No. 2 Georgia football flying high, but there are areas to address & warning signs elsewhere

Before the No. 2 Georgia football team ran through machine-generated smoke and onto the field Saturday night, top-ranked Alabama was still 10 seconds away from avoiding a major upset.

By the time The Who’s “Baba O’Riley' blared in Sanford Stadium before the opening kickoff against South Carolina, the Crimson Tide had held on to a 31-29 win at Florida.

More than 70 miles away, No. 6 Clemson had just waited out a lightning delay, but it couldn’t blame the weather for its lackluster 14-8 win over Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets, you might remember, lost at home to Northern Illinois two weeks earlier.

“It’s weird to me, it’s a weird year,” Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said after cruising to a 40-13 home win in Sanford Stadium to improve to 3-0. “Not necessarily the Clemson score or Alabama because playing at Florida is a tough place to play. It’s just different, it’s a different feel to it because there are so many teams that I know are talented. And I’m not talking about those teams but they lose to somebody and it’s like, man, they have no business losing to them. Or upsets seem to be more prevalent.”

More:Five takeaways from No. 2 Georgia's football win over South Carolina

Yes, Georgia has won its last two games by combined scores of 99-17, but is the Bulldogs’ season-opening win over Clemson in Charlotte losing some of its luster?

When it’s all said and done this year, might three other regular season opponents in October — Florida in Jacksonville, Auburn on the Plains and Arkansas in Sanford Stadium — look more formidable or as formidable as Clemson?

The Razorbacks are unbeaten and ranked after beating Texas last week. The Tigers went to Happy Valley and lost 28-20 to No. 10 Penn State Saturday.

On the other hand, might Georgia with perhaps the nation’s top defense and an increasingly explosive passing offense now again with JT Daniels slinging touchdowns be favored against Alabama in an SEC championship game in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium?

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Georgia’s game against the Gamecocks was well in hand before the light show between the third and fourth quarters Saturday. Georgia didn’t quite cover the 31 ½ point spread, but a team with better talent could make the Bulldogs sweat out a win more than South Carolina.

“We’ve got to get better,” Smart said afterwards.

He’s not talking about just to win the SEC East, but to win the SEC and make the playoff and go where Alabama and LSU have gone the last two years — to lifting the national championship trophy.

He said he told the team: “You played well tonight, but let’s be honest. We’re on this trajectory and we’re trying to climb this thing and, on this flight, we’re trying to take off, we’re wheels up and we’re getting there, but we’re not at the highest altitude yet.”

Some things that could cause a descent for the Bulldogs:

Georgia entered Saturday 11th in the SEC in yards per carry at 4.12. The Bulldogs increased that against the Gamecocks to 5.9 but still finished with 307 yards passing to 184 rushing against a team the Bulldogs piled up 332 rushing yards last season.

“We’re just better right now timing, throwing the ball, spacing in routes,” Smart said. “I actually thought we ran the ball better tonight. It didn’t seem to be a struggle to run it as much as it did against UAB. I thought our backs made some people miss.”

Kendall Milton rushed for 66 yards on 10 carries, Zamir White had 51 on eight with a 5-yard touchdown and James Cook rushed for 51 on four with a 23-yard touchdown up the middle

“I’m not down on the run game tonight,” Smart said. “I thought we improved there.”

But he said his offensive line is better at pass protection. Still, “If we’re going to be an elite team you’ve got to be able tbe pretty good at both. There are a few teams, LSU they never had to run it two years ago. They threw it a lot.”

LSU ranked 60th in the nation at 166.8 rushing yards per game. Georgia is averaging 156.6 yards per game through three games, but its 272.2 passing yards per game is well off the 401.6 of Joe Burrow and that Tigers offense.

Georgia gave up four pass plays of 31 or more yards against South Carolina.

Cornerback Ameer Speed was beaten by Josh Vann for a 61-yard gain and a 36-yard touchdown. Vann won a jump ball with Derion Kendrick for 31 yards. Kamari Lassiter also was in coverage on one big completion. Lewis Cine gave up a 43-yard completion to Vann (3 catches for 128 yards) but it was ruled incomplete.

“If you want to be a good defense, you better be able to play man-to-man,” Smart said. “It’s one of the No. 1 qualities. We had some shots tonight that guys got on top of us. We have to improve and grow and develop some younger players.”

Too many turnovers on offense

Daniels and Stetson Bennett each threw an interception and Milton lost a fumble.

“We will not be a successful team if we turn the ball over three times,” Smart said. “I don’t care if we get three. We can’t throw two interceptions and fumble one and beat good football teams.”

Cine, the junior safety, summed it up this way: “We made a whole lot of mistakes. Yes, we weren't exposed by the mistakes we made. But we're not as good as you might think we are. We have a lot of things to fix. I'm pretty sure down the line if we don't fix it then teams are going to expose us.”

It probably won’t be this Saturday at Vanderbilt, where the Commodores have lost eight straight but Smart will keep pushing his team to avoid living dangerously like other name programs have this season.

“We’re not immune to that,” Smart said.