The Linebacker Who Forgot Where the Sideline Was

Evening Edition — filed after the afternoon news cycle.

GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Monday, September 28, 2026

Chris Cole picked up two Oklahoma fumbles, ran one back 85 yards, and on Monday the SEC named him its Defensive Player of the Week.

ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk

A linebacker is not built to carry the football. The good Lord gave him a thick neck and a bad attitude so he could stop other people from carrying it. So when a Georgia linebacker picks up a loose ball and runs 85 yards with it, the rest of us are entitled to stand up, spill something, and ask who told him he could do that. Nobody told Chris Cole. He did it anyway, and on Monday, Georgia Athletics announced that the Southeastern Conference had named him its Defensive Player of the Week.

Here is Cole's line against Oklahoma: eight tackles, a sack, and two fumble recoveries, one of which he took back 85 yards for a touchdown. The school says that was the fourth-longest fumble return in Georgia history. It also made the junior the first Bulldog with two fumble recoveries in one game since Roquan Smith did it in the 2017 SEC Championship Game. That's decent company. If you're going to get compared to somebody, you could do a great deal worse than Roquan.

Offenses get the headlines, and defenses end the arguments.

Now for why it mattered. Kirby Smart told reporters the score didn't matter, and DawgNation reported that Georgia outgained Oklahoma by the slimmest of margins, 308 yards to 296. A game that even does not usually end 41-13. What made the difference was four Sooner turnovers, and Georgia turned every one of them into points. Cole had his hands on two of the four. Take those away and Smart would have spent his press conference talking about a close game instead of a sloppy one.

The Red and Black reported that the defense got three more sacks against the Sooners, which makes 11 for the season. Most of the attention has gone to the offense, and fair enough, because 219 points in four games is the program's best start since 1910. But offenses get the headlines and defenses end the arguments. The one worry out of Saturday was All-American cornerback Ellis Robinson, who went down in the second half and walked off on his own. Smart said Robinson "looks good" and gave no more detail than that.

Smart wasn't in a celebrating mood. "We played really sloppy in the second half, and we can't keep doing that," he said, and he's right, and it won't keep Chris Cole awake. Vanderbilt comes to Athens on Saturday, and somewhere in the film room a coach is trying to explain to a linebacker that the end zone is not really his department. I hope Cole nods politely and ignores him. Sometimes the best thing a man can do is forget where he's supposed to stop.

The Notebook

• SATURDAY: No. 2 Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC) hosts Vanderbilt (3-1, 0-1 SEC) at 12:45 PM Eastern on SEC Network. Georgia is favored by 24.5, leads the series 61-20-2, and has won six straight.
• SEC SHAKEUP: No. 1 Texas held on at No. 14 Tennessee, 20-17, when Jelani McDonald knocked down a Hail Mary on the final play, and Colin Simmons tied the Texas record with five sacks. No. 21 Florida ran for 302 yards and beat No. 4 Ole Miss, 52-28.
• ELSEWHERE: Unranked Wisconsin came back from 17-0 down to beat No. 13 Penn State, 24-20, and Iowa beat Michigan 20-19 with a touchdown on the final play. Oregon won 41-27 at USC after Dante Moore was carried off on a stretcher, with Dylan Raiola throwing for 289 yards in relief.

Written in the tradition of Lewis Grizzard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1946–1994.

Hear the desk read tonights report on Radio Free Albany, WPFQ 96.7.