Georgia's Rushing Performance a Sign That Future Is Bright for Kirby Smart

Georgia quarterback Jacob Eason didn't have his best day on Sunday in the 28-14 win over South Carolina.

In fact, it was probably the worst game of the true freshman's career.

The former blue-chip pro-style prospect from Lake Stevens, Washington, completed just five of his 17 passes for 29 yards, one touchdown and one pick and never seemed to settle in to a rhythm against a defense that doesn't exactly strike fear in the hearts of opposing quarterbacks.  

As Peter Burns of ESPN noted on Twitter, it was a record-setting performance for the freshman for all of the wrong reasons:

There was good news, though. Really good news.

The Bulldogs were one-dimensional by necessity against the Gamecocks, and that dimension was lights out.

Running backs Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and Brian Herrien ran up and down the grass at Williams-Brice Stadium in the game that was pushed back a day by Hurricane Matthew. Chubb ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns, Michel led the team with 21 carries and 133 yards, and freshman Brian Herrien pitched in with 81 yards of his own

According to game notes the school emailed, it's the first time Georgia has had two running backs go top the century mark since Chubb rushed for 144 and Todd Gurley rushed for 138 against Auburn on Nov. 15, 2014.

That matters a lot.

Todd Bennett/Getty Images

It's very unlikely Chubb will return for his senior season, but Michel could stand to prove to scouts his half-season as the feature back last season when Chubb got hurt was no fluke and the 5'11", 222-pounder can handle the responsibilities associated with being the primary running back on an offense built off establishing the run.

Then, there's Herrien.

His nine-carry, 81-yard performance was littered with instances of the Manchester, Georgia, native showing his explosiveness, ability to stop and start on a dime and the kind of home run-hitting ability that can make the Bulldog offense dangerous—even when its young quarterback goes through some growing pains. 

Part of the running game's success on Saturday goes to the offensive line, too.

A sore spot for the first month of the season, the holes the offensive line opened up for the trio of running backs were as wide as the Grand Canyon at times. 

"We wanted to keep fighting," head coach Kirby Smart said, according to the school. "I wouldn't expect anything less out of this group. They work hard every day. We had two really physical practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. We're going to do the same thing this week. We've got to get better, and we've got a tough road ahead of us." 

Todd Bennett/Getty Images

This comes on the heels of a surprisingly solid performance in the first half against Tennessee last week that played a big part of the Bulldogs building a three-score lead on the Vols before letting it slip away.

With two losses and a young roster including a quarterback who's going to make plenty more mistakes as he learns the ropes, Georgia is not going to the SEC Championship Game this year.

But Eason's heroics in the comeback at Missouri and the sensational throw to fellow freshman Riley Ridley with 10 seconds to go to take the lead against the Vols showed what he is capable of, the offensive line is coming together and the running game is loaded with players who could be back and excel in different areas.

Couple that with a defensive line that has just one upperclassman on its three-deep, a linebacking corps that has just one senior on the depth chart and a defensive-minded coach who proved during a nine-year run with Nick Saban at Alabama that he's one of the best in the business.

A lot of those guys are developing into leaders, as Smart noted after the game, according to 11Alive Sports:

Georgia's win over South Carolina wasn't pretty.

In fact, it was a bit on the ugly side at times.

But the Bulldogs gently nudged some more pieces of that puzzle in place, which could set up a legitimate division-title run in 2018.

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information is courtesy of Scout.com. Odds provided by Odds Shark.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter@BarrettSallee.