He Never Did Run Out of Gas
Written by Jarvis Prime on September 20, 2026
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Sunday, September 20, 2026
Gunner Stockton's 62-yard sprint turned a tidy SEC opener into a career day on the ground.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
Gunner Stockton was hired to throw the football, and Saturday in Fayetteville he did that just fine — 10 of 13 for 147 yards and a touchdown in Georgia's 45-17 handling of Arkansas. But the number folks were repeating in church this morning was 97, which is how many yards the man ran with the thing tucked under his arm. A career high, most of it on one 62-yard sprint that had Razorback defenders reconsidering their angles and, one suspects, a few life choices.
Kirby Smart told reporters afterward, per Sports Illustrated, that his quarterback's legs are 'a weapon,' and of the 62-yarder he joked, 'I just knew he would run out of gas.' He never did, which is more than most of us can say past the mailbox. Understand, Stockton carried it only seven times. Ninety-seven yards on seven carries is not a quarterback scrambling for his life. That is a man taking what the defense left unattended, the way your uncle takes the last deviled egg — politely, but without hesitation.
Ninety-seven yards on seven carries is not a quarterback scrambling for his life — that is a man taking what the defense left unattended.
The rest was Georgia being Georgia. By the university's own postgame arithmetic, the Bulldogs have outscored their first three opponents 56 to nothing in the opening quarter and 105 to 12 by halftime, which means the other fellow is generally beaten before the popcorn's warm. Arkansas managed 17 rushing yards all afternoon, which wouldn't get you from the parking lot to your seat. Georgia sits 3-0, and Smart is now 11-0 in SEC openers, a streak that has outlasted several governors.
Meanwhile, over in Oxford, the game everybody's still arguing about. Lane Kiffin brought his new LSU Tigers back to the town he left, and his old quarterback, Trinidad Chambliss, sent him home unhappy, 32-24. LSU had erased a 24-7 halftime hole with 17 unanswered points, and then Chambliss ended the discussion himself with a 14-yard keeper and a two-point conversion. Revenge games make wonderful theater, right up until the revenge runs the other direction.
Georgia comes home now to host Oklahoma on September 26, and the Sooners will have watched that 62-yard film same as everybody else. A quarterback who can beat you with his arm is a problem. A quarterback who can also outrun your linebackers to the corner is a moral dilemma. Smart says he measures this team on execution, not the scoreboard. Fine. By either measure, the man under center is running rather well.
The Notebook
- FIRST TIME SINCE 1952: Kentucky went into College Station and beat No. 9 Texas A&M, 31-21, behind a 21-point third quarter in which the Wildcats outgained the Aggies 196 to 20. It was Kentucky's first win over A&M since 1952.
- TRAVELING LIGHT: DawgNation reported Georgia took just 74 players to Fayetteville under SEC road limits — only three outside linebackers made the trip, with Chase Linton and Amaris Williams sitting out injured.
- UP NEXT: Georgia returns to Athens to host Oklahoma on September 26.
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.
