Georgia Football: Dawgs’ thunder and nature’s lightning prematurely end game vs. ULM

By Michael Collins | Sep 5, 2015

The Georgia football season got off to a running start, literally, as Nick Chubb and Keith Marshall combined for 193 yards and four touchdowns in a lightning-shortened game against Louisiana-Monroe.

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No. 9 Georgia did what Georgia does, they handed to ball to their flock of 5-star running backs and let their young defense take care of the rest. Even if a game that was ended with 9:54 remaining in the fourth quarter, Mark Richt’s Bulldogs rushed for 243 yards and four touchdowns on the way to a 51-14 win.

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But the lightning zipping from the clouds which caused a premature end to the game wasn’t the only ugly thing at Sanford Stadium in the 2015 Georgia opener. The Bulldogs have had questions at quarterback since the end of the 2014 season, and a game into 2015 it would seem nothing is settled.

The good news for Richt and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was that there were no interceptions thrown…against ULM. Will that hold up when Georgia begins some taking on some SEC opponents? From what was seen of Greyson Lambert and Brice Ramsey on Saturday I don’t know that anyone is feeling overly confident in this passing game.

Then again, the Georgia offensive playbook was hardly dug into deeply in this game.

The two UGA quarterbacks combined for 192 yards and three touchdowns against a defense that even Joe Cox could have picked apart given the time in the pocket that Lambert and Ramsey had. It was vintage dink-and-dunk passing, with just two pass plays going for over 30 yards in the entire game.

And thus we begin the “game manager” label for Georgia’s quarterbacks.

Looking to the defense, things started off strong and fast, but after a few unsuccessful series it seemed the Warhawks figured out how to control the ball on offense – the short pass game. Three-step drops, dump it quick, and hope for YAC. Warhawks wideout Rashon Ceaser looks to be a legitimate threat for this season.

That formula got ULM two touchdowns before the first lightning delay, and that would do it for the offensive production from the Warhawks.

Sep 5, 2015; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs mascot Que shown in his dog house during the game against the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks during the second half at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Georgia did see the return of two key offensive stars – running back Keith Marshall and wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell – both of whom have been battling injuries since UGA I was a pup it seems.

Once the game was to be delayed by lightning for a second time, both coaches agreed to call it a day and head home mostly intact.

You generally can’t tell a lot from the first game of a college football season, particularly when it’s a ranked Power-5 team playing a lesser team from one of the Group of Five conferences. Chalk this one up to being a good showing for Georgia with no injuries to report (thanks in part to mother nature) and some good video for Warhawks coach Todd Berry to use this week.

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