2021 Week 3

Georgia dominated the line of scrimmage early in the game. Kanye Guzewski couldn't break through it. Last week's star Jamal Moses couldn't break through it. It wasn't until R. T. Toatley put his hand on the shoulder pad of Zane Salazar and sent him into the game with a blast play that the tide of the game began turning. Salazar is the Bluff's best power back. His strength (80) allowed him to power through creases in the UGA defense and those little bits of suddenly positive yardage opened up the PB passing game.

It was a good thing because Tyler Cooper got hammered and sacked all day, eight times by linebackers and defensive linemen, once by a cornerback from the blindside. Those nine sacks were spread among six defensive players. Why? Because the Pine Bluff O-line is inept at pass blocking. Still, when Cooper was not eating dirt he was on target with his reads and throws, most of which were in zone seams or against single coverage. Bluff receivers did their part, dropping only one pass on the day. Cooper threw no picks but was charged with a fumble when he was hit with his arm clearly going forward. The mistake was not costly however as Georgia soon turned the ball back over.

The early game was tense. The Dawgs drove 73 yards in 8 plays to score on their first possession. Most of that yardage was against freshman free safety Nathan Atha. Coach Mackey made adjustments after that to get more linebacker pressure on the Georgia QB, and that small change contained the Georgia offense. The Bulldog ground game never got on track, mostly due to terrible playcalls by Georgia coach Mike Bobo. At the end of Q1 Pine Bluff led 7-6. A good punt return by Nexton Jones set up the next Bluff score. Moses carried the rock in from the 1 but the real star of the drive and the half was Cooper, overcoming sacks and getting no yardage from his halfbacks. A Bluff lead of 14-6 vanished on a kick return for TD by UGA that made it a 14-13 ballgame. It had been that kind of half. But in the final seconds of the half Salazar broke free on a 34 yard option pitch to give the Pine a decisive 21-13 halftime lead. The Bulldogs were never afterward a threat. There was no scoring in the third quarter but the fourth quarter belonged to the Bluff, and Salazar and Guzewski combined for 3 TDs and Tank Abrams booted a gimme field goal. UGA finally scored in garbage time but the Dawgs had been completely whipped.

It's an 0-2 start for UGA with this demolition coming on the heels of last week's upset by Clemson. Fans in Athens are bracing for another year of mediocrity.