PREVIEW: Georgia makes its 2019 home opener against Murray State

The Georgia Bulldogs opened with a win in Week 1 against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville. They cruised, winning 30-6 with D’Andre Swift putting up 149 yards, and Jake Fromm throwing for 156 yards and a touchdown. That put them ahead of the curve by opening with a conference game, and now they get their first out of conference game of the season in Athens.

Murray State isn’t going to give the Bulldogs much trouble, especially opening away from Athens in a conference game Week 1. This game against Murray State is the first of two out of conference home games before they host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Week 4.

In 2018, the Murray State Racers went 5-6 (5-3 in conference) in the Ohio Valley Conference in the FCS. They lost a few starters from 2018, most notably their starting quarterback, Drew Anderson, who threw for 2,864 yards and 20 touchdowns. They also lose running back D.J. Penick, who led the team in rushing yards, as well as Quincy Williams, brother of former Alabama Crimson Tide star Quinnen Williams, to the draft.

Murray State did win their Week 1 game against Pikeville, an NAIA (!) school out of Kentucky, by a score of 53-20.

It’s and FCS team that had a losing record in 2018 against the defending two time SEC East champs, who, oh yeah, went to a National Championship two years ago. It’s hard to imagine seeing any struggles from the Bulldogs on Saturday.

As they did last week, look for the Georgia coaching staff to not ask Jake Fromm to do a lot like last week. They won’t need him to against an FCS school, and he’ll probably be around the same 23 passes he threw last week, and maybe even less.

This week will be the running backs show. D’Andre Swift will likely run all over this defense, but might not get a ton of work later on in the game. Look for Brian Herrien and Zamir White to get a lot of action, particularly in the second half.