Georgia prepares for Mississippi State with both teams dealing with QB uncertainty
The rest of Georgia’s season starts on Saturday.
With most of the goals for 2020 seemingly off the table, the Bulldogs return to Sanford Stadium for the first time since Oct. 10 to face 2-4 Mississippi State. On Saturday night, it will be known how motivated the home Bulldogs will be to finish this whirlwind of a season on a high note.
Here’s what Georgia head coach Kirby Smart had to say at his weekly news conference leading up to the game:
QB competition continues
Six games into the season is not a good time to still be answering questions about the quarterback position. That’s exactly where Smart found himself on Monday, fielding several inquiries about the status of his signal callers.
With regards to incumbent starter Stetson Bennett, Smart said he’s still “bouncing back” from the AC sprain in his throwing shoulder suffered against Florida. Bennett was limited last week in practice. Since the Bulldogs haven’t hit the field since Thursday, Smart won’t know exactly where he is in his recovery until after practice Monday.
As for the rumors of a switch to Southern Cal transfer J.T. Daniels, Smart gave his classic response. The competition to start will continue throughout the week with one goal in mind.
“You just try to make the best decision you can and give your team an opportunity to win,” Smart said. “That’s what we try to do in all our decisions, regardless of quarterback or not.”
Leach vs. Smart, round one
Saturday’s contest will be a fascinating coaching showdown. The defensive-minded Smart will get his first crack at new Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach, a name synonymous with the Air Raid offense he’s employed for years.
Smart compared what he will face this weekend to the challenges presented in the past by Georgia Tech when it ran the triple option. The defense basically has to reinvent itself over the course of a week in order to stop an opponent that does things so differently on offense.
“You have to defend it patiently,” Smart said. “You have to defend it in ability to deny the ball. You’ve got to be able to play man to man; they look for man to man. There’s a lot of things within their system that are different than traditional offenses in our conference. So they’ve brought some outside elements that haven’t been in the SEC.”
Running the show for most of the year has been Stanford graduate transfer quarterback K.J. Costello. He suffered an injury against Alabama on Oct. 31 and missed the last game against Vanderbilt on Nov. 7, so his status for Saturday is up in the air.
If he does play, Smart will be facing a player he communicated with about the possibility of transferring to Georgia for his final season. Ultimately the Bulldogs went with Wake Forest transfer Jamie Newman, who then opted out of the season due to COVID-19 concerns.
Smart praised Costello as a bright player with a rocket arm that fits Leach’s system well. That system will come face-to-face with Smart’s defense for the first time on Saturday night.
Bulldogs utilize extra time off
After finding out Wednesday their game with Missouri would not be played, the Bulldogs practiced that day and Thursday before transitioning to a weekend more focused on meetings.
The Saturday without a game gave some Georgia players time to recover from injuries. Smart said he is hopeful that receiver George Pickens (upper body), running back Kenny McIntosh (knee) and safety Lewis Cine (concussion) will be ready to play against Mississippi State.
Georgia also got the chance to get an early start on prep for Leach and the visiting Bulldogs. Instead of waiting until Saturday night after returning from Missouri, the team got a chance to prepare some on Thursday and Friday.
The coaching staff tried to keep things interesting in practice, adding in more competition and “good on good” periods on Wednesday and Thursday. However, that’s a delicate balancing act at this point in a season.
On a normal open week, the players would have Monday off and then practice the next three days. With not finding out about the postponement until Wednesday, the coaching staff had to be cautious.
“You can’t go every day slobber-knocker, not at this point in the season and not with the depth we have and the injuries we have,” Smart said. “I thought they were good practices. I thought they were competitive. That was the whole point, to change things up, to do a different order to try to give them a little fresh start of how to do things in terms of practice.”
Last week, Smart said they knew Missouri was “teetering on the brink” of not being able to play. This week, however, the communication between Georgia and Mississippi State seems to be moving in a positive direction for this weekend’s game to happen as scheduled.
“You have to prepare each practice as if you’re playing the game,” Smart said. “We certainly are confident that we’re going to be able to play Mississippi State. We feel good about where we are, we feel good about where they are as communicated, so we feel good about playing.”
No. 13 Georgia (4-2) vs Mississippi State (2-4)
Time: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Place: Sanford Stadium in Athens
TV: SEC Network
Line: Georgia by 24
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Georgia prepares for Mississippi State with both teams dealing with QB uncertainty."