The Georgia Bulldogs slowly but steadily handled Vanderbilt at home, winning 38-14 in Sanford Stadium.
Kirby Smart’s squad was only up 21-14 at halftime – the smallest lead at that point in the game so far this season. The Dawgs won the second half.
Many have called it a boring game. Some have called it a weird game. It was a Georgia game, and we still have to pick winners and losers.
The sophomore wide receiver was on the field early and often for the Bulldogs today. He caught his first collegiate touchdown pass in the first quarter to open up the scoring for Georgia. He ran in a touchdown a few weeks ago, which was his first Georgia score in general.
“I'm really proud of him, especially on special teams. He really made some plays there,” Smart said.
Later on, Gunner Stockton threw a beautiful deep pass down the middle of the field, and Roldan hauled it in for a 55-yard gain. That play put the Dawgs inside the five-yard-line, and Chauncey Bowens punched it in for a touchdown on the ensuing play.
He is one of the many weapons that Georgia wants to get involved on offense, and one of the few that they have used as both a runner and a pass-catcher. He is one of the fastest players the Dawgs have in a straight line.
“He’s doing great, he's a really smart, bright kid… he’s got speed,” Smart said.
We will see how big of a role he has moving forward. Georgia tends to spread the ball around.
With Georgia’s starting running back Nate Frazier limited, Dwight Phillips Jr. had an expanded role again. Last week, he ran for 84 yards on eight carries, including a 54-yard touchdown that served as the final dagger against Oklahoma. He topped his performance this week.
This time, he did most of his damage in the passing game. He caught five passes and turned them into 75 yards and a score. He nearly had two scores through the air but stepped out of bounds just before crossing the pylon in the first half.
“Dwight’s awesome. Dwight’s great. He’s a joy to be around. He capitalized on a lot of his moments when he had a chance. That is part of what being a good player is,” Smart said.
He is a breakout weapon for the Dawgs right now and should be a part of the offense regardless of Frazier’s status moving forward.
You can argue that Stockton had his best game at Georgia in terms of the types of throws he was making. He was accurate, patient and didn’t put the ball into harm’s way, while still pushing the ball down the field vertically.
“I thought Gunner (Stockton) did a great job with execution, played probably his best game,” Smart said after the game.
Smart thought so as well. The senior quarterback finished the game with 295 yards and three scores through the air on a 78% rate.
It wasn’t just the numbers but the types of throws he made. He had pinpoint accuracy on the two throws he made 50+ yards downfield. He whipped the ball around the defensive lineman on a screen pass to Phillips Jr. He put it where only Elyiss Williams could get it in the corner of the end zone. Even some of the incompletions were incredible and accurate throws.
Stockton played his worst game of the season against Oklahoma, completing just over 50% of his passes. This was a bounce-back game that could give him and the passing game some momentum heading into a showdown in Tuscaloosa.
The sophomore wide receiver was competing for a starting spot during spring practice. The big X receiver had a legitimate path for meaningful playing time this season. Starters Colbie Young and Noah Thomas, who were ahead of him during his true freshman season, left for the NFL.
There was some positive buzz for Wiley during the offseason. It looked like his primary competition was going to be Georgia Tech transfer Isiah Canion. That held true early in the season, as Canion has been one of the handful of players in Georgia’s wide receiver rotation. Wiley has not been.
Now, Canion has missed two straight games after exiting the Arkansas game in the first quarter. There is a clear opening for playing time on the outside, even though Georgia has a variety of weapons. Thomas Blackshear has taken most of the reps in the games that Canion would have.
This is going to be one of those games where Georgia is either going to go back and analyze the tape heavily, or they are going to throw some of it in the trash and move on. This was not Georgia football on the ground. The Dawgs only ran for 54 yards on 18 attempts through three quarters and finished the game with 176 yards on the ground thanks to an emphasis on improving that and a Bo Walker 59-yard run in the fourth quarter.
Georgia’s starting running back, Nate Frazier, played sparingly in the second half (he was a no-go in the first half), and even he couldn't get much going on the ground. Georgia tried to get a bunch of players involved in the run game, giving a couple handoffs to tight end Jaden Reddell and wide receiver London Humphreys.
The final stat doesn’t tell the story of how Georgia ran the ball. It did improve in the fourth quarter, but Walker’s 59-yard run came in the final two minutes when Georgia was trying to run the clock out. If you take that away, this was Georgia’s worst game on the ground.
Georgia’s secondary gave up a few big plays to Vanderbilt quarterback Blaze Berlowitz and star wide receiver Junior Sherrill. Sherrill finished the game with 107 yards and a score on seven catches. He was making plays all over the field.
Georgia has been susceptible to the opposition’s No. 1 target, but has shut down that player for the most part in the second half in all three of these conference games now.
The second half was way better, but it would have been a huge problem if the offense struggled. Alabama will be far more talented in the passing game. A much tougher test looms.
He has just been getting flamed on social media all day long for not playing in this game. Vanderbilt has been vague about his injury, and Georgia fans are attacking him for not being on the field – citing that he was too scared or “ducking the competition.”
He was listed as questionable all week and was eventually ruled out about an hour before the game kicked off. There wasn’t anything apparent that was wrong with him or bothering him.
Maybe he is hurt, maybe he is not. Vanderbilt chose to protect its assets either way. It would have been a difficult day for him if he dressed out.
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Ryan Kerley began his journalism career in the throws of COVID in 2020 – complicating the start of his career in the space. A year later Kerley reported from Athens to Miami to Indianapolis as the Bulldogs won the program's first national title since 1980. Kerley has covered SEC Championships, Peach Bowls, Orange Bowls, Sugar Bowls and College Football Playoff National Championship Games. In addition to his duties at Dawg Post, Kerley is an accomplished play-by-play voice for both football and basketball. Kerley graduated from the University of Georgia in 2024 with a degree in Journalism. Kerley is a native of Cleveland, Georgia.
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