. Given Georgia has allowed just two touchdowns in its four most recent games, the Bulldogs may have mastered the formula needed to win with their defense in the College Football Playoff.

“I do think we’re getting better, but we have to continue that,” Smart said. “Like, the last thing you can do is think you’ve arrived on defense or offense and not grow. That’s the key point in this window of opportunity, who actually separates themselves and does get better.”