Georgia didn’t need its ground game to carry the day Saturday at Sanford Stadium. Gunner Stockton took over the script, throwing three touchdown passes and steering the No. 2 Bulldogs past Vanderbilt, 38-14, in a Homecoming win that was built through the air.
Stockton finished 25 of 32 for a season-high 295 yards, and Georgia piled up 295 passing yards overall. He also added 22 yards on seven carries as the Bulldogs moved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the SEC. Bo Walker supplied the late knockout blow on the ground with a 59-yard run in the final minutes, helping Georgia finish with 176 rushing yards on 34 attempts.
The passing game was the engine all afternoon. With Vanderbilt making things difficult for the run game for long stretches, Stockton kept finding answers on long, methodical drives. Dwight Phillips, Jr. chipped in as a receiver early, and Stockton spread the ball around all day.
Georgia’s defense did enough to keep the Commodores in check, limiting Vanderbilt to 293 total yards and just 61 after halftime. Safety KJ Bolden and linebacker Raylen Wilson led the Bulldogs with seven tackles apiece, and Georgia extended its winning streak over Vanderbilt to seven straight.
The Bulldogs grabbed control early after forcing a punt on Vanderbilt’s first possession. Georgia then marched 80 yards in 10 plays for a 7-0 lead, with Stockton completing all eight of his passes on the drive. The scoring play came when he found Landon Roldan on a 2-yard touchdown pass with 6:57 left in the first quarter.
Vanderbilt answered late in the opening period. After Georgia punted to pin the Commodores at their 5, Blaze Berlowitz connected with Junior Sherrill on third-and-9 for a 60-yard touchdown down the left sideline.
That tied the game 7-7 with 12 seconds left in the quarter and marked the first time Georgia had been tied this season outside of 0-0. It also gave the Bulldogs their first points allowed in the opening quarter this year.
Georgia wasted no time regaining the lead. Stockton hit Elyiss Williams for 19 yards on the first play of the drive, then went deep to Roldan for 55 yards to the Vanderbilt 1. Chauncey Bowens punched it in on the next snap to make it 14-7.
The Bulldogs then got a lift from special teams. Jordan Hall blocked Brock Taylor’s 58-yard field goal attempt with 7:33 left in the half, Georgia’s first blocked field goal since Dan Jackson blocked one against Auburn in 2024.
The offense took over at its own 40 and appeared to score on a 31-yard touchdown catch by Phillips, but after review he was ruled down at the 1. Georgia scored on the next play anyway, with Jaden Reddell scoring on a 1-yard run to the right to push the lead to 21-7.
Vanderbilt closed the half with a drive of its own, going 10 plays before Sedrick Alexander scored from 2 yards out with 33 seconds left. At halftime, the Commodores had 234 yards and were 5 of 9 on third down, while Georgia had 215 yards, 195 of them through the air.
The second half opened with another break for Georgia. Lawson Luckie turned a deflected pass into a 43-yard gain on third-and-4 at the UGA 43, and Stockton finished that drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Williams for a 28-14 lead with 8:21 left in the third quarter.
Vanderbilt then moved into Georgia territory and converted a fourth-and-1 at midfield, but the Bulldogs held on fourth-and-2 at the UGA 40 when a short pass was ruled incomplete after review. Georgia couldn’t fully cash in right away and settled for a 39-yard Peyton Woodring field goal to go up 31-14 with 12:27 left.
On the very next snap, Ellis Robinson IV came down with his first interception of the season and the fifth of his career, picking off a deep throw at the UGA 30.
Georgia put the game away on a 12-play, clock-draining drive that ate more than six minutes and ended with Stockton finding Phillips for a 12-yard touchdown up the right sideline with 6:02 remaining. It was Phillips’ second touchdown of the season and first as a receiver. He finished with a game-high five catches for 75 yards and five carries for 27, and he was one of eight Bulldogs with at least two receptions.
Georgia now heads to Tuscaloosa next week for a matchup with No. 7 Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The Crimson Tide beat No. 16 Mississippi State, 56-23, in Starkville on Saturday.
In Other News...
Kirby Smart Seemed To Send A Message In Georgias Vanderbilt Win
Jared Curtis did not suit up in Vanderbilts recent meeting with Georgia after the quarterback, who had flipped his commitment from the Bulldogs to the Commodores last year, was injured. Georgia handled the game the way a team trying to stay in the thick of the national title race needed to, while Vanderbilt came away with its season outlook looking far less secure than the one in Athens.
Afterward, Curtis made his way toward Kirby Smart, setting up a moment that drew attention for what happened as much as what did not. Smarts body language suggested he was not eager to linger, and the interaction felt like the sort of understated sideline scene that can say plenty without anyone having to say much at all. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Left Vanderbilt With Two Concerns Alabama Will Test
Georgia left Nashville with a win and a cleaner record, but not a clean bill of health on the details that usually travel with them into bigger games. The Bulldogs beat Vanderbilt 38-14 to move to 5-0, and Carson Beck turned in another efficient day by completing 25 of 32 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns. Even so, the outing had the kind of uneven stretches Georgia cannot ignore when the schedule sharpens, especially with the ground game not finding much rhythm.
The defense also had its lapses, most notably on third downs, and Alabama is the sort of opponent that tends to expose those cracks quickly. Georgia did settle in after halftime and looked more like itself down the stretch, but next weekend brings a far sterner test of whether those second-half corrections can carry over. For a team that has mostly handled business through September, the trip to face Alabama now feels less like a checkpoint and more like a revealing exam. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Is Already Pressing Georgia On One Concern Before Alabama
Vanderbilt kept things interesting for a half before Georgia pulled away for a 38-14 win, scoring the final 17 points to close it out. Clark Lea had reasons to point to some progress on the Commodores side, especially in protection and the run game, while Kirby Smart came away talking about the kind of things he likes to see from his own team this time of year: conditioning, execution and the steadier finish that can matter when the schedule tightens.
Smarts focus now turns quickly to Alabama, and it sounds like he is already sharpening one concern before that matchup arrives. Even after a comfortable win, Georgia is still looking to clean up areas that can become costly against a better opponent, and Smart did not hide that there is more work to do before the next test. [Read more 🡒]