Brock Bowers re-joins prolific offense, helps Georgia football blast Ole Miss
The SEC, the conference that proudly proclaims ‘It just means more,’ produced 14 different national champions at five different schools going back three decades until Georgia football busted through with back-to-back titles.
The No. 2 Bulldogs’ machine continues to churn out victories.
Their 52-17 win Saturday night over No. 9 Ole Miss was their 27th straight, the SEC’s longest since 1993 when Alabama had a 28-game streak and Kirby Smart was the region defensive player of the year as senior defensive back for Bainbridge High School.
The eighth-year Georgia coach won the first matchup against friend and former Alabama assistant Lane Kiffin.
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Georgia can tie the Alabama teams of 1991-93 and 1978-80 for longest SEC winning streak by beating Tennessee Saturday.
Here are three things we learned from this one:
Brock Bowers effect apparent in big Georgia football offensive night
Brock Bowers' return 26 days after TightRope surgery for a high-ankle sprain was welcomed by fans and teammates.
The star tight end may not have had his usual assortment of electric plays in the first half — he had two catches for 26 yards — but Georgia’s offense certainly did. And Bowers ended up finding the end zone on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Carson Beck in the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs scored touchdowns on their four first-half possessions and rolled up 304 yards in the first two quarters when it averaged 10.1 yards per play.
Beck completed 13 of his first 14 passes for 214 yards and a touchdown before a pass to Dominic Lovett caromed off the receiver and was picked off.
With offensive tackle Amarius Mims returning from his own ankle injury, Georgia controlled the line of scrimmage and got tough running back Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton.
Defense takes early punch, fight backs
Georgia played its first game without starting inside linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson since the 2021 season.
It started pretty rough with Ole Miss driving for a pair of touchdowns of 75 yards to tie the game at 14 early in the second quarter, getting a pair of Quinshon Judkins touchdown runs.
Ole Miss had 185 yards on 28 plays then — 6.6 yards a play.
The Rebels managed 5 yards on 7 plays the next two series — 0.7 per play.
Nazir Stackhouse had a sack and Tramel Walthour and Damon Wilson had tackles for no gain.
Then Javon Bullard made a leaping interception to kill another drive.
Freshman C.J. Allen started in place of Dumas-Johnson—out with a broken forearm.
Allen had four first-half tackles but was also in coverage on a 33-yard pass to Jordan Watkins, but he recorded his first college sack in the third quarter coming up the middle.
Another freshman linebacker, Raylen Wilson, was beaten on another 33-yard gain earlier on what may have been a busted play.
Senior Night to remember for Kendall Milton
Kendall Milton picked a good time to have his biggest rushing output in his Bulldog career.
The senior, in what likely was his last home game, led Georgia in rushing for the first time this season, rushing for 127 yards on 9 carries including touchdown runs of 7 and 33 yards. He exploded for a 51-yard run up the middle late in the third quarter.
He showed power on the first touchdown in the second quarter and speed on the second in the third.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football torches Ole Miss in Brock Bowers' return
