Kirby was not impressed with the defense at the halftime interview, and I’m not completely going to disagree with him. There were several busts. Their TE Beers keeps being open for 8-12 yard plays. Mateer has had more time than he probably thinks he has. Kirby said we are not getting enough pressure, and they are giving us mistakes.
It’s true that Mateer has been loose with the ball. On the play that led to the 85-yard Chris Cole TD fumble return, Mateer just loses the ball. He sees a player breaking wide open in the end zone and he tries to double pump to get the ball there. Then he just loses the ball. Now Chris Cole was right in his face and had his long arms out and up, so Mateer, I believe, is trying to make a last-minute adjustment on the throw, but it did look pretty weak.
Georgia is leading 28-0 at the half, but has only outgained OK 150-140. That said, the Dawgs do have 3 turnovers on defense and 136 return yards with a touchdown. Talk about hidden yardage!
Gunner update - with another half down, Gunner has still thrown more TDs than incompletions, 10 to 9. Gunner was 10 of 12 for 103 yards and 1 TD in the half. Bowens now is responsible for 6 TDs on the season.
I think we can agree that featuring and keeping a hold on Tayln Taylor in favor of focusing on other portal WRs makes a lot of sense. He’s having his bust-out game with 3 catches for 69 yards and a TD, and memories of the dropped pass against Alabama last year are starting to just feel like the inevitable growing pains you go through to develop players.
The offense remains efficient and looks really sharp against an actual elite defense. The Dawgs are averaging 6.25 yards per play at the half, but had been averaging more than 7 yards per play when leading 21-0. The last drive only covering 11 yards for the touchdown added to the score but dropped the average.
Go Dawgs!