Dawgs EVENTUALLY roll up Idaho State

NOTE: You can read the full recap on http://chuckoliver.net GO DO IT NOW!

55-7. What did you honestly expect? The Georgia Bulldogs welcomed Idaho State to Sanford Stadium Saturday and easily handled the Bengals by scoring the game's first 55 points. On a day when next week's opponent Auburn destroyed UT-Chattanooga and several other SEC schools laid waste to FCS squads, it was nice to see Georgia handle it business the way a supposed-elite team should. Too many times under head coach Mark Richt, the Dawgs have "only" won a game like this 48-20. Perhaps Idaho State was that bad or perhaps Georgia was taking out frustration from last week's loss to Florida on ISU.


Early on in the game, the Sanford Stadium masses were a bit annoyed when the offense had to settle for a field goal on the opening drive, a punt and then another field goal, this one a 52-yarder. Looking back, the smart play was to get the points; that way Idaho State would look at the scoreboard and see it was trailing instead of getting jacked up if the defense had stopped the SEC team on fourth down. It was taking the spirit away. The spirit might have been broken in the second quarter when Bacarri Rambo intercepted a pass and returned it for a score. Or perhaps it was when the Dawgs intercepted another pass and returned it to about the three yard line. Maybe it was AJ Green's TD snag on a nice fade route the next play. It could have been when AJ Green took a reception around the 40 and weaved and simply outran the defense to the endzone. Maybe it was Aaron Murray's third TD pass of the quarter? The 35 points Georgia rang up in the quarter certainly seemed to dash the hopes of Idaho State.


In the second half, the subs played and Vance Cuff returned an interception 30 yards for a TD and the Bulldogs posted 55 points on the board before letting off of the gas. Hutson Mason entered the game and Murray's day was done. Georgia looked sluggish in the first half, no doubt still in a hangover from the OT loss to Florida, but the team turned the game on a dime in the second quarter before the subs entered. An impressive second quarter gets an A+ but the slow first quarter and not much from the subs offensively (though Richt no doubt handcuffed them) drops the overall game grade to a B. As a Georgia alum, I wanted 60 on the board.


Now Murray, Green and the rest of the Georgia team will look to next week and Auburn. The Dawgs must have looked at Chuckoliver.net last night and saw that Arkansas had beaten South Carolina, which meant that had Georgia beaten Florida last week, the Dawgs would have just needed Florida (who appears to be back after crushing Vandy yesterday) to beat South Carolina next week for Georgia to have gone to Atlanta for the SEC title.


Georgia must put that out of their minds and simply focus on No.1 or No.2 Auburn next week.Cam Newton is enough to handle on a clear mind. Georgia played with confidence Saturday during the second quarter. If the team plays like that next week on the road, perhaps the Dawgs really can salvage the season, get bowl-eligible and maybe head to Atlanta for the Chick-fil-A bowl in December.