ATHENS — Whether second-year Georgia coach Kirby Smart was looking for that signature win or not, he got it Saturday.
Georgia got dominating defense, timely offense, and the Bulldogs dismantled the other Bulldogs in the Southeastern Conference taking a complete 31-3 victory over Mississippi State at Sanford Stadium.
It was billed as perhaps the best matchup of the SEC season involving teams not named Alabama as Georgia (4-0, 1-0 SEC East) came in ranked 11th and Mississippi State (3-1, 1-1 SEC West) 17th.
But once the smoke cleared Between the Hedges, it was apparent the two teams were much farther apart on more than just the scoreboard. Mississippi State came into the game as the only team in the country in the top 10 in both scoring defense (9.3 points a game) and scoring offense (47.7 ppg). Both of those positions took a major hit Saturday.
Senior linebacker Lorenzo Carter set the tone for the defense with a bone-jarring tackle for a 6-yard loss on State’s first play of the game and ignited a quick three-and-out.
Freshman quarterback Jake Fromm then turned the capacity crowd on their heads connecting with Terry Godwin on a 59-yard flea flicker on Georgia’s first play for a 7-0 lead just 2:23 into the game.
“We saw some things on tape we thought we could do," Smart said. "I had gone to (offensive coordinator) Jim (Chaney) and told him I'd like to open with that and he said they had been talking about the same thing. We felt like there would be some players peeking in the backfield, and Terry got behind them."
Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said it was just a breakdown from the beginning.
"We had poor communication in the back, and we didn't get in the right coverage," he said of the opening play.
A major concern coming into the game for the Georgia defense was how would they slow down State’s junior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald, who was averaging over 260 yards a game with the Bulldogs sitting ninth in the FCS in scoring.
The Dogs stuffed Fitzgerald on his first carry for just 2 yards and overall the Georgia defense forced four straight punts and held the Maroon Bulldogs to just three first downs midway through the second quarter.
“The defense played outstanding,” Smart said. “They did a great job. They finally had a couple of turnovers. It's been a long time coming. I can't say enough about our defensive staff. They have worked really hard.”
Fitzgerald finished with 47 yards rushing and 83 yards passing on 14-of-29 attempts with two interceptions. Georgia held Mississippi State to a season-low 280 total yards for the game.
"Georgia is fast, physical, and they're a very good defense and they executed very well," Fitzgerald said. "We just didn't go out and play a very good game."
Georgia’s second possession was a little more methodical needing 8 plays to go 78 yards, with Nick Chubb capping it off with a 7-yard run for a 14-0 lead with almost half of the first quarter still to go.
State’s defense settled down from there holding Georgia scoreless the rest of the half while Fitzgerald finally got the Maroon Bulldogs on the board engineering a 12-play, 51-yard drive that culminated with a 26-yard field goal by Jace Christmann with just 1:14 left in the half.
The Georgia defense was dishing out bone-crunching hits faster than The Varsity does hamburgers in the first half and held Mississippi State to just 133 yards and just 3-of-10 on third down before halftime.
Fromm, who has shown steady improvement since taking over for the injured Jacob Eason, looked like anything other than a freshman in the first half. He was 8-for-8 for 160 yards and one touchdown -- and more importantly, no turnovers. He finished 9-of-12 for 201 yards passing, his first 200-yard-plus game of his career. Of the three incompletes, two were drops and the third was a throw out of bounds to avoid a rush with no open receivers.
“The kid is stepping up. He's starting to play," Smart said. "He’s becoming a real good leader on the field. He did a good job of managing the game."
The second half was more of the same as Georgia took the opening drive of the third quarter and needed just six plays to go 75 yards, with Chubb capping it on a 27-yard scoring run out of the Wildcat formation, going untouched the entire way, for a 21-3 lead.
After Georgia forced another State three-and-out on its first possession of the second half, former Buford standout Isaac Nauta reeled in a career-high 41-yard touchdown pass dragging a defender the final 5-yards to push it to 28-3 and essentially crush any thoughts the Maroon Bulldogs had of a comeback.
That drive was set up by a Deandre Baker interception of Fitzgerald. The next Mississippi State drive also ended in a turnover as Dominick Sanders snared his 13th career interception off a tipped pass, which set up a career-long 49-yard field goal by Rodrigo Blankenship late in the third quarter.
Neither team gets a break next week with tough road matchups. Georgia heads to Tennessee (3-1, 0-1 SEC East) while Mississippi State heads to No. 15 Auburn (3-1, 1-0 SEC West).
"Humility is a week away," Smart said. "Whether we'd won or lost this one, we'd have to refocus and concentrate and get ready to do it again."
"The great thing about the SEC is that you end playing a better team the next week," Mullen said. "We were on the road this week against a top-10 team and we're on the road against a top-10 team again next week. Everybody is talking about how down the SEC is, well we're playing our third straight top-15 team, all conference games. I don't know how down the league is, not with our schedule."
NOTES: Georgia has used 4 different starting lineups at offensive line in the first 4 games. It almost certainly looks to be 5 straight next week as Solomon Kindley left the game with an apparent leg injury. ... The Maroon Bulldogs were held to under 300 yards in a game for the first time in the Dan Mullen-era. ... Mississippi State had outscored its first three opponents 55-7 in the second half. Georgia outscored the Maroon Bulldogs 17-0 in the second half. ... Mississippi State also was 11th in the FCS in rushing at 297.7 ypg. They were held to just 179 yards by the Georgia defense. ... Sanders' INT in the third quarter was his 13th and tied him for the top spot on the NCAA active list and with his head coach Kirby Smart and three others for fifth in the Georgia record books.
SCORING SUMMARY
Miss. State.......0....3.....0.....0 -- 3
Georgia..........14....0....17....0 -- 31
First Quarter
G -- Godwin 59 pass from Fromm (Blankenship kick) 7-0, 12:37
G -- Chubb 7 run (Blankenship kick) 14-0, 6:16
Second Quarter
M -- Christmann 26 FG, 14-3, 1:14
Third Quarter
G -- Chubb 27 run (Blankenship kick) 21-3, 12:24
G -- Nauta 41 pass from Fromm (Blankenship kick) 28-3, 5:48
G -- Blankenship 49 FG 31-3, 0:52
