Five things to watch during Georgia's homecoming game against Vanderbilt

Greetings from Sanford Stadium.

It's not a beautiful fall Saturday but it sure shapes up for the kind of weather that will make watching football outside enjoyable. At the moment of writing out this blog it's a little chilly with overcast skies. By noon it should be around 71 degrees and warm up as the game goes on.

But it should stay cloudy and keep things cool. It's not expected to rain even though it looks like it might.

Alas, enough about the weather.

How about some football?

Who exactly knows what we'll see out of Georgia: Will the team with the clear talent advantage show up and finally record a blowout? Or will Vanderbilt, a stingy group that's been quite competitive in SEC play, do enough to hang around and frustrate the Bulldogs?

It should make for an interesting first half, which should then dictate how the second half plays out.

Before kickoff occurs, here are five things to watch when it comes to Georgia's homecoming game against Vanderbilt

Will run game pick up where it left off?

Georgia's rushing attack accounted for 326 yards against South Carolina, with the offensive line executing its double teams on the defensive line and allowing the running backs to do work against the linebackers at the next level.

The one concern with that against Vanderbilt is that Zach Cunningham is a much better linebacker than anyone South Carolina fielded. Outside linebacker Oren Burks could be tough to set an edge against, too. So the running game may not have the kind of success it had against the Gamecocks.

Then again, Kentucky had its way with the Commodores a week ago in a 20-13 win. The Wildcats totaled 258 rushing yards with a committee approach. The Bulldogs have three backs in Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and Brian Herrien who can split carries and still churn out the same kind of yardage. So this could work in Georgia's benefit quite a bit.

If the Bulldogs are able to run the ball with success early then it should be a get-in, get-out scenario. But Georgia has had an issue of letting teams hang around through the first six games. Perhaps with this game being at home, things change Saturday.

Will Eason bounce back?

Jacob Eason had the worst game of his young career last week, going 5-of-17 passing for 29 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Eason will look to have a much better day in front of the home crowd at Sanford Stadium.

And thus far, when faced with a friendly environment, Eason has delivered better results.

Including the opener at the Georgia Dome, Eason is 36-of-60 passing for 546 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions in front of home fans. On the road, which includes a 308-yard, three-touchdown performance against Missouri, Eason is 50-of-108 throwing for 474 yards, four touchdowns and three picks.

Vanderbilt also hasn't been able to get after the quarterback too well, which could set up some time for Eason in the pocket. If he's able to get a better handle on his footwork, the young freshman could put in a much better game than a week ago.

Containing Webb

Vanderbilt's offense has been dreadful through the first half of the season.

The Commodores rank last in the SEC in total offense at 299 yards and 13th in scoring offense at 19 points per game. The only kind of offense Vanderbilt has been able to generate is through running back Ralph Webb, who is averaging 113.7 rushing yards per game.

The key for Georgia will be to slow Webb down and force Vanderbilt to move the ball through other means. And Vanderbilt hasn't been able to do that.

This game does set up well for Georgia's defense, which held South Carolina to only 30 rushing yards a week ago.

Rushing the passer

Georgia recorded five sacks against South Carolina, which was the first time all season it had a great statistical day in this department.

A lot of it had to do with the fact quarterback Perry Orth was looking to throw out of the pocket, which meant the outside linebackers could get after him instead of relying on the mush rush -- meaning that they have to play the rushing lanes while simultaneously getting after quarterbacks who pose dangerous threats with their legs.

This is the first time all season Georgia gets to play a predominantly pro-style offense with a quarterback who won't be able to get outside of the pocket and run for chunk yardage. Georgia's defenders are excited for this style of football and will look to get after quarterback Kyle Shurmur when he drops back to throw.

And if Webb is taken away early, with Georgia putting up some points, then perhaps Vanderbilt will be forced to throw. If that's the case, Lorenzo Carter and Davin Bellamy should flourish.

Clean coaching

Head coach Kirby Smart and his staff called a good game against South Carolina. But a lot of the focus afterward was what he called a "debacle" at the end of the first half, when the coaches allowed for the final five seconds to run off the clock instead of running a play.

This followed an offensive penalty, and it's fairly common knowledge that the clock always stops following an offensive penalty when the play doesn't go out of bounds.

With this being the final game before the bye week, it will be a good time for Smart and his group to call a clean game with no noticeable issues. He is in his first season ever as a head coach so he's very much like a freshman in this regard.

But with this being the seventh game of the year, it's time for Smart and the staff to start coaching clean games from start to finish.

This story was originally published October 15, 2016 at 10:18 AM with the headline "Five things to watch during Georgia's homecoming game against Vanderbilt."