No. 5 Georgia (4-1, 2-1 SEC) will host Mississippi State (1-4, 0-2) on Saturday for a 4:15 p.m. kickoff.
The Bulldogs of Starkville have struggled this season in head coach Jeff Lebby’s first season at the helm. However, they got a bye last Saturday to rest and prepare to face the Bulldogs of Athens.
Mississippi State’s only victory of the season came in Week 1 against Eastern Kentucky. The Maroon Bulldogs have lost to Arizona State, Toledo, Florida, and Texas leading up to Saturday’s game.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart doesn’t want his team to get complacent and overlook Mississippi State. The two-time winning national championship coach wants his players to “cut loose.”
“[It means to] play with no anxiety. Play with no fear of what might happen. Execute at a high level. You know, not be – don’t be entrapped by the weather,” Smart told reporters on Monday. “Play above all that. Cut it loose. And you earn the right to do that by what you do during the week. I thought we earned the right to do that in the game. And at times, we did. At times, we didn’t.”
Georgia has had trouble starting games slowly this season. The Bulldogs’ offense hasn’t been consistently scoring, and their defense has had problems stopping opponents in the first half of games.
Georgia outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss acknowledged knowing what it takes to “cut loose.”
“It means trusting in your preparation, trusting your teammates, and knowing that you can just go full speed without worrying about if you did his job or that I needed to do this or that,” Chambliss said. “It is all about the preparation and trust in your preparation or teammates.”
While this year’s squad is still looking for its identity this week, it is also preparing for Mississippi State.
The visiting Bulldogs have already dealt with adversity after losing starting quarterback Blake Shapen due to a season-ending shoulder injury. They’ve replaced him with freshman Michael Van Buren.
Van Buren started against Texas on Sept. 28 and struggled against the nation’s No. 1 team. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound freshman completed 14 of 23 passes for 144 yards and was sacked six times.
Smart is well aware of how talented Van Buren is, though.
“I’ll tell you, he got thrown into the fire quickly. I mean, in the middle of an SEC game, to have to go in and play and then turn around the next week and go to Texas. That was two really tough games,” Smart said of Van Buren. “He’s a tremendous athlete. I think they’ve allowed him to do some things that he’s really good at, and they’re mixing the other quarterback in with quarterback run. So, they both are capable runners, but they bring Chris (Parson) in and do more stuff with him.”
Lebby is known for his high-powered offense, especially since he was previously an offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and Ole Miss. He likes to spread the defense thin and attack the perimeter.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Jeff Lebby and his offense and what he’s done and where he’s been,” Smart added of Lebby. “The people he’s worked for in his career are really good offensive coaches. They’re hard to defend because they space you out, spread you out, tempo you, and count your numbers in the box. They’re almost always going to be right in terms of what they run.”
Georgia, which stayed at No. 5 in the AP Poll, is also trying to keep winning and to peak at the right time.
Chambliss has deep ties to Mississippi State because his parents went there and is ready to see what this year’s team is made of. He understands that the Bulldogs haven’t been playing their best.
“We’re only five games in right now, going on six, and I feel like the more we play, the more you connect as a defense and trust each other,” Chambliss said.