Georgia 63, Tennessee State 3

 

In its long and storied history, Georgia has had many great, hard-earned victories. This wasn't one of them.

The Tennessee State Tigers were overmatched and clearly out of their league. The Bulldogs scored 28 points in the first quarter alone, while the Tigers managed all of one field goal the entire game. Georgia didn't have to settle for a field goal the whole game, scoring TDs on nine of their eleven possessions. 

After opening their 2022 season against Oregon and 2024 season against Clemson, it felt good to ease into the season this year with a mismatch to let the team find it's groove.

The games was so easy the stats are almost meaningless, but Gunner Stockton passed for three TDs and 202 yards on 15 completions in 16 attempts. Nate Frazier rushed for three more TDs and finished the day with 72 yards. The game was so lopsided so early that coach Kirby Smart was able to bring in his backup QBs in the second quarter and Puglisi threw for 109 yards and one TD. Sophomore Ryan Montgomery, who passed all of one time last year, went 60 yards on two passes, including one for a TD. Freshman Hezekiah Millender passed once but it was a 17-yard bomb, and he also rushed for 22 yards on two carries. Freshman Jae Lamar rushed for 15 yards, including one rushing TD. 

I'm tempted to say Georgia won without breaking a sweat, but they did sweat. Everyone sweated. It was HOT today, 98° at kickoff. The Dawgs sweated, the Tigers sweated, the coaches sweated, the cheerleaders sweated, and even the fans sweated. It cooled off as a front passed through during the game, but it was pretty brutal in the first half.

Tennessee State already suffered one early season loss and are now 0-2, and their next three games are all of the road. You got to feel sorry for them.

The No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs start their season 1-0. The No. 2 Oregon Ducks struggled in their opener today against unranked Boise State, winning 24-27 on a fourth quarter TD. There's never any telling how the AP is going to vote, but they should drop Oregon down in the rankings for their poor performance and Georgia should be the new No. 2 next week. 

Other than that, there were no surprises or upsets in the scores this week (so far). Both No. 1 Ohio State and No. 5 Texas easily won their games, and the two teams play each other next week while Georgia has another easy game (on paper) against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. It's not impossible for the Georgia Bulldogs to be the new No. 1 team by this time next week.