The first time Georgia’s defense set foot on the field on Saturday, they were teetering on a ledge.
Missouri’s Simon Ian had intercepted a pass from Greyson Lambert on Georgia’s first play of the game and returned it out to Georgia’s one-yard line. They were just 23 seconds into the game, but Missouri was already threatening.
“It’s like being on the edge of a cliff, you know?” defensive end Sterling Bailey said. “Something’s gotta give and we went out there like, hey, they’re not about to push us off the edge. We’ll knock them back and that’s what we did.”
Missouri fumbled on the one and Bailey and Sanders pushed them back two yards. Jake Ganus and Davin Bellamy stopped Russell Hansbrough on a 2-yard run. Ganus teamed with Tim Kimbrough to stuff Hansbrough for a loss on the next to play to force the field goal.
In Georgia’s 9-6 win, it proved crucial.
“I’m sure Missouri’s offense was thinking, ‘man, we couldn’t get it in from the six-inch line then how are we going to get it in from the eight-yard line on the other side,’” said Ganus, who led Georgia with nine tackles. “I think that kind of set the mentality and the mood for the whole game.”
“The defense bowed their necks and did a beautiful job of forcing the kick,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “Our defense played lights out. Keeping them out of the end zone was huge.”
And Georgia continued to lean on them as its offense struggled to reach the end zone. Georgia held Missouri scoreless in the second half and allowed just 164 total yards on 48 offensive plays. One week after allowing Tennessee to rush for 207 yards, Georgia held Missouri to just 21.
“Like coach (Jeremy) Pruitt says every week, it’s really on us how many mistakes we make, how many stops we have,” Ganus said. “So for us to come out here and do what we did, we kind of answered and responded to what we saw on film last week. That’s not who we are. I think we did a good job.”
Georgia stopped Missouri 11 times on third down and forced seven punts. Georgia’s offense had similar difficulties and converted nine of 19 third down chances. Twice, they failed to score from the red zone.
“We feel great, we still believe,” Bailey said. “We still have confidence in them. We get the offense the ball, they’ll keep doing their thing. We just keep doing ours.”
And though Ganus sees plenty of spots for improvement — he wishes the defense had forced more turnovers, and put a little more pressure on Missouri quarterback Drew Lock — he’s not looking for anything more from Georgia’s offense.
“I love points from the defense. I’m never going to put it on the offense, no matter what,” Ganus said. “If we score three points, we can win the game 3-0. That’s how a defensive player should think.”