Georgia makes a ‘statement’ in win over Mississippi State

Davin Bellamy remembers how his team performed the last time it played an opponent from the Magnolia State. 

The game was against Mississippi, with Georgia beginning flat in each phase of the game. The Rebels stormed out to a big lead and never looked back. The narrative of the SEC West being better than the SEC East was further trumpeted as a result.

Bellamy wanted to help change that story line. 

Bellamy and the Georgia defense, facing No. 17 Mississippi State in this year’s rotating SEC West game, came out in full force to erase last season’s memory. 

Georgia’s defense held Mississippi State to 280 total yards in a 31-3 win, sending an early message that this year’s squad will be a tough one to compete against within the conference.

“Last year, we put up a piss-poor performance against the SEC West,” Bellamy said, referring to last season’s Ole Miss game, which ended in a Rebels’ 45-14 win. “I think we really came out here and made a statement on how we’re a team to be reckoned with.”

It wasn’t only Bellamy and the defense who wanted to make a statement in this game.

The offense heard plenty about being a unit that could potentially struggle against Mississippi State, a team that destroyed LSU only one week earlier.

But the Georgia offense went on to rack up 404 yards of total offense and neutralized the Mississippi State defensive line up front.

“We wanted to be as physical as we could and make a statement that we’re here,” tight end Isaac Nauta said. “We’re going to run the ball down your throat, we’re going to make plays and we did that (Saturday). We still got a lot to clean up. I do as well. But it was a good win for us.”

Georgia rotated four running backs — Nick Chubb, D’Andre Swift, Sony Michel and Brian Herrien — to help total 203 rushing yards. Freshman quarterback Jake Fromm completed 9-of-12 passes for 201 yards and could have completed 11 throws since two of his incompletions were drops.

Receiver Terry Godwin said this was the kind of showing he knew his unit could put in.

“Everyone’s always talking ‘Georgia this and Georgia that,’” Godwin said. “We finally came out and showed y’all Georgia is back being the top dogs.”

Georgia has now recorded two wins over top-25 opponents in the weeks it played them. The first came in a 20-19 win at then-No. 24 Notre Dame, a game the defense also appeared magnificent in. 

But given the lopsided score against Mississippi State, this game could ignite Georgia into the national conversation as a potential College Football Playoff contender. 

“To us, we’ve known for a fact that we’ve been on that level,” Godwin said. “It was just time for us to put it out here on the field and let y’all see it, let the world see it.”

Head coach Kirby Smart seems aware of this narrative to the point where he even tried to downplay Saturday night’s win a bit during his post-game news conference.

It wasn’t that Georgia’s win over Mississippi State isn’t significant. It’s just the expectation of his program will now rise even further. 

Through four games, Georgia has proven to be a top-10 squad. How Georgia handles the added attention will be something Smart hopes to handle well. 

“You’ve got to do a good job of managing your team,” Smart said. “If you have a mature team they handle things like that well. It does concern me because I do worry about those guys reading it and believing it. But I was around a guy for 10 years (Alabama head coach Nick Saban) who did a good job of managing it.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2017 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Georgia makes a ‘statement’ in win over Mississippi State."