One week after the best outing of his career, Gunner Stockton ran into one of his toughest days in a Georgia uniform.
The Bulldogs’ quarterback turned it over three times in a 27-24 home loss to Auburn, a game that saw Georgia surge, stall, rally and then watch it slip away on Stockton’s final mistake. He finished 22 of 34 for 272 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, while also rushing nine times for 26 yards.
“I credit Auburn. They did a good job.
They came out and played hard,” Stockton said. “They had a good football team.
I just need to execute a little bit better and take care of the ball.”
His first snap hinted at the kind of afternoon that might follow. Stockton kept the ball on a read option and tried to muscle through traffic to his right, lowering his shoulder as three Tigers converged.
His head struck the turf on the play, and after taking a moment to regroup, he was sent to the sideline for evaluation by the officiating crew. He missed the next three plays before returning in time for Dwight Phillips Jr.’s 15-yard touchdown run.
Kirby Smart said Stockton had a stinger in his shoulder, and Georgia’s medical staff cleared him to come back. Smart didn’t believe the injury affected him, and Stockton said afterward that he didn’t feel any lingering effects.
When he returned, Stockton immediately looked sharp. He directed a seven-play, 89-yard drive that ended with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Lawson Luckie, giving Georgia an early boost. But the momentum didn’t last.
Georgia’s next two possessions went nowhere, stalling after four plays and three plays as Auburn clawed back to level the game at 14-14. Stockton helped revive things with a 31-yard completion to London Humphreys, only for Peyton Woodring’s 54-yard field goal to be blocked. The sequence was messy from the start, with Stockton - serving as the placekick holder - briefly heading to the sideline before hurrying back to get set with 5 seconds left on the play clock.
Auburn grabbed a 17-14 edge with a field goal on its next drive, and Stockton had one more chance before halftime. Instead, a deep throw intended for Humphreys was intercepted by Auburn safety Newboy Fegans.
His turnover issues were just getting started.
Georgia trailed 24-14 when it opened the second half, and Stockton helped the Bulldogs move the ball with 51 yards on seven plays and three first downs. Then came another costly error. Rolling right, Stockton fired high over tight end Ethan Barbour and into the arms of Auburn linebacker Elijah Melendez.
“We had a boot naked out there. The guy was open.
He missed him,” Smart said. “He said he missed him and overthrew it a little bit.
I think it was Ethan Barbour or somebody right there wide open. He needed to put it on his body and threw it over him a little bit and 9 [Melendez] caught it.”
Even after that, Stockton didn’t fold. Georgia’s offense settled in enough to mount a comeback, leaning on long possessions rather than explosive plays.
A 14-play drive carried into the fourth quarter and ended with Woodring’s 42-yard field goal to make it 24-17. After the defense forced back-to-back Auburn punts, Stockton led another march, this one 13 plays and 94 yards, with six first downs.
He capped it by finding Humphreys in the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown, and Woodring’s extra point tied it at 24-24 with 2:58 left.
Stockton then had a chance to be the finishing act. Georgia got the ball back at its own 39 with 1:12 remaining after another defensive stop, and a pass interference call two plays later moved the Bulldogs across midfield with one timeout left. They needed only about 10 more yards to get Woodring into range.
Instead, the game turned on a draw play.
Stockton sprinted upfield looking to get those last few yards, but he collided with center Drew Bobo and lost the ball. As he dove after it, Auburn edge rusher Jared Smith got to him, and safety Sylvester Smith-Reed recovered the fumble.
“It’s not a good feeling,” Stockton said of the fumble.
Alex McPherson’s field goal ended the game and sent Stockton to the sideline for good.
Even with the turnovers, Smart made clear Georgia would not have been in position to fight back without its quarterback.
“They did a good job and took a lot of our run game away and put a lot of pressure on him. I thought he did a good job keeping us in the game,” Smart said.
“Very unfortunate on the fumble. If there was anybody I’d pick to have the ball in their hands, it’d be him because he does a great job with his ball security.”
In the aftermath, Stockton kept the focus on the ball security issues that cost Georgia. His teammates, though, made it clear they weren’t turning on him.
Luckie said the message to Stockton was simple: the Bulldogs were with him, no matter what. He also said Stockton couldn’t afford to get gun shy after the loss.
“That dude is going to lead us out to war no matter what,” Luckie said of Stockton. “We love that kid, and he’s probably feeling it right now, but we love him. We’ve got to be there for him.”
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