With a convincing 45-14 win over Vanderbilt, the Georgia Bulldogs are now a perfect 6-0 to start the 2017 season. The Bulldogs will try to make it 7-0 Saturday night when the Missouri Tigers visit Athens. Saturday’s game will serve as Georgia’s 2017 Homecoming game. It will mark the 53rd time Georgia’s Homecoming foe will be an SEC opponent. Since 1922, Georgia is 75-18-2 in Homecoming contests, and the Bulldogs have won nine of their last 10 in this spot. Georgia enters this weekend ranked No. 4 in the AP poll and No. 5 in the Coaches poll.
In the all-time series history with Missouri, Georgia leads 5-1. Before the Tigers joined the Southeastern Conference in 2012, they faced Georgia just once. The Bulldogs posted a 14-0 shutout over the Tigers in the 1960 Orange Bowl. Then, Georgia registered a 41-20 victory in Missouri’s SEC debut in Columbia in 2012 and the Tigers came to Athens and collected a 41-26 decision in 2013. In the 2014 matchup in Columbia, the Bulldogs blanked Missouri 34-0. In 2015, the teams combined for five field goals and no touchdowns as Georgia edged the Tigers 9-6. In the teams’ most recent meeting Georgia won a close one 28-27 in Columbia.
The University of Missouri is located in Columbia, MO, and has an enrollment of approximately 33,000 students. Missouri is coached by Barry Odom (5-12), who is in his second season as head coach at Missouri. Odom was previously the defensive coordinator at Missouri before taking over for Gary Pinkel after Pinkel’s retirement in 2015 due to health-related issues.
Odom returns 15 starters from last year’s team, including all 5 starters from last year’s offensive line. The Tigers’ offense is led by a pair of formidable running backs in sophomore Damarea Crockett and senior Ish Wiitter. Last year, Damarea Crockett set Missouri freshman rushing records for total rushing yards, rushing TDs and single game rushing yards. The Tigers’ quarterback is Drew Lock. Lock enters the game with a league-high total of 13 passing TDs and ranks second in the league for passing yards. The Missouri receiving corp is led by senior J’Mon Moore and sophomore Johnathon Johnson. J’Mon Moore had a career high 196 yards receiving last year versus Georgia. Missouri’s defense has struggled thus far as they currently rank last in the SEC in scoring defense giving up an average of 40 points per game.
Currently, Vegas has the Bulldogs as a 30.5 point favorite with a total of 56.5 for the game on Saturday night. Dawgwalk is scheduled for 5:15 PM on Saturday.
