Even after losing five defensive players in the first round, including No. 1 pick Travon Walker, Georgia’s defense was too quick and physical for the Ducks. After losing the most players ever drafted by one school in NFL draft history, Georgia looked set to remain in the hunt for a CFP berth for the third time in Smart’s seven seasons. But Smart knows his young team still has a long way to go to get back there, even after their lopsided win in the opener. “Expectations are definitely already in check,” Smart said. “You don’t have to worry about that.” Georgia’s offense, which played second fiddle to a record-setting defense last season, was much more explosive against the Ducks. Quarterback Stetson Bennett, a former player who led the Bulldogs to their first national title in 41 years, completed 25 of 31 passes for a career-high 368 yards with two touchdowns. 2 Related With 21 seconds left in the first half, Bennett got away from four Oregon defenders and somehow found Ladd McConkey, who was wide open in the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown that gave Georgia a 28-3 halftime lead . After starting last season as Georgia’s No. 3 quarterback and only stepping into the lineup after JT Daniels was injured, Bennett is the undisputed starter this year. “I don’t think Stetson is really affected by anything I do, you or anybody,” Smart said. “The Stetson lives in its own world and does a really good job of blocking out all the noise. The guy had a flip phone, okay, in 2021. He doesn’t really deal with all that. “I think that’s his strength, and he made some plays that he didn’t make the right decisions on today, and he knows it. He knows his mistakes. He’s got to be smart. He does things that maybe we don’t ask him to do. But he made some his footwork, and I think you get the good, and I won’t call it bad, but you get the good with his bad decisions.” Georgia scored touchdowns on each of its first seven possessions, converted its first nine third-down plays and went 6-for-6 in the red zone. The Bulldogs didn’t score until early in the fourth quarter when freshman Brett Thorson scampered 53 yards. The Ducks couldn’t muster anything against Georgia’s rebuilt defense. Oregon had 313 yards of offense, averaging 4.6 yards per play compared to the Bulldogs’ 9.2. Georgia had two interceptions and stopped the Ducks at the goal line at the 3-yard line with 1:22 to play. “We don’t want to get chased,” said safety Christopher Smith, who had one of Georgia’s two interceptions. “We want to hunt.” Oregon was playing its first game under new coach Dan Lanning, who was the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator in 2021. It was a disappointing debut for Lanning, who is a first-year coach. “He’s going to do a really good job at Oregon,” Smart said. “He’s relentless. They’re going to bounce back from it and he knows we’ve got better players. He’ll never say that, but he knows we’ve got better players.”
