Georgia's Offense Missing Big Names And Points in G-Day Game

The post-Matthew Stafford/Knowshon Moreno/Mohammed Massaquoi era unfolded before a national audience Saturday as Georgia held its annual G-Day spring game and the results were mixed, at best.

Stafford's replacement, fifth-year senior Joe Cox, wasn't stellar, but he wasn't bad, either. Cox was 9-for-16 day for 105 yards and no touchdowns as the Red team won 13-3 and while he didn't light up the scoreboard, he showed poise and a thorough grasp of the offense, which you'd expect from a guy who has been in Athens for five years. But missing was the "Good, God!" throws that we've come to expect from the Bulldogs with Stafford under center.

At running back, Caleb King, who entered the spring as the No. 1 running back (largely due to Richard Samuels, who would have had equally billing, was out with a wrist injury) had 22 carries on seven yards, while Carlton Thomas had the game's only TD, a 20-yarder with nine seconds remaining, to finish with 59 yards on eight carries.

The receiving corps still has last year's SEC freshman of the year A.J. Green and is dealing with the season-ending injury to Kris Dunham. But this group is obviously in the best shape of the UGA skill positions considering it won't take as much to compliment Green as it will to turn Cox into Stafford or King/Samuels/Thomas/Washaun Ealy/Dontavius Jackson into Moreno.

Of course, that's maybe the biggest revelation that isn't really a revelation to come out of G-Day: the guys who are stepping in for Stafford and Moreno, specifically, aren't Stafford and Moreno. And that may be a good thing.

Last season, the Dawgs were preseason No. 1, only to get pummeled by Alabama and Georgia Tech in Sanford Stadium and beat by 39 by rival Florida. All an embarrassment of first-round talent got Georgia was embarrassed. Now at least Mark Richt can lean on a unit instead of a couple of posterboys on offense, which coincidentally, which should sound awfully familiar in Athens.

Back in 2002, UGA won its first SEC title in 20 years with an offense that was ranked 49th nationally and a top-15 defense.

Saturday, the defense showed it has a little more bite than the unit that gave up 30 or more points five times in '08 and was eighth in the SEC in sacks. The Dawgs had 10 sacks in the spring game with end Justin Houston totaling four for 26 yards in losses. Led by seven returning starters, including all-conference picks Rennie Curran at linebacker and free safety Reshad Jones, little offense and a whole lot of defense could be the blueprint for Georgia again in '09.

But for a team trying to replace some of the biggest names to strap on its helmet in years, there won't be much national pressure, which certainly won't hurt.