Damn Good Dawg!

Radio Free Albany · Moneyball / Sports Desk

This is my 53rd year watching Georgia football, through the good times and the bad. I don’t know that I remember a start that has left me feeling better about the whole operation.

So I’m going to call it early.

These are damn good Dawgs.

We’ve used that description for some distinguished four-legged company. Uga X—Que—finished his reign with a 91–18 record and back-to-back national championships. That is a mighty high standard for anybody wearing a Georgia collar. Uga history

But the top Dawg in this operation walks on two legs. His name is Kirby Smart.

To my eyes, nobody has a better handle on building a lasting program in this NIL-and-transfer-portal era. Recruiting matters. Keeping the right players matters. Developing them—and keeping everybody pointed toward the same goal—matters just as much.

The foundation Kirby began building in 2016 is paying dividends now. This doesn’t look like a program improvising its identity every time college football changes the rules. It looks like one that knows what it wants to be.

Saturday, a storied Oklahoma program came to Athens. Georgia sent it home with a 41–13 loss.

The Sooners brought a defensive reputation that our own Moneyball desk took seriously. Its pregame forecast was Georgia 27, Oklahoma 19. Sometimes the football team gets to correct the spreadsheet.

Oklahoma’s best chance to make this a game ended with Chris Cole collecting John Mateer’s fumble at Georgia’s 15 and taking it 85 yards the other way. Instead of a possible touchdown cutting into a 14–0 deficit, Oklahoma was staring at 21–0. That is the kind of potential 14-point swing that changes an afternoon. Georgia’s defensive recap

By halftime, it was 28–0.

That wasn’t proof Oklahoma had no defense. It was proof Georgia could beat a good defense without asking its offense to do everything. Takeaways, field position and timely execution are part of the game, too.

Give the big boys their credit

Georgia’s offensive line deserves a good piece of this conversation.

Against Oklahoma, the Bulldogs allowed just one sack. With Nate Frazier unavailable, they still put together an 11-play, 79-yard touchdown drive that consumed nearly seven minutes. Chauncey Bowens finished that march from two yards out and later scored from six. Official game notes · Final box score

Those are the positives: protection, a sustained scoring drive and room to finish near the goal line. The line gave Georgia ways to function against serious opposition even with its leading back missing.

And consider Drew Bobo. He played through a finger injury with his left hand in a protective club before Smart announced it would come off for Oklahoma. That kind of work can disappear into the background because the center isn’t the fellow holding the ball in the touchdown photograph. Bobo injury update

In this era, it isn’t enough to be talented. You have to be resilient.

The right man for the job

Then there’s Gunner Stockton.

Let everybody else argue about the next quarterback Georgia ought to chase. I think we have the right one.

He opened Saturday with nine straight completions. His final line—14 of 25 for 171 yards, a touchdown and an interception—wasn’t a flawless Heisman audition. It doesn’t need to be dressed up as one. Official box score

My argument is bigger than one stat line: his arm, his legs and his command of this team deserve more national attention. I’m interested in the quarterback who helps Georgia win, not the one who wins the offseason conversation.

Stockton is proving to be a damn good Dawg.

Where does this end? Health will have plenty to say about that. So will Florida, Alabama, Ole Miss and the rest of a schedule that won’t hand us anything.

The second-half offensive stalls against Oklahoma are reminders that there is work left. Being delighted with this team doesn’t require pretending it has no weaknesses.

But after 53 years, I know the difference between enjoying a September win and seeing something that might last.

This team has a chance to put its name alongside some special company in Georgia football history.

I’m calling it early.

They’re damn good Dawgs.

— The Godfather