First it looked as if Florida was going to be the SEC’s hard-luck team with injuries after losing starting quarterback Jeff Driskel and then defensive tackle Dominique Easley. But then Georgia started to catch up.
The Bulldogs lost wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell and tailback Todd Gurley before the Tennessee game. Against the Vols, a 34-31 Georgia win, tailback Keith Marshall went down with a knee injury early. Then receivers Michael Bennett and Justin Scott-Wesley were injured and had to leave the game. The final insult came when punter Collin Barber suffered a concussion on a blocked punt.
Georgia did get the hard-fought win to retain control of the SEC East, but Mark Richt didn’t know immediately after the overtime victory over the Vols if any of the walking wounded Bulldogs will be back for this weekend when the undefeated Missouri Tigers visit Sanford Stadium.
“I just don’t know what the carnage is right now,” he said. “We’ll just have to wait and see. I’m just not in the mood to talk about it right now. Soon enough we’ll find out what it is and we’ll let you all know. Obviously the guys that got hurt, it made a big difference for them. I think everybody just wanted to keep fighting. Everybody just wanted to step up and play. I’m sure some guys went from a mode of ‘hey I’m probably not going to play today’ and then all of a sudden it’s ‘hey I’m playing a lot today’. That takes a little getting used to.”
But the Bulldogs who had to play a lot stepped up. With Gurley and Marshall out, freshmen J.J. Green responded with 129 yards on 17 carries and Brendan Douglas had 25 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Senior wideout Rantavious Wooten had two touchdowns among his six receptions.
Georgia’s win came much to the chagrin of Florida and South Carolina, both of whom need Georgia to lose a game to open the door for the Gators and Gamecocks to make a run at the SEC East title. At the moment, Florida controls its own destiny because it has a Nov. 2 date with Georgia. But for that to be the case Florida has to continue to win, especially this Saturday in Baton Rouge.
Georgia’s scare against Tennessee, injuries notwithstanding, might have said more about Tennessee than it did about Georgia. Butch Jones’ Vols have made great strides. In fact, last Saturday could have been called a breakout day for several teams around the SEC.
“It’s another step, another building block,” said Jones, whose Vols fell to 3-3 overall and 0-2 in league play. “We need to learn how to win these football games. That’s a part of the process of learning how to win, but you can see it. I can see it evolving. I can see it every day. I can see it the way we are excelling in the classroom. I can it the way our attention in the meetings. I can see the preparation in practice. I can see it and we’re going to need a lot as we continue to move forward but we have very prideful great character kids in our football program.”
Another team that took a giant step last week was Gus Malzahn’s Auburn Tigers, who improved to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in SEC play by holding on and beating Ole Miss. The Tigers, who did not win a conference game last season and went 3-9 overall, are just two wins short of qualifying for a bowl game.
“We talked about getting better each week,” said Malzahn. “We knew we were going to have to play better than we did against LSU to have a chance to beat them, and we did. There were some mistakes that we can still improve, a few turnovers we have to correct. Our defense picked us up right there, and we beat a good team.”
Malzahn was especially pleased with the continued growth of quarterback Nick Marshall, who was 11-for-17 for 93 yards passing. But it was Marshall’s ground game that caught Malzahn’s attention.
“I thought he helped us win the game, and helped us win the game with his feet. He showed a lot of toughness, and made a big throw to Tre Mason down there in the third quarter. That play led to a touchdown, and he did what it took to help us win,” said the Auburn coach.
“I think he is really talented with the read-option. There’s a lot of pressure on defenses when we can execute it. There was some pretty good blocking at the point of attack, and on a lot of those runs too.”
Kentucky played South Carolina tough and had a chance to pull out a win late.
“We knew that they would start fast here at home. They’re a team that can get you off-balance, strike very quickly, and they did that early,” said Kentucky coach Mark Stoops. ”I was proud of our team because they didn’t flinch, took their best shot, and battled back to have an opportunity to make plays to win the game in the fourth quarter.
“I was proud of the fact that we’re in the position to do that, but very frustrated that we didn’t make the plays. Our players showed a lot of toughness and character, and I was proud of them for that.”