Halftime Notes: Georgia leads Georgia Tech 10-
ATHENS, Ga. — Maybe Georgia needed a half of football to put Thanksgiving dinner behind it. That’s all we’ve got. The Bulldogs have slept-walked through the first half and after allowing a touchdown on Tech’s opening drive and struggling to get off the field defensively the rest of the way, they lead 10-7.
The Bulldogs have a half to put it all together but we’re going to take the break as a chance to tell you what we thought about. Get all of that below.
- Feels like another super conservative game plan this week. I just can’t understand why the objective isn’t to come out and get Stetson Bennett in a rhythm. He has been so much more accurate and effective when given a chance to sling it around early in that intermediate range. Are they protecting a minor injury? Are they trying to keep some stuff under wraps? I can’t be sure but I really doubt it’s the latter.
- Great work from the running backs early in this one. Kenny McIntosh makes bigger and bigger plays each week. Daijun Edwards has been more of the workhorse in the first half and appears to be back on track after a couple of bad games in a row. I haven’t noticed much in pass protection from these guys.
- Really shocked that Brock Bowers got flagged for the face-mask penalty at the end of that 4th-down run. I can’t remember the last time I saw that called. It also looked like he was being horse-collared on the play. Bowers is a clear focal point of the game plan to start. He was targeted four times on the opening drive. Tech is doing a good job defending him and not letting him loose after the catch. Darnel Washington hasn’t done much either.
- The offensive line hasn’t really stood out as great or bad. Georgia Tech hasn’t done much to reset the line of scrimmage other than some plays down close. The Bulldogs have to do a better job getting a push in the lower-red area. Pass protection has been pretty solid.
- The defensive line got worked on the opening drive. It has gotten better since then, but Georgia Tech is still having a lot of success offensively. The run game isn’t a huge part of that but the defensive line isn’t helping with a consistent rush. We’ve seen Mykel Williams and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins get back there. The Dawgs aren’t getting much pass rush right now from Jalen Carter but he’s getting a lot of attention, too.
- Smael Mondon and Jamon Dumas-Johnson got off to a slow start but they’ve picked it up. Chaz Chambliss has had a rough showing thus far. He lost contain on that touchdown. I thought he was held a little but either way, he didn’t have good position. Chambliss also missed a chance to get the quarterback at the line of scrimmage before the half and missed. Georgia has got to get better play out of that position.
- Georgia Tech has done some good things in the passing game. Georgia has given the Yellow Jackets some help. There have also been a few fluky things go down. All three of those things are contributing to the Bulldog defenses’ inability to get off the field. Kelee Ringo got put in a blender on one drive and gave up some serious YAC. Malaki Starks and Javon Bullard both got burned and paid for it. Chris Smith got burned and but the ball didn’t go that way. Kamari Lassiter hasn’t really been attacked yet but allowed some separation the one time he was targeted.
