Georgia RB Todd Gurley's suspension didn't matter on Saturday against Missouri.
Or maybe it did. With Gurley, the Bulldogs could have beaten the Tigers by more than 40. It was that much of a beatdown. Thanks to Missouri's putrid offense that turned the ball over five times, Georgia absolutely controlled a pivotal SEC East showdown and won 34-0.
Without Gurley and the injured Keith Marshall, Georgia started freshman Nick Chubb, the kid with the crazy vertical leap. Chubb immediately became Georgia's workhorse and while Missouri did its best to contain him, Chubb kept getting the ball. And getting the ball. And getting the ball. He finished with 38 carries for 143 yards and a touchdown while adding four catches for 31 yards.
While Chubb had 42 total touches, Missouri ran 43 offensive plays.
All five of Missouri's turnovers are attributed to QB Maty Mauk, who fumbled once and threw four interceptions. But two of the interceptions should have been caught; RB Marcus Murphy and WR Jimmie Hunt simply dropped catchable passes into the laps of Georgia defenders.
The other two? Well, they were bad. Mauk, who had a hard time making his progressions through receivers the few times he had time in the pocket, was flustered all day. One interception was to a waiting safety playing a deep zone. The other was a 'what are you thinking?' type throw into traffic across his body as he rolled to the left.
Mauk finished 9-21 passing for 97 yards. It was the first time Missouri was shut out since 2002 and the Tigers didn't even make it into the red zone. The first two times Mizzou got into Georgia territory, it turned the ball over.
While Mauk had the worst game of his career, maligned senior QB Hutson Mason played an efficient game for Georgia. With Missouri's defenders so focused on stopping Chubb and Georgia's running game, Mason was 22-28 for 156 yards and a score. Yes, he didn't throw much downfield again, an increasingly worrisome pattern for Georgia fans. But on Saturday, he didn't need to. Missouri kept giving the ball back to the Bulldogs.
Entering the game, Missouri was the only team in the SEC East without a conference loss and had the Tigers beaten the Bulldogs, would have been the clear favorites for the division. Instead, now Georgia has the tiebreaker over the Tigers and controls its own destiny to get to the SEC Championship Game, with or without Gurley, the star running back.
If Gurley is suspended for an extended length of time, there's no denying that Georgia isn't nearly as fearsome a team. But the Dawgs were rightful to be so confident in Chubb; while he may not rip off eight yards a carry like Gurley, he's clearly capable of being a lead back. And in an SEC East that may be as wide open as the West minus the great teams, Georgia is in control with or without its star player.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
From Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo Sports - Georgia throttles Missouri 34-0 and becomes early SEC East frontrunner
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