Georgia Football QB Gunner Stockton Shines Against Vanderbilt – Dawg Post

ATHENS, Ga. — The No. 2-ranked Georgia football team relied on a prolific passing attack to knock off Vanderbilt, 38-14, at Sanford Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Quarterback Gunner Stockton threw three touchdown passes and the Bulldogs gained 295 yards through the air in the Homecoming win.
With the Bulldog rushing attack held in check for much of the game, Stockton and the passing game picked the Commodores apart on numerous lengthy drives. Stockton completed 25 of 32 passes for a season-high 295 yards. He also ran the ball seven times for 22 yards. Georgia (5-0, 3-0 SEC), which got a 59-yard run from Bo Walker in the final minutes, finished with 176 rushing yards on 34 carries.
Defensively, Georgia held Vanderbilt (3-2, 0-2) to 293 yards of offense, including just 61 in the second half. Safety KJ Bolden and linebacker Raylen Wilson had seven tackles each to pace the defense. It was the Bulldogs’ seventh straight win over the Commodores.
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Georgia’s defense forced a Vandy punt on the game’s opening drive, and then the Bulldog offense drove 80 yards in 10 plays for a 7-0 lead. No Georgia running backs ran the ball on the drive, though Stockton had a pair of rushes — one on a scramble and the other a designed run — and back Dwight Phillips, Jr. had a 16-yard reception to the 14-yard line. Stockton completed all eight of his passes on the drive, including a 2-yard touchdown to Landon Roldan with 6:57 left in the first quarter.
Neither team got a first down on their next drive, and Georgia punter Drew Miller booted a 47-yarder that died at the Vandy 5. The Commodores gained 11 yards on first down to get some breathing room, and then quarterback Blaze Berlowitz hit wideout Junior Sherrill on third-and-9 at the 40 for a 60-yard touchdown up the left sideline, tying the game 7-7 with 12 seconds left in the quarter. It was the first time this season that the Bulldogs have been tied other than at 0-0, and they were the first points scored against Georgia in the opening quarter this season.
Georgia needed just three plays to regain the lead. On first down, Stockton hit tight end Elyiss Williams for 19 yards to the Bulldog 44. Stockton went deep on his next throw, hitting Roldan for a 55-yard completion to the Vandy 1. Running back Chauncey Bowens scored on the next play to make it 14-7.
With 7:33 left in the half, Georgia’s Jordan Hall blocked a 58-yard field goal attempt by Brock Taylor. It was the Bulldogs’ first blocked field goal since Dan Jackson blocked one against Auburn in 2024. Georgia’s offense took over at its 40, and it initially looked like Phillips scored on a 31-yard touchdown catch out of the backfield. After a review, he was ruled down at the 1; Georgia scored on the next play, on a 1-yard run to the right by tight end Jaden Reddell, making it 21-7 with 3:58 to go before halftime.
Vanderbilt put together a 10-play drive late in the half and cut the Bulldog lead to 21-14 with 33 seconds left, scoring on a 2-yard Sedrick Alexander run up the middle. At the break, the Commodores had 234 yards of offense, converting 5 of 9 third-down attempts, while Georgia had 215 yards, with 195 of those through the air.
Tight end Lawson Luckie made the most of some Bulldog luck on Georgia’s opening drive of the second half. On third-and-4 at the UGA 43, Luckie caught a deflected pass and ran free for a 43-yard gain to the Vandy 14. A few plays later, Stockton hit Williams for a 1-yard touchdown and a 28-14 lead with 8:21 left in the third.
Vanderbilt was driving into Georgia territory on the ensuing possession and had converted a fourth-and-1 at the 50. But when the Commodores went for it again, on fourth-and-2 at the UGA 40, a short pass that was initially ruled complete was determined to have hit the ground, giving the Bulldogs the ball at their 40 with 1:15 left in the third.
Georgia couldn’t take full advantage of the defensive stop. The Bulldogs drove to the Vandy 27 before eventually having to settle for a 39-yard Peyton Woodring field goal, pushing the lead to 31-14 with 12:27 to play. On the next play from scrimmage, Vandy threw deep, and Bulldog cornerback Ellis Robinson IV pulled in his first interception of the season, and fifth of his career, at the UGA 30.
The Bulldogs added to their lead with 6:02 to play. Stockton led the offense on a 12-play drive that chewed up more than six minutes and ended when the quarterback hit Phillips for a 12-yard touchdown up the right sideline, making it 38-14.
It was Phillips’ second touchdown of the season and first receiving. He finished with a game-high five receptions for 75 yards and five carries for 27.  Phillips was one of eight Bulldogs with at least two receptions.
The Bulldogs head to Tuscaloosa next week for a matchup against No. 7 Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Crimson Tide beat No. 16 Mississippi State, 56-23, in Starkville on Saturday.
The Red Zone (established 2003) is a locally-owned mom-and-pop Georgia Bulldogs fan store located in the heart of downtown Athens, Georgia.

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