What a performance Saturday night in Sanford Stadium.
The place was electric as the Real Bulldogs destroyed Mississippi State 31-3 in what was supposed to be a close ball game.
But now that we've had some time to ponder it, let's talk about it just a little bit more.
1) Jim Chaney's play calling was great.
From the flea-flicker out of the gate to the Wild Dawg finally working, Georgia's offiense was clicking Saturday night.
On a more macro level, it's been nice to see the play book opening up more and more for Jake Fromm.
Against Notre Dame I think we saw a more protected playbook, for a couple reasons. No. 1, Chaney didn't want to show everything before conference play. No. 2, the coaches knew what a good defense they had, and figured they just needed enough from Fromm to win. They didn't need him to blow up the box score to get out of South Bend with a win.
Saturday night, we saw that go by the wayside, as Chaney let Fromm a little farther down the leash, and it paid off, as the frosh completed his first nine passes — he only threw 12 total, hello running game! — two of which went for touchdowns.
Fromm never looked rattled, and it was never more evident than the start of the second half. Leading 14-3, it felt like Georgia had hit a lull, and the momentum could swing at any moment.
And it wasn't even a completion. On 1st and 10 from the Georgia 44-yard line, Fromm hung in the pocket, rolled right, saw no one open and threw it away.
He kept the drive alive, and didn't try to force anything.
The next play, D'Andre Swift went 20 yards, and three plays after that Chubb took the Wild Dawg to the house.
Many freshman quarterbacks would panic, and might've turned it over. Fromm did not.
He kept the drive alive.
Kudos to that offense.
2) But many more kudos to that defense.
The first three games netted a few "Well, look who they've played" retorts on how well Georgia was doing.
Now it feels like we have enough of a sample size to say this defense is legit.
Let's take Notre Dame for a start. The Fighting Irish have rushed for 1,174 yards this season.
They average 373 yards per game against Not Georgia. Notre Dame managed just 55 against the Dawgs.
The Maroon Bulldogs came to Athens averaging 46.7 points per game. They left with only a field goal.
Knoxville will once again present a challenge, but this defense feels as dominant as we've seen in a long time.
3) It's good to have Malkom Parrish back.
I know all eyes are on Jacob Eason's return (if the coaches even give him the job back, but that's another column for another day) but it was great to see Parrish, perhaps Georgia's best cover corner, back out on the field.
It looked like it paid off, letting Aaron Davis slide back to play more of the star or safety position.
Davis paid it back with a few bone crushing hits on short passes from Nick Fitzgerald.
Tennessee has a good group of wide receivers, so the secondary will need to be ready for next week.
Speaking of...
4) The look ahead.
I'm excited for this week, but there's always the pessimistic Bulldog in me that worries about success.
This seems to be the kind of game Georgia finds a way to lose.
Big win the week before? Check.
Opponent that struggled and appears over-matched? Check.
Hostile road environment? Check.
Freshman quarterback playing in said hostile road environment? Check.
All the ingredients are there for a tough game, but there's a difference this time around. All those previous letdowns happened under Mark Richt.
Smart has never had such a position, but he comes from the coaching tree that gets its players up every single week.
I suspect a certain Play That Shall Not Be Named will be on loop this week as motivation in the locker room, but only time will tell if these Bulldogs truly get up for Tennessee, which is limping into the gamefollowing their Hail Mary loss to Florida and 17-13 escape against UMass.
Yes, UMass.
See you in Knoxville.
