Top-ranked Georgia (9-0, 6-0 SEC) survived a late scare by No. 12 Missouri (7-2, 3-2) this past Saturday. The Bulldogs made plays when they needed to come out on top over the Tigers, 30-21.
With the win, Georgia controls its destiny and is likely headed back to the SEC Championship for the third-straight season. The Bulldogs won last year’s conference title with a victory over LSU.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was proud of his team’s resiliency when facing Missouri.
“I’m proud of our players. I think that we’ve built a group of men and a team that knows how to play with resiliency and composure. We talked all week about having discipline to execute in crunch times, and they did that,” Smart said. “They had discipline. I thought that our first three points came on them jumping offsides, and our kids were disciplined enough to stay onside and we stole a drive there. Give Missouri a lot of credit. I think Eli does a great job. Man, that team’s hard to play.”
In crunch time, Georgia made several huge plays, which helped lead the Bulldogs to victory.
The most notable was defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse’s interception with under nine minutes to go.
Missouri quarterback Brady Cook dropped back and intended a pass for one of his teammates, but the 6-foot-3, 320-pound Stackhouse was in the right place at the right time for his first career pick.
Stackhouse returned the ball down to the Tigers’ 5-yard line, but a penalty brought the play back to the Georgia 30. Either way, the play by Stackhouse helped preserve the Bulldogs’ lead at 27-21.
“All I could think about was trying to get to the end zone, it’s so unreal right now and hard to explain with words, but this is so exciting,” Stackhouse said. “Throughout my whole career, ever playing football, and playing since I was six years old, I’ve never had an interception. It was great.”
Smart agreed. “Huge. Biggest play of the game. It was slow motion. We told him after the game he had to get his piano off his back,” Smart said of Stackhouse’s pick. “He said he took off and he just knew he was going to score, and he didn’t realize how far he had to run. He was out of breath about halfway.”
Following the interception, Georgia extended its lead with a long field goal by kicker Peyton Woodring. The Bulldogs couldn’t get anything going offensively on that drive, although they looked to the talented freshman, who nailed the 48-yard field goal, which gave them a 30-21 lead.
Missouri got the ball back with under four minutes left. The Tigers then tried to put together another touchdown drive to get back into the game, but Cook tossed his second interception of the game.
Cook tried to force a pass downfield to wide receiver Mookie Cooper but was picked off by Javon Bullard. Bullard made a diving effort to come up with the interception and it sealed the game.
Once again, Georgia had shut down a team this season in the fourth quarter, and it led to a close win.
Smart was impressed with his team’s moxy and ability to make plays when it matters the most.
“They believe in our system. We have built a culture of competitive edge in the fourth quarter, and we believe that we’re the best-conditioned team that’s going to win games in the fourth quarter,” he said. “We’re going to align with each other. I got goosebumps going down my back when they went down and scored and Sedrick Van Pran was yelling at the defense to run off the field. ‘We got your back. We got your back. We’re going to be fine.’ Missouri put together a good drive, and kind of drove the ball right down our throats. … Sed was telling those guys to jog off the field and that we were going to be fine. There’s a lot of leadership out there, some positive leaders.”