Blankenship proves elite, plus seven more observations from Georgia’s win over Texas A&M

Another win, but not without some more late-game drama.

Once it seems like Georgia is close to icing away a victory, the opposition comes roaring back to give itself some life. Texas A&M, in its first trip to Sanford Stadium since 1980, made it a contested fourth-quarter after finally finding offensive traction. Aggies’ receiver Jhamon Ausbon hauled in a 19-yard touchdown pass.

On its home turf, however, Georgia (10-1, 7-1 SEC) prevailed over its SEC West foe, 19-13. Georgia finished off its win on the final drive after forcing an Aggie punt and forcing the visitors to exhaust all timeouts. Texas A&M falls to 7-4 with three of its losses coming to top-5 teams in the rankings. Georgia finishes up its regular season on Nov. 30 against in-state foe Georgia Tech.

“We always want the win, but it felt right to send the seniors out the right way,” linebacker Monty Rice said. “They needed to go out how they deserved.”

Here are eight observations from the season’s final game inside the Sanford Stadium confines.

1) What words are left to describe this defense? Suffocating? Elite? How about just impossible to do anything against. If Georgia is to reach its goal of the College Football Playoff, the defense will carry it there. The dominance began on the game’s first play after Aggies’ running back Isaiah Spiller was buried for a loss and forced a punt on the drive. Much of the same continued throughout regulation.

Georgia kept dynamic quarterback Kellen Mond in check, and forced Texas A&M into a one-dimensional offense. The Aggies finished with 274 yards. They finished with -1 rushing yards, the first time the Bulldogs have held an opponent to negative yards since 2011. Georgia forced punt after punt from Braden Mann, and had its fair share of impact plays to complement it. Safety Richard LeCounte forced a fumble, nose tackle Jordan Davis recorded a sack and a fourth-and-inches stop.

“Hats off to our coaches to put us in the position to do that,” Rice said.

2) One of Georgia’s issues in the heat of conference play has been putting opponents away. Ausbon’s catch took the Aggies off of life support and sucked the craze out of the crowd. Everyone suddenly sat on the edge of their seats.

Georgia was forced to punt (it did so six times) on the following drive after quarterback Jake Fromm went down with his second sack of the game. Suddenly, a tired Bulldog defense was tested with its passing game and Texas A&M had chances to take a would-be crushing lead on Georgia. The Bulldogs held on, however, as a result of ending the Aggies’ drive on a third-down pass breakup.

“You feel like you’re controlling the momentum, you feel like you should be ahead further, and you’re not,” Smart said. “You’ve got to take advantage of the plays you had earlier.”

3) Farewell, senior class. Twenty-three seniors walked onto the Sanford Stadium turf for the final time and place-kicker Rodrigo Blankenship received the loudest ovation. This class, the first four-year group under head coach Kirby Smart, walked out with a 42-11 record (fifth-most wins in school history) and an SEC title in 2017. Georgia’s seniors will finish their careers with one last legitimate shot at a National Championship as the Bulldogs have one regular-season game remaining before the SEC Championship.

“It was tough,” Smart said. “They’re all emotional but you can’t not be more attached by these kids you’ve been with longer. There were guys that I was only with one or two years. This group really hit home to me.”

4) No Lawrence Cager for the Bulldogs. Fromm’s go-to target re-aggravated a shoulder and rib injury in Georgia’s opening drive at Auburn, and has yet to return a week later. Cager has accrued 476 yards and four touchdowns — most of which have come in crucial moments — for the Bulldogs. In his absence, freshman receiver George Pickens led the Bulldogs in a shaky passing performance with 57 yards and a touchdown.

Smart said postgame that Cager “tried to” practice this week, and the conditions played a factor in him not seeing game action. Georgia continues to play the waiting game as the leading receiver goes through treatment and rehab.

5) Blankenship is nails. His last appearance in the place where his fame grew didn’t disappoint. Not only did he hear a roar during pregame warmups, but again each time his name was called over the PA system.

Blankenship took advantage of more offensive woes by Georgia, and allowed the Bulldogs to cash in on points in an old-school-style football game. He converted on field-goal attempts from 41, 49, 37 and 31 yards — two of which came in a downpour of rain. Blankenship is now the all-time leading scorer in school history with 418 points. He topped the record set by Blair Walsh (412), who was in attendance Saturday.

“I don’t know if I can put it into words,” Blankenship said. “I’m going to treasure this and it’s an amazing feeling.”

6) LeCounte is the Bulldogs turnover king. It seems like every week the junior safety wears the savage spikes. On Texas A&M’s opening drive of the second half, Aggies’ quarterback Kellen Mond completed a 5-yard pass to tight end Jalen Wydermeyer, who was then mobbed by Georgia defenders. LeCounte stripped Wydermeyer and then recovered the fumble without forward progress being called. LeCounte’s turnover marks his fifth forced fumble or interception to lead the team. It led to a 37-yard field goal from Blankenship.

7) Jake Fromm struggles in the rain again. Georgia’s signal caller went back-and-forth between a glove and no glove to navigate a passing game through the rain. Neither remedy worked too well for Fromm. After a 35-yard showing in a downpour against Kentucky, Fromm finished his first half with 72 yards and a touchdown on four completions.

Near the end of the second quarter, the sun began to shine upon Sanford Stadium and Fromm found a bit more traction. He found Tyler Simmons for 27 yards, Kearis Jackson for 22 then the deep pass to Pickens for a 41-yard gain. Fromm finished with 163 yards and a touchdown.

8) Georgia’s offense missed some chances. All of those Blankenship field goals are good and well, but it also means the Bulldogs’ offense has stalled yet again. Georgia’s offense collected 260 yards, and much of that limited production comes from missed opportunity. On Blankenship’s first field goal, punt returner Dominick Blaylock gave the Bulldogs favorable field position at the Aggies’ 47. Georgia ran four-consecutive run plays before a third-down incompletion to Brian Herrien on a wheel route. On a later drive that resulted in a punt, Fromm had Pickens open on a flea flicker, but his target was overthrown despite trying to dive for possession. The drive resulted in lost yardage after a botched snap for a 15-yard loss.

Each of the following field goals were told to a similar tune. Georgia’s defense held its own, but the offense couldn’t muster enough for a comfortable margin of victory. The Bulldogs have been held below 25 points for the fifth time this season.

This story was originally published November 23, 2019 at 6:56 PM.