No. 5 Georgia goes against type and actually wins easily

The Georgia offense raining big plays upon Mississippi State like a thundercloud?

Running out the clock with second stringers?

These were not the 2025 Georgia Bulldogs that their fans had come to know and tighten their sphincters over. The angst and tension induced by taut games against Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and Florida — in which Georgia trailed each in the second half, falling only to the Crimson Tide — had no place on this sunny Saturday afternoon.

Unless, of course, you happened to be on the premises of Davis Wade Stadium and held a particular aversion to the clatter of thousands of bovine noisemakers, in which case, that’s kind of on you.

For on this Saturday, No. 5 Georgia gave its supporters a day blissfully free of hyperventilating and having to stay stuck to their lucky chair by administering a genuine butt kicking, a 41-21 demolition of the home team that improved its record to 8-1.

“It felt different,” Smart said. “I had to find something to (complain) about.”

A more telling indicator of the Bulldogs’ efficiency likely does not exist.

“Really proud of our guys,” Smart said. “I thought that was a total team effort.”

Five consecutive Gunner Stockton-led touchdown drives that bridged the first and second halves to take the aforementioned 38-7 lead to send home the clanging masses. After Mississippi State sped for a touchdown on its opening drive, it crossed midfield on only one of its next five non-kneel down possessions, that series ending on downs.

The defense’s flurry of counterpunches prompted some Grade-A Kirby Smart bravado.

“They had tempo (on the first drive),” he said. “They were at their best. I always tell people, it’s not who runs the fastest 40. It’s who runs the 40th 40. Who runs play (No.) 67 the same way they did the first play?”

Not Mississippi State, evidently.

On offense, Georgia slapped Mississippi State around with a litany of explosive plays. That included, within three minutes of game clock in the third quarter, the longest run and pass plays of the season: a 59-yard touchdown run from running back Nate Frazier and a 64-yard touchdown pass play from Stockton to wideout Noah Thomas.

The Bulldogs charged up and down the Scott Field turf, finishing the day with a season-high 303 rushing yards, more than 100 yards past their season average. The 567 yards of total offense were likewise a season high.

Those totals also topped the charts for the trampled Mississippi State defense. Smart doffed his visor (figuratively) to the UGA offensive line.

“I thought they blocked people up,” Smart said. “They got hat on a hat. There’s not a lot of ways to trick people in the run game in terms of the way you block them.”

Frazier ran for a career-high 181 yards in his first 100-yard game against a non-Massachusetts opponent.

“I give all credit to my offensive line,” Frazier said. “They can get anything they want from me. They can take my NIL check, it’s on them. Whatever they want from me, they got it. It was not me, it was them.”

Smart’s concerns about the Mississippi State passing game, sixth in the SEC at 251 yards per game and boosted by speedster Brenen Thompson, were answered by his defense. The maroon-tinted Bulldogs were limited to 173 passing yards.

“I think (defensive coordinator Glenn) Schumann and the defensive staff did an incredible job this game to put a game plan together that our kids could execute,” Smart said. “There’s a lot of different things about their offense and I thought that ‘Schu’ called a really good game. They’re hard to prepare for.”

Does this complete victory mean anything for the impending showdown with No. 11 Texas, which had an open date this week?

Perhaps about as much as Georgia’s other SEC rout — over Kentucky — meant. After overpowering the Wildcats, the Bulldogs rode that wave into nail-biters with Auburn, Ole Miss and Florida.

It surely doesn’t hurt for Georgia to have cleaned its teeth with Mississippi State, but the Longhorns figure to be their own self-contained problem.

“We don’t get caught up in the moments of wins and losses,” Smart said. “We just keep chopping wood.”

Smart did share that he had texted Texas coach Steve Sarkisian on the bus ride to the game, lamenting the hour’s ride from the team hotel in Tupelo.

And there it is — something to (complain) about.