Georgia’s season opener was over almost immediately.
Seriously.
The starters didn’t even make it through the second quarter.
No. 3 Georgia absolutely destroyed Tennessee State 63-3 Saturday afternoon, scoring 28 points in the first quarter and building a 35-0 lead before most of its biggest stars were done for the afternoon.
And that’s exactly what Georgia needed to do.
Everyone knew Tennessee State wasn’t going to provide much of a challenge. But we’ve seen plenty of highly ranked teams play down to inferior competition before.
Georgia wasn’t interested in doing that.
Nate Frazier took his first carry of the season 48 yards for a touchdown on Georgia’s third offensive play.
Then he scored again.
Then Gunner Stockton threw a touchdown.
Then he threw another one.
By the end of the first quarter, it was 28-0.
Stockton came back out for one possession in the second quarter, marched Georgia 82 yards and threw his third touchdown of the afternoon.
Then his day was over.
He finished an absurd 15-of-16 for 202 yards and three touchdowns, leaving after Georgia’s first possession of the second quarter.
Frazier barely had to work either.
He finished with 72 yards and three touchdowns on FOUR carries.
That’s ridiculous.
Georgia eventually played four different quarterbacks, and the backups didn’t exactly slow things down. Ryan Puglisi threw a touchdown, Ryan Montgomery threw a 54-yard touchdown and freshman running back Jae Lamar eventually found the end zone as well.
By the end of the afternoon, Georgia had piled up 661 yards of offense while holding Tennessee State to just 119.
Obviously, nobody should crown Georgia national champions because it destroyed an FCS team.
That’s not the point.
The point is that Georgia looked like Georgia.
The Bulldogs were bigger, faster and deeper everywhere. Their starting quarterback completed nearly every pass he threw. Their starting running back averaged 18 yards per carry. And their defense didn’t allow Tennessee State to record a first down until the second quarter.
The 63 points and 60-point margin were both the largest Georgia has produced in a season opener during the Kirby Smart era.
There will be much bigger tests coming.
But Georgia couldn’t have made much more of a statement against the opponent standing in front of it.
The Bulldogs were so dominant that Kirby Smart essentially got to turn the season opener into a scrimmage before halftime.
