"How can Georgia possibly play a better game than its 31-3 dismantling of Mississippi State?"
Ask and ye shall receive.
Saturday's 41-0 body slamming of Tennessee was the Dawgs' best performance of its first five games, and provided a nice, stress-free atonement for last year's atrocity in Athens.
My wife and I made the trek to Knoxville for the game — a bit of a last-minute decision — and boy, did we love every second of it.
From kickoff to the final kneel-down, it was evident that Georgia was head and shoulders above the Vols, and to finish the game with a shutout just made it that much sweeter.
The team may only get 24 hours to celebrate it, but I'm still basking in the soft orange glow of a dejected Butch Jones.
Let's chat about it.
1) It probably doesn't matter who's in at quarterback going forward.
I know I'm hardly the first person to arrive at this conclusion, but here's my assessment of the quarterback situation.
When your first-string defense has surrendered just two touchdowns (and 29 total points) through five games, you don't need a world beater under center.
And thus far, while he has performed admirably, Jake Fromm would not classify as a world beater.
A winner? A gamer? A freshman?
All of the above.
But when, like Saturday, five different running backs combine for 280 yards — oh, and the defense pitches a shutout — it probably doesn't matter who's taking snaps.
Put me in coach, I've got this.
Point being, the coaches actually have a good little problem on their hands. If, in fact, Jacob Eason has taken a big step forward as a sophomore, then the coaches can have confidence that they can ease him back into the starting role.
Or, if they stick it out with Fromm, they know they get a smart quarterback who doesn't make a ton of mistakes. With the defense and the running game clicking, that's almost always going to be enough.
"But Eason looked awful when he was in against App State!" you say, from your recliner in your living room.
It was eight plays.
Fromm's first eight plays Saturday netted seven yards, and zero first downs, if you need a comparison.
It happens.
Okay, let's talk about some other stuff.
2) There's just something different about this team.
Not to get too much into hyperbole, but there's just something about this team. Some may call it the "it" factor.
Some may call it poise. Some may say it's the coaching.
I don't know what it is, exactly, but it makes them one of the most exciting-to-watch Bulldog clubs in recent memory.
The past two weeks, Georgia has built a halftime lead. Against the Other Bulldogs, it was 14-3.
On Saturday it was 24-0.
Both times I kept thinking there would be a surge from our opponent, like no lead felt safe. And yet, there was no storm to be weathered.
In Athens, the offense came out and tacked on another score to make it 21-3. In Knoxville, a bad-play-turned-good-play resulted in yet another turnover for the Georgia defense, as the tacklers stripped the ball out of running back John Kelly's hands on what had been, to that point, a 44-yard completion.
I kept thinking, even when it was 31-0, that this game wasn't over, even as the orange and white checker boarded stadium morphed into empty silver bleachers.
But it was.
The Vols had no chance at that point.
And this Georgia team made sure of it.
Again, I don't know what makes this team different than years' past, but the way it keeps its foot on the gas has been nothing if not refreshing.
3) There's no reason for any team other than Georgia to win the SEC East.
I know this column has been more of an overall view than one that was specific to Saturday, but after a 41-0 throttling, what else is there to say?
That score speaks for itself.
But after the win, it served notice that the Dawgs are the class of the SEC East.
Yes, we've said this before.
Yes, we've seen how that turned out.
But, to go along with that "it" factor, this team is simply better than every other team in the East.
Florida, which beat the Vols on a Hail Mary, beat Kentucky on the two most inexcusable touchdowns ever surrendered in the history of football and beat Vanderbilt on a second half surge, doesn't appear to be much of a threat.
And the Gators — always the tormenters in Jacksonville — are the only team that could conceivably win it besides Georgia.
Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky and Missouri certainly won't.
In other words: If the Dawgs win in Jacksonville, be ready for Bama.
4) The look ahead.
Another trek north to Tennessee awaits next week, though this one leads us to Nashville for an always tricky, never-count-your-chickens match up with the Commodores.
Vandy has a stout defense, but the offense remains a mess.
Georgia would do well to grab the lead early and make the Commodores throw it.
And then, of course, let that Junkyard Dawgs defense go to town as they have throughout the season.
Let's do it.
