No. 16 Georgia readies for another week of QB musical chairs

There is plenty of room for improvement for Georgia, which escaped with a 26-24 win last week after a stirring come-from-behind victory over North Carolina in the opener.

Jacob Eason earned his first start as Georgia’s quarterback this past Saturday, and while many weren’t pleased with his performance, head coach Kirby Smart seemed at ease with his performance and placed a bit confidence in the freshman phenom. “But at the end of the day that comes from within”.

“We’ve gotta get through today’s practice and look at some things”, Smart said.

At his direction, Smart said the No. 16 Bulldogs are moving on to this week’s opponent, Missouri. The game will be telecast on the SEC Network. Missouri bounced back from an opening loss to West Virginia with a 61-point outburst in a blowout of Eastern Michigan.

The Tigers lead the SEC in passing offense thus far, averaging 379.5 passing yards per game, while quarterback Drew Lock is the conference’s leading passer. His backup, Marvin Zanders, connected on all three of his attempts for another 27 yards. The Bulldogs will need that mark to improve against Missouri and the rest of the SEC, as they don’t figure to get a ton out of their passing offense. “They do a great job – they always have”.

Regardless, it has Missouri head coach Barry Odom concerned as to how Georgia approaches the position. He said the Bulldogs are focusing on facing Missouri as conference play begins Saturday for both teams.

“I feel a sense of urgency to get the best guy on the field to give us an opportunity to win each game”, Smart said regarding his quarterback situation. “If that means getting one guy ready then that’s what it would be. They prepare the right way, taken ownership of playing the position and have the talent to go along with it”.

“We’ve had a couple days of practice, and the kids are fired up for their first SEC road game”, said Smart.

“You’ve got to have two quarterbacks ready for the most part anyway”, Smart said. “But within every game we’ve got a situation where another quarterback has to be ready. We just want to get the best guy out there that gives us the best opportunity to win based on that game plan”.

Chubb’s 55-yard touchdown run to seal the win over UNC certainly helps his average with Lambert, but Smart and his players aren’t putting too much into the notion that the on-field chemistry with Chubb and Lambert is better than with Chubb and Eason.

The big weapon offensively for the Bulldogs, of course, is junior tailback Nick Chubb.

Eason has passed for 335 yards in two games.

“He’s got a chance to be special”. “Then Greyson came in, and for a guy who came off the bench, did a great job of manufacturing a third down on a bad snap, made a great read, made a good throw and did what we asked him to do”. Four receivers? Chris Black, J’Mon Moore, Johnathon Johnson and Ray Wingo? have all reached the 100-yard receiving plateau in a game this season, helping Missouri rank 15th nationally in total offense per game (554.5 yards).