The Understudy Had Been Rehearsing All Along

Evening Edition — filed after the afternoon news cycle.

GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Tuesday, September 29, 2026

With Nate Frazier's ribs a matter for the injury report, Dwight Phillips went 54 yards against Oklahoma and made Kirby Smart's August compliment look like plain honesty.

ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk

Every football program keeps a fella in the back of the room the rest of the country hasn't met yet. He carries the ball in practice, he runs down on kickoffs, and his mama knows his jersey number even if the program vendor doesn't. At Georgia, until Saturday, that fella was Dwight Phillips. Then Nate Frazier sat out with injured ribs, and in the fourth quarter against Oklahoma, Phillips ran 54 yards for a touchdown, ESPN reported. Kirby Smart said afterward that Phillips finished with 84 rushing yards. That's a fine afternoon's work for a man nobody bothered to introduce.

I'll admit I'm suspicious of August. August is when coaches say glowing things about everybody on the roster, the way a preacher at a funeral finds something kind to say about the deceased no matter how he lived. So when Smart called Phillips 'one of the most explosive players we have on our offense' back in the summer, I filed it with the long-range weather forecasts and the campaign promises. It turns out the man was simply telling the truth, and in coaching circles that's rare enough to deserve its own paragraph.

It turns out the man was simply telling the truth, and in coaching circles that's rare enough to deserve its own paragraph.

It matters because of the other fellow. Frazier dressed against the Sooners but didn't play. Asked about him Monday, Smart said, 'I will just defer to the injury report. That's why we have one.' Sports Illustrated's Dawgs Daily noted that Phillips and Chauncey Bowens ran for 110 of Georgia's 129 rushing yards. Georgia also goes to Tuscaloosa on October 10, kicking off at 7:30 Eastern on ABC. A second back who can go the distance isn't a luxury that week. It's insurance, and nobody ever regretted buying insurance.

First comes Vanderbilt, which gets to Athens at 3-1 after losing 21-15 at Auburn, the National Football Post reported. No Georgia game has been closer than 28 points this season, and the line for Saturday's 12:45 kickoff sits at 24 and a half. Commodores coach Clark Lea said the week is 'about playing the best possible version of Vanderbilt football.' That's an honest ambition. It also sounds like a fella promising his best casserole at a potluck where the other side is roasting a whole hog. Either way, expect Phillips to get his carries.

Meanwhile, down in Gainesville, somebody else remembered how to run the football. Florida beat fourth-ranked Ole Miss 52-28, ran for 302 yards and six touchdowns, and is 4-0 for the first time since 2019. When Ole Miss cut the lead to 17-14, London Montgomery returned a kickoff 74 yards, and the Gators then scored touchdowns on five straight second-half drives. It was Pete Golding's first regular-season loss as the Rebels' head coach. Georgia people will tell you it's only September. They'll also start watching the Gators again, which is a habit they'd hoped they'd kicked.

The Notebook

• HAWKEYES IN THE BIG HOUSE: Hank Brown hit Reece Vander Zee for a 16-yard touchdown on the last play to finish a 91-yard drive, and Iowa beat Michigan 20-19. It was Iowa's first win in Ann Arbor since 2010.
• THE TOP DOG WOBBLES: Top-ranked Texas got out of Knoxville with a 20-17 win over Tennessee. Colin Simmons tied the program record with five sacks, and Texas batted down a Hail Mary on the final play.
• DEACONS ON THE ROAD: Wake Forest won 30-27 at No. 16 Louisville as a 12-point underdog. That gives the Deacons back-to-back ranked road wins for the first time since 1946.

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.