Bill Shanks: Georgia football quiets the noise, for now

ATHENS -- Saturday's win for Georgia over Kentucky didn't settle anything. It didn't answer many questions. The Bulldogs beat a team they were supposed to beat, which is something this program does very well.

Those same lingering questions likely will be dealt with after the season. But for this team, considering all that has happened this week, this win was good enough.

Head coach Mark Richt even used the term "medicine" to describe the 27-3 win over the Wildcats. This wasn't the surgery to fix all things, but the bandage will do for now.

With all the talk, or the "noise" as some players put it, the players quieted it down with a victory. The numerous reports on the dysfunction on the coaching staff were not the priority Saturday. It was all about getting off the proverbial schneid. It was all about scoring a touchdown. It was all about getting back in the win column.

Regardless of what side you come down on in the debate on what should happen to the Georgia coaches, you had to feel good for the players who have been caught in the middle of this messy week.

"It's been a little different," defensive lineman James DeLoach said about the tumultuous few days. "I feel like it was a must-win. We rallied around each other and believed in each other."

Said linebacker Jake Ganus, "It hasn't been that tough. I know, probably looking from the outside, it's probably looked a lot worse than it has on the inside. We're together. We're a family. We're a tight unit. When stuff like that happens, we just get even closer."

Ganus admitted it was a bit chaotic Thursday when the Internet was abuzz that defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt had cleaned out his office. Richt even had to quiet the talk with a message on Twitter. But whether Georgia's defense did it for their coordinator or not, the players showed up and played with a lot to prove against Kentucky.

The Wildcats had only 180 offensive yards. Quarterback Patrick Towles, who entered the game fourth in the SEC in passing yards, threw for only 101 yards against a Georgia defense that just did not bend.

"Overall, our defense is getting better," Ganus said. "I think we had a really good game plan, obviously. We executed and we tackled and we did the things we needed to be successful."

A win is a win, but this game will not be put in a time capsule to show people 100 years from now what football was like in 2015. The first half was ugly, as Georgia led 10-3. The weather was dreary. There were a lot of patches of empty seats (maybe 15-20,000) throughout the stadium. You had to pay close attention to who was playing quarterback for Georgia each time the Bulldogs took a snap.

But the defense was the story. It saved the day with a solid performance.

This is the type of game that drives Georgia fans crazy. The Bulldogs can play well against the teams that just aren't that good (like Kentucky), but when it comes to playing solid football against better opponents, this program falls short.

The Bulldogs were supposed to beat Kentucky. They should always beat Kentucky, and that's what Richt has proved he's good at doing -- making sure his teams beat the opponents the team is supposed to beat. It didn't matter who sat in the seat of musical quarterbacks. Even Las Vegas knew Georgia would win this game.

Regardless of what Richt says, these November games will not prove much. Georgia is playing four teams with a combined record of 17-16 entering the month. The season has already been defined with the three embarrassing losses in October.

But for the Georgia players, that didn't matter much Saturday. They just needed to swipe October away and get a win. The rest will take care of itself later. This was a temporary reprieve for a program that simply had a rough week, and the players deserve credit for not allowing the noise to get even louder.

Listen to "The Bill Shanks Show" from 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WPLA Fox Sports 1670 AM in Macon and online at www.foxsports1670.com. Follow Bill at www.twitter.com/BillShanks and email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.

This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Bill Shanks: Georgia football quiets the noise, for now ."