While a decisive victory, Smart laments defense giving up late scores

The final score shouldn't confuse anyone. Georgia was finally able to cruise to a win and get some backups valuable game experience in the fourth quarter.

But to anyone checking a scoreboard ticker, it might seem like the Bulldogs had a tough time against Louisiana-Lafayette in Saturday's 35-21 victory. But that wasn't the case, considering the Bulldogs pulled their starters midway through the fourth quarter after holding a 35-7 lead.

What transpired after that didn't sit too well with head coach Kirby Smart.

The Ragin' Cajuns drove down the field without much resistance against Georgia's second team, which has received zero game experience this season. The Bulldogs hadn't held a lead greater than 17 all year, and they ended up losing that game against Tennessee. Therefore, second-stringers haven't had an opportunity for much playing time.

With how Georgia finished Saturday's game, Smart said it wasn't a great feeling stepping off of the field.

"I'm glad to have that one over with," Smart said. "I did not enjoy the way that one ended. It was frustrating, to finally get a chance to play some other players."

On defense, Tyrique McGhee, Rico McGraw, Juwan Taylor, Rashad Roundtree, Keyon Brown, Jarvis Wilson, Juwan Taylor and Mecole Hardman were among those getting a sequence of defensive snaps for the first time this year. And they didn't hold up too well against a Louisiana-Lafayette squad that marched down the field on consecutive drives.

First, the Ragin' Cajuns drove 87 yards for their first score against Georgia's backups. After a three-and-out from Georgia's second-team offense, Louisiana-Lafayette went 75 yards for another score.

The Ragin' Cajuns finished the game with 465 total yards, with 162 of those coming on their final two drives. More concerning is that both the first and second teams gave up a total of 276 rushing yards.

"We just didn't finish the way we wanted to," Smart said.

But it wasn't like the first-team defense shut down Louisiana-Lafayette. After the game, outside linebacker Davin Bellamy said the Ragin' Cajuns "out-physicaled us."

Even so, it's worth noting Georgia's first team held Louisiana-Monroe to 30.3 yards per drive while the second team surrendered an average of 81 yards on its two possessions.

But after stifling an Auburn offense last week to only 164 total yards, Georgia's defenders came out of Saturday's game thinking they could've done better.

"They ran a good bit on us. We didn't play too well on defense," inside linebacker Roquan Smith said. "Hats off to ULL. Even though we gave up a good bit of rushing yards as the ones, the twos got out there and gave up those 14 points. We only gave up seven. But it is what it is. You're only as good as your second man up. We have to bounce back and get better."

This story was originally published November 19, 2016 at 6:07 PM with the headline "While a decisive victory, Smart laments defense giving up late scores."