ATHENS – Jordan Jenkins didn’t want to stop playing.

It was the first game of the season, the defense was clicking and young guys were getting some experience.

But lightning had already delayed the game once, and with a 51-14 lead over Louisiana-Monroe seemingly secure, it was called, robbing Jenkins and his Georgia teammates of more snaps.

“I was mad,” he said. “First game. I really wanted to keep playing.”

By the time the play was stopped, Georgia’s defense had remedied whatever issues they had when the Warhawks scored both of their touchdowns on consecutive possessions.

“What we really have to work on is staying focused,” Jenkins said. “We start doing good and start feeling (good about) ourselves and let the other team score. We can’t let that happen.”

Louisiana-Monroe had 251 yards – just 45 on the ground (1.7 yards a rush) — but Georgia actually had issues with only two players.

Quarterback Garrett Smith and receiver Rashon Ceaser played pitch-and-catch practically the entire game.

Ceaser found wide-open spaces out of the slot and caught 13 of Smith’s 23 completions for 153 yards and both touchdowns — one to end the first half and the other to start the second – and Smith finished 23-of-29 for 206 yards.

“We played all right,” said cornerback Aaron Davis who picked off Smith’s third pass of the game. “We have some things to improve on. It wasn’t our best game, but excluding those two drives, we played pretty well. Those two drives were the most glaring things for us. We have to get into the film room and correct them.”

Georgia adapted well to its two new inside linebackers – Leonard Floyd and UAB transfer Jake Ganus – and freshmen such as defensive tackles Trenton Thompson and DaQuan Hawkins, and linebacker Natrez Patrick were in the lineup before the game was stopped.

Freshman Rico McGraw also started at cornerback.

Floyd and Quincy Mauger led the Bulldogs with eight tackles each and Jenkins added seven tackles and a sack. Georgia had six tackles for loss.

“We played well as a defense,” Floyd said. “There’s always room for improvement, though. We’re going to go look at the film, see what we need to improve on and build on today’s win.”