Slow-starting Georgia finally has bad habits exposed in blowout at Ole Miss

The Bulldogs were a fortunate 3-0 prior to getting crushed 45-14 on the road in Oxford

If we know anything about college football, it's that it's a week-to-week game. A team may look good one week and fail to show up the next.

But in the first three weeks of the season, Georgia kept it consistent -- and not in a good way. The Bulldogs went 3-0, but won by a total of 12 points. This team just as easily could have been 0-3 -- with one of those losses potentially coming in embarrassing fashion to Nicholls.

The slow start ultimately caught up to Georgia against Ole Miss Saturday in a 45-14 loss. Ole Miss never gave away its lead, which it's been prone to do this season, and Kirby Smart's team never stood a chance.

Quarterback Jacob Eason has a bright future ahead of him, but he looked like a first-year player on the road, completing just 44 percent of his passes at 3.8 yards per attempt. But it's not like had much help; Georgia wideouts were dropping balls left and right, and protection against Ole Miss' vaunted defensive front was spotty at best.

This Bulldogs offense needs big-bodied wide receivers who can make contested catches to help out their young quarterback. Smart may not have those types on campus yet.

Georgia's defense didn't help, either. Ole Miss' wideouts were the opposite of Georgia's, making individual play after individual play. The tell-tale sign that the Bulldogs were in deep trouble was that Ole Miss was able to run the ball with a variety of ball carriers for 180 yards at nearly 6 yards per carry -- and the Rebels aren't anywhere close to a great rushing team.

This could go on and on, but what these issues amount to is that Georgia was fortunate to be 3-0 heading into Week 4 and got throttled when it went up against an athletic opponent. The tests don't end here. The Bulldogs get Tennessee in Week 5 and Florida at the end of October.

The SEC East race is still anyone's game, and that's a good thing for Georgia, but there are major problems Smart needs to address. Among the most glaring is the lack of help Eason is getting from his receivers and offensive line. If Georgia can't run the ball with its stable of running backs and then hit passes off of that, it's going to be long season.