How many times had it happened before? In 2005, the Georgia Bulldogs faced a hyped Boise State team in the season opener and demolished the Broncos 48-13. Two years later, they welcomed a "dangerous" Oklahoma St. Cowboys team to Athens and sent them home with a 35-14 loss.
It looked for a long time Saturday like the Dawgs might do it against Oklahoma State once again. On their first drive of the game, Georgia went 80 yards on ten plays for the opening TD. The 7-0 lead would last until late in the half; the Cowboys' first four drives went 19, 21, 19 and 14 yards.
So much for all that.On its fifth drive, Oklahoma State QB Zac Robinson hit passes of 19, 3 and 46 -- the last to until-then unheard-from WR Dez Bryant -- to tie the game. Georgia responded two plays later with a fumble inside its own 20, which Oklahoma State promptly turned into a 10-7 halftime lead.
From there, it was pretty much over. Georgia's second-quarter drives went "FG, punt, fumble, punt, interception."
New Georgia QB Joe Cox, who looked pretty good on the first drive, later threw some off-target or dangerous passes and was responsible for the second fumble. He was just 15-of-30 for 162 yards (5.4 yards per attempt), the TD pass and an INT. His receivers didn't help -- the interception was a deflection that should have been caught, one of several passes that the Dawgs wideout could have made a play on.
The Dawgs did a fine job containing the Cowboy's passing game; like Cox, Robinson only completed half his passes and averaged just 6.1 yard per attempt. But Oklahoma State picked up 172 yards (3.7 ypc) on the ground, and some special teams miscues also hurt Georgia.
Georgia didn't play an awful game Saturday, but it didn't play particularly well either. There were a lot of questions surrounding this team when they headed to Stillwater. It's not clear that any of them were answered.