Guerry Clegg: Defense saves Georgia on bad night for offense

Hard to believe that just a fortnight ago, the Georgia Bulldogs were poised to make their case for being included in the College Football Playoff conversation. Now the question is can they limp to the finish line of this season without the program ripping apart at the seams.

As bleak as the losses to Alabama and Tennessee were, Saturday night's 9-6 win over Missouri did little to ease the concern.

"It was a great win, I promise you," said Georgia coach Mark Richt. "Sometimes the best wins are the toughest ones."

This one was as tough as they get. It wasn't until Missouri quarterback Drew Lock's pass on fourth-and-17 at the Mizzou 10 with 1:05 left to play fell incomplete that could the Bulldogs finally exhale. Moments later, LSU did them a huge favor by beating Florida 35-28. So as un

likely as it seemed for most of the night, suddenly the Dogs are close to fully controlling their own fate in the SEC East. If they win out, and Tennessee loses to Alabama, they are SEC East champs again, not that a possible rematch with Alabama is a comforting thought.

Of course, winning out will take some doing, especially given how the offense played Saturday. Other than Georgia Southern, there's no opponent on Georgia's remaining schedule that can be considered anything better than a toss-up.

Find the likely win.

Florida? Hardly.

Kentucky? Not any more.

At Auburn? Who woulda thunk, but no.

At Georgia Tech? Pick 'em. At least it doesn't factor into SEC play.

Falling on their faces against Alabama was bad enough. That was followed by blowing a 21-point lead at Tennessee. But they did at least have a chance to tie that game until Reggie Davis dropped a sure touchdown pass.

But losing this game could have been the low-water mark for the Mark Richt era.

This victory was owed to the defense and special teams. Granted, much of that can be attributed to Missouri's offense being awful with quarterback Maty Mauk suspended. There were some defensive breakdowns, one which led to Mizzou's second field goal and others that, just as importantly, cost the Dogs valuable field position, forcing the offense to labor even more.

But for the most part, the defense came through, especially on Mizzou's final possession. They forced a four-and-out to preserve the win.

Marshall Morgan's 34-yard field goal gave Georgia its first lead of the game with 1:10 to play in the game. It was freshman Terry Godwin's 19-yard punt return to Georgia 43 that set it up.

Two third-down conversions -- a 10-yard catch by Godwin and a 5-yard burst up the middle by Sony Michel -- and a 16-yard catch by Malcolm Mitchell put the Dogs within Morgan's range. But even that was shaky, as Morgan had previously missed from 26 yards.

This one was a straighter shot and was true. It erased the most miserable offensive performance for Georgia in recent memory. The Georgia offense is nothing short of a mess right now. The quarterback play has been poor since Greyson Lambert enjoyed a record-setting day against South Carolina. It's undeniable they miss Nick Chubb, their All-SEC running back.

But it's also fair to start questioning whether their offensive struggles are all a matter of personnel or if it's function of play-calling. When Mike Bobo left Georgia to become head coach at Colorado State, Brian Schottenheimer was hired ostensibly because his philosophy of have a power running game meshed so well with what Richt has been doing for 15 years.

Instead, it looks like a grab bag assortment of plays. Lambert's first pass was high for Jeb Blazevich and deflected to Missouri's Ian Simon, who returned the interception to the Georgia 1-yard line.

Mitchell hustled back to save a touchdown.

"One of the biggest plays of the game," Richt called it.

"If that had been an interception for a touchdown, who knows how the game would have turned out," Richt said. "That's why you never quit."

The fact that the defense held the Tigers to a field goal at the time made the interception seem fairly benign. Little did anyone know at the time just how precious any drop of offense would be on this night.

The Dogs have a week off before they travel to Jacksonville to play Florida. They had better figure some things out offensive. If they do, they could be back in Atlanta. If not, things could get very dismal by season's end.

-- Guerry Clegg is an independent correspondent. You can write to him at sports@ledger-enquirer.com

This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 11:42 PM with the headline "Guerry Clegg: Defense saves Georgia on bad night for offense."