{"id":14592,"date":"2018-04-23T10:10:42","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T14:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosoncfb.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=14592"},"modified":"2018-04-23T08:44:03","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T12:44:03","slug":"what-we-learned-from-georgias-g-day-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2018\/04\/23\/what-we-learned-from-georgias-g-day-game\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Learned From Georgia\u2019s G-Day Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>What We Learned From Georgia\u2019s G-Day Game<\/h4>\n<p>Last season the<strong> Georgia Bulldogs<\/strong> came ever so close to winning their first National Championship since 1980. Because of that expectations are higher in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/coaches\/kirby-smart-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kirby Smart&#8217;s <\/a> third season than any time in recent memory. On Saturday the Red faced the Black in the annual G-Day Game or spring game as most schools call it. Let\u2019s take a look at What We Learned From Georgia\u2019s G-Day Game.<\/p>\n<h4>The Fans Came Out In Droves<\/h4>\n<p>82,164 people packed Sanford Stadium to watch the game, the second highest attendance from any college spring game behind <strong>Nebraska.<\/strong> That number is second highest ever for the Bulldogs only behind the 93,00 who showed in 2016, Smart\u2019s first season. In fact in Smart\u2019s three years in Athens, Georgia has averaged 80,000 fans for the game.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here\u2019s are the national spring game attendance numbers.<\/p>\n<p>These round numbers are suspicious.<\/p>\n<p>Nebraska \u2014 86,818<br \/>Georgia \u2014 82,184<br \/>Alabama \u2014 74,732<br \/>Penn State \u2014 71,000<br \/>Tennessee \u2014 65,098<br \/>Florida State \u2014 60,934<br \/>Clemson \u2014 55,000<br \/>Florida \u2014 53,015<br \/>Oklahoma \u2014 52,102<br \/>Texas A&amp;M \u2014 48,000<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; RJ Young (@RJ_Young) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RJ_Young\/status\/988164732074029061?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 22, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>However that number would have been higher if not for a 63 million dollar construction project closing off the entire west side.\u00a0When it is completed the Bulldogs will have new locker rooms and a recruiting lounge.<\/p>\n<h4>Justin Fields Is The Real Deal<\/h4>\n<p>In the contest won by the Black 21-13 the true freshman outplayed incumbent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jake-fromm-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jake Fromm<\/a> Leading the Black squad, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/n.rivals.com\/content\/prospects\/2018\/justin-fields-99343\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">number one rated <\/a>dual-threat quarterback in the country threw for 207 yards with one touchdown and interception.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;This is about as good as you can do it.&quot;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/justnfields?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@justnfields<\/a>&#39; first TD pass as a Georgia Bulldog. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xj7Hchs1bt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/xj7Hchs1bt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; SEC Network (@SECNetwork) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SECNetwork\/status\/987811643575996416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In addition Fields had several nice runs including a 22 yarder, many of which would have been even longer had this been a real game. Under the rules of the game Fields faced the second team defense.<\/p>\n<p>On the other side of the ball Fromm struggled against the first team defense. The sophomore threw for 200 yards but had two interceptions and a touchdown. One of those was a 32 yard pick six by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/deandre-baker-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deandre Baker <\/a> on a tipped ball. Fromm also had two near touchdowns.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/riley-ridley-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Riley Ridley <\/a>dropped what would have been a touchdown and overthrew <strong>Mecole Hardman<\/strong> on another.<\/p>\n<p>Following the game Smart said there was no quarterback controversy saying there is a big difference playing against the first and second team defense. In addition he compared it to 2017 where Fromm outplayed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jacob-eason-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jacob Eason. <\/a>Of course Eason later transferred to Washington.<\/p>\n<h4>The Running Game Was Mostly Non-Existent<\/h4>\n<p>In 2017 the Bulldogs averaged 258 yards a game on the ground. However\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lwosoncfb.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2018\/04\/22\/14582\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Chubb<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/sony-michel-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sony Michel<\/a> graduated and are waiting to see which NFL club drafts them this week. In addition the top returning back\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/dandre-swift-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">D&#8217;Andre Swift <\/a>missed the game due to a groin injury.<\/p>\n<p>Because of all those factors their was little to show in the running game. <strong>Prather Hudson<\/strong> led the Black squad with 9 carries for 40 yards and a touchdown. <strong>Brian Herrien<\/strong> led the Red team with 34 yards on five carries.<\/p>\n<p>For the game Georgia only mustered 158 rushing yards which for them is not that great. However with a healthy Swift who ran for over 600 yards as a freshman those numbers will go up drastically. Smart said they were never going to focus on the run during Saturday&#8217;s game.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to tell a whole lot from the spring game but one thing is evident, Georgia has two quarterbacks who can play. While it may not be a controversy it is clear Fields needs to see action come the fall. The Bulldogs are the overwhelming favorites to again win the SEC East and complete for the National Title.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for checking out What We Learned From Georgia\u2019s G-Day Game here at Last Word On College Football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What We Learned From Georgia\u2019s G-Day Game Last season the Georgia Bulldogs came ever so close to winning their first National Championship since 1980. Because of that expectations are higher in\u00a0Kirby Smart&#8217;s third season than any time in recent memory. On Saturday the Red faced the Black in the annual G-Day Game or spring game [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877,"featured_media":14616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[184,65,2451,3202,106,126],"class_list":["post-14592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sec","tag-cfb","tag-georgia-bulldogs","tag-jake-fromm","tag-justin-fields-dandre-swift","tag-kirby-smart","tag-ncaa"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/877"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}