After wrinkle in schedule, UGA statement win at Missouri starts in vacant strip mall
Georgia arrived in blustery Columbia, Missouri on Friday afternoon. All of the team’s final pregame work took place in a vacant strip mall.
The Bulldogs couldn’t stay in the usual visiting team’s hotel near the University of Missouri’s campus because the game’s original date got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There would usually be ample facilities — such as a ballroom — for team activities, walk-throughs and team meals. A common place to gather becomes an important place for SEC road trips.
Georgia had to shift its lodging plans, and the new hotel offered the vacant building for team functions. The Bulldogs had to walk about 75 yards each time they needed to eat or meet together before Saturday’s noon kickoff. They did it in sub-40-degree temperatures while trying to navigate the mid-December conditions in the middle of the Show Me State.
“We had to walk through the elements,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. “In the end, that may have helped us some. It exposed us the entire time we were here.”
They managed wintry conditions after being used to the South’s 60-plus-degree afternoon weather. Georgia convened in a makeshift room — likely under construction — with airwalls put up around them.
Many factors were in the Bulldogs’ favor, as they had an 11 a.m. Central time kickoff on top of the travel challenges. The strip mall might’ve been the best bet because Georgia dominated Missouri 49-14 in what quarterback JT Daniels called the team’s “most complete game of the year.”
The new wrinkle in 2020 set the Georgia football team back two decades, as Smart described it.
“It brought me back to my Valdosta State days,” Smart said, who coached at the Division II program from 2000-01. “Sometimes, you have to eat Beanie Weenies to go play a big game. You do what you’ve got to do to go handle your business.”
Georgia also knew of the target on its back Saturday. Smart said his players knew of the chatter surrounding the No. 9 team in the country. Although people “have their opinion,” the Bulldogs wanted to control the narrative in its final road game of the quirky football season.
Regardless of where the questions come from, the Bulldogs don’t see them as a factor. Smart understands that his team didn’t prevail in its two biggest games of the season against Florida or Alabama, but the win over Missouri held significance. It’s Georgia’s first win over a ranked team since beating Tennessee on Oct. 10 — which, in the ups and downs of a pandemic season, seems much longer than two months ago.
“They’re not the ones playing,” senior inside linebacker Monty Rice said. “They’re not the ones putting in the work that we are. Everybody is entitled to an opinion.”
Georgia plowed through Missouri on Saturday with its offensive fireworks. The Bulldogs scored the first 14 points in the first quarter, and aside from a brief second-quarter lull in which the Tigers’ pass rush affected Daniels, the offense didn’t stop producing. Four running backs racked up touchdowns, including freshman Daijun Edwards.
Running back James Cook looked Alvin Kamara-esque by making plays in the pass game, run game and creating separation from Missouri defenders. Georgia’s passing game, led by a 299-yard, three-touchdown showing from Daniels, turned into a game of “Go fetch” with star receiver George Pickens and big-bodied freshman tight end Darnell Washington. Those two receivers combined for 187 yards.
Georgia’s Todd Monken-led offense clicked on all cylinders. Daniels found his groove. Glimpses of the Bulldogs’ famous ground-and-pound run game came to life. Georgia scored 49 points for the first time this season, recorded 615 total yards and it soon looked like a rout against a non-conference foe.
Smart, however, added that his team’s offense hasn’t yet reached its potential. He believes there are more capabilities with Pickens, Daniels, playmakers and a host of younger offensive linemen who are expected to return in 2021.
“You said it. It has come together and what we’ve been looking for,” Daniels said. “That was our first real complete game. We threw when we had the looks to throw, and ran when we needed to run.”
Georgia’s offense made it fun, but the defense made the statement. The unit came to Faurot Field at fuller health as nose tackle Jordan Davis returned with an elbow injury. Missouri, an offense that had become potent with consecutive 40-plus point games against Vanderbilt and Arkansas, couldn’t find traction.
The Bulldogs knew the threat of Missouri running back Larry Rountree. Other than his short score after a punt block, No. 34 didn’t have much luck with 16 yards on 14 carries.
Missouri had 79 second-half yards and didn’t score after the intermission. The Tigers finished the afternoon with only 200 yards of offense.
“Nothing,” Rice said of the team’s halftime adjustments. “They didn’t really do anything in the first half. They had one drive where they drove the ball down the field. They really didn’t do much the whole game, if we’re being honest.”
Georgia’s defense posted one of its best performances of the season — aside from allowing six points against Auburn and 10 at Arkansas. The Bulldogs’ unusual eyesore performances came by allowing over 40 points to Alabama and Florida, along with 24 in a close win against Mississippi State.
On this day, Georgia sat the cold weather aside. It didn’t worry about the weird travel accommodations that started in a strip mall. The Bulldogs dominated and found their footing, returning to expectations for the end of the season, a potential New Year’s Six bowl run and 2021.
“You want to do that every game,” Rice said. “In this day and age, it’s hard to hold a team to what we did today. It doesn’t matter who we play, and nobody is an exception. We want to beat everybody.”
Once the game began, Georgia needed two more items of winter gear, too. It helped to remain focused despite the noise.
“Every game for us should be a statement. We don’t listen to what people say,” Daniels said. “We wear earmuffs and blinders and focus on playing football.”
Next game
Who: Georgia (7-2) vs. Vanderbilt (0-9)
Where: Sanford Stadium in Athens
When: Noon Saturday
TV: SEC Network
Note: The game was originally scheduled to be played Dec. 5
This story was originally published December 12, 2020 at 4:28 PM with the headline "After wrinkle in schedule, UGA statement win at Missouri starts in vacant strip mall."