The Georgia Bulldogs moved up one spot in the AP Poll to No. 2 after their dominant performance in Atlanta against Oregon last Saturday. Now they will play their first home game against the Samford Bulldogs.

Last time Georgia faced Samford was in 2017. Georgia rolled over Samford at home 42-14, where Nick Chubb ran for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Then freshman quarterback Jake Fromm threw for three touchdowns of his own.

This season, Samford started off with a 27-17 win last week at home against Kennesaw State. The connection between quarterback Michael Hiers and wide receiver Kendall Watson was a major key to their victory. Hiers completed 18 of his 24 attempts, and threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Watson caught two of his touchdowns and overall had nine receptions for 187 yards.

Georgia will have to look out for that combination, but their defense was able to hold Oregon quarterback Bo Nix to a low completion percentage and no touchdowns despite not registering a sack the entire game.

Now, they will face a smaller offensive line with Samford. Three of the five starters are listed below 300 pounds. This should allow Georgia to have more rushing lanes to get to Hiers and slow down Samford’s running game.

Georgia’s new-look defense made a statement to the rest of college football by holding Oregon to only 3 points, but they are still locked in on getting better week-to-week.

“It was a confidence booster because we have been putting in work all offseason and summer, so to see it come to fruition, it is a good feeling,” sophomore cornerback Kamari Lassiter said. “We can’t just sit on that. We need to keep getting better.”

“It is holding the standard and not playing to the level of the competition but playing to our standard and knowing how high we want to play,” sophomore outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss said.

On the offensive side of things, their execution was impeccable against Dan Lanning’s defense. They should be able to have more explosive plays and opportunities to score this week. Quarterback Stetson Bennett and offensive coordinator Todd Monken did a great job of distributing the ball to multiple playmakers, getting them out in space for them to make plays. That coupled with the receivers and tight ends’ abilities to block on the outside at an elite level should result in more touchdowns against Samford.

Georgia is favored by 52 points this Saturday, and even though that is a very large point spread, they can definitely cover. The Georgia Bulldogs have too much firepower on offense, and they have superior athleticism and size compared to Samford. Last week, A lot of second and third-string players got playing time after gaining a big lead against Oregon, and you can expect the same this week. The second-ranked Bulldogs will put on a show in their first home game of the 2022 season.

Final Score Prediction: Georgia 70 Samford 13