Simply put, Georgia was manhandled in the trenches Saturday.

Georgia’s young offensive line was pushed wherever “Mt. Cody” and Alabama’s D-line wanted it to go. And the Bulldog defense had a better shot at a date with Sarah Jessica Parker than slowing down Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson and running back Glen Coffee.

“They were outstanding out front,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said of Alabama. “Very outstanding on the offensive line. They were as good as advertised. And their defensive front was pretty darn good too.”

That Alabama defensive front featured 365-pound nose tackle Terrence Cody matching up with, and largely dominating, Georgia’s freshman center Ben Jones, who was making his second career start. After Georgia’s newly-aligned O-line helped the Bulldogs rack up 461 yards of total offense a week ago against Arizona State, it was pushed around at will during the first half on Saturday.

“They’re just a big, strong, physical bunch of guys that’s going against a bunch of guys that are scrapping like mad but still not at the maturity level,” Richt said. “To think that you’re going to have a true freshman playing center for you and you’re going to whoop up on somebody is pretty wishful thinking.”

Offensive line coach Stacy Searels rarely speaks with the media, but sophomore guard Clint Boling echoed Richt’s thoughts.

“They brought some blitzes that we’ve seen, we’ve just got to be able to pick them up. They blitzed a lot more than any other team we’ve seen,” Boling said. “That’s just something that we’ve got to pick up, that falls on the O-line that we’ve got to get more movement. That really shouldn’t happen.”

“After seeing a first half like that it’s a big shock to everybody, it doesn’t matter what position you play,” he said.

The Tide was constantly in the Georgia backfield, holding tailback Knowshon Moreno to 22 first-half yards and making quarterback Matthew Stafford, who threw into double coverage several times, uncomfortable.

“They made plays. As a defense they ran out to the ball, they made plays, and they got turnovers,” said Moreno, who had his lowest rushing total (34 yards) since becoming a starter against Vanderbilt last year.

“As an offense you lose the game if you don’t move the ball and make plays. And that was it,” he said.

Stafford was unavailable for post-game interviews because, as Richt said, “his head was knocked around pretty good.” Perhaps the offensive line was exposed as more of a concern than thought after a solid showing against the Sun Devils?

“I don’t know if we got exposed. We know we’ve got a bunch of pups up front who are fighting like mad,” Richt said.

On the defensive line, Georgia continued to struggle getting pressure in the backfield, allowing Wilson to go 13-for-16 for 205 yards. After starting the game with seven straight completions, Wilson finished the first half 10-of-11 for 139 yards.

“I thought our interior defensive line played pretty good. And I’m not saying our D-ends didn’t, but we certainly didn’t get any pressure,” Richt said. “Their QB’s 13 out of 16 and you could see why if you watched the game. He’s just standing back there just about as long as he wanted to.”

With Jones, Boling, left tackle Vince Vance (junior JUCO transfer), left guard Chris Davis (redshirt sophomore), and right tackle Justin Anderson (redshirt freshman), Georgia’s offensive line is young no doubt.

“It doesn’t matter how young we are,” Boling said. “We shouldn’t have come out and played the way we did. Turnovers, penalties, that kind of stuff hurts. It doesn’t matter if we start five freshmen against them, we still should’ve been able to pick it up and do better.”