Things weren't pretty throughout the early part of Georgia's 41-20 win over the Missouri Tigers Saturday night. Aaron Murray struggled early on and the Bulldogs at one point fell behind 17-9. However, as Dawg Sports writer T Kyle King points out they never panicked, and the result ended up being a decisive win over a conference foe:
The Bulldogs finished the night with fewer first downs, fewer yards, and fewer plays, but with more points and more heart. A balanced Red and Black attack---Georgia attempted 35 passes and ran the ball 35 times---produced more yards per pass, more yards per rush, and fewer turnovers, albeit only slightly so. It just took a while for Mark Richt's preternatural calm to infect his team, as it has so many times since that day in Knoxville eleven years ago when his players, and we, began to believe again in the Bulldogs' ability to enter a hostile environment and emerge victorious.
In this case Richt's calm demeanor served him and his team well as it would have been very easy to panic early. With Aaron Murray struggling and little to no running room for the ground game it didn't look like the Bulldogs would ever be able to move the ball. Even when they did they couldn't count on something as simple as an extra point to be executed correctly.
Despite the early struggles, Georgia did get it together and the result is a 2-0 start and a feel good victory for the team.
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