Quarterback Hutson Mason leads the Dawgs against Arkansas.ATHENS, Ga. - As the Georgia Bulldogs head into their eighth game of the season this Saturday against Florida in Jacksonville, fifth-year senior quarterback Hutson Mason is still seeking his first 200-yard passing performance.
And nobody seems disturbed by that fact.
"You never know how you're going to win a certain game or how a year is going to go," Bulldogs offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said. "Sometimes you have a feel of what your identity may be like, but things change for different reasons. It's a bottom-line business, and you've got to find a way to win, and I think Hutson and the rest of this football team likes the position that we're in.
"Our goals are still intact, and that's the only thing that matters."
Georgia is 6-1 overall and in control of its East Division destiny in the Southeastern Conference with its 4-1 league mark. The Bulldogs lead the SEC in scoring offense with 43.4 points a game, but that is mostly due to a rushing attack that produces a stout 265.9 yards a game.
Mason's average of 146.0 passing yards per game doesn't crack the top 10 in the conference, though the 6-foot-3, 202-pounder does rank seventh in efficiency.
"It is kind of surprising I haven't thrown for more than 200 yards, but the reality is that we've been beating some teams pretty good in the second half to where we're just kind of running the ball," Mason said. "When you don't turn the ball over and you don't beat yourself with penalties, you don't have to be statistically No. 1 in every category. Our offensive line has played really well and has been physical up front, and we've kind of adapted to their play.
"We're not a finesse offense. We're not going to spread you out, throw bubble screens and try to be pretty. What we do is run the ball at you and run it down your throats, and a lot of teams can't handle that for four quarters."
Mason has completed 101 of 146 attempts (69.2 percent) for 1,022 yards with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions. He has completed 64 percent of his passes in every game but one, with his season-high of 191 yards occurring in the 38-35 loss at South Carolina.
In the two most recent games against Missouri and Arkansas, when the Bulldogs hit the road following the suspension of star tailback Todd Gurley, Mason combined to complete 32 of 45 passes (71.1 percent) for 335 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Those two games followed Georgia's 44-17 vanquishing of Vanderbilt, when Bobo scripted a series late in the first quarter for backup Brice Ramsey, but there has been no shared time since.
"I think Hutson is having a little more fun right now," senior center David Andrews said. "I think he hit a little point of stress and just kind of shrugged it off and kept going. He's having more fun and doing what we thought he could do in running this offense like a well-oiled machine."
Said Bobo: "I think that's good to realize that somebody is behind you and is going to be given an opportunity. You've got to step up and answer the bell, and I believe he's done that."
Mason entered this season having played before against Auburn, LSU and Georgia Tech, but he has never seen action against Florida. Having watched this game from the sideline, he is aware of the atmosphere and looking forward to the challenge.
The challenge of defeating Florida in his first starting opportunity, something David Greene, Matthew Stafford and Aaron Murray couldn't do.
"I think Hutson is doing well, and I think he's starting to feel it," Georgia head coach Mark Richt said. "I think he's in a really good place right now. He was in a good place coming into the year, but sometimes you have to live through being the man for a while. I think he's doing a very good job hitting a high percentage of his passes, and he hasn't really thrown many balls that were ill‑advised.
"He's doing a good job of getting us in the right running game and the right protections. There is a lot to what he has to do at the line of scrimmage, and he handles that well. I'm pretty pleased with what he's doing right now."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.