KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — At the end of a back-and-forth game Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium, Georgia running back Josh McCray scored on a 1-yard run in overtime to lift No. 6 Georgia to a 44-41 win over No. 15 Tennessee.
The crowd of 101,915 saw both teams have the lead in the fourth quarter, and in overtime, after the Bulldog defense held the Volunteers to a field goal, Georgia was able to get into the end zone and beat UT for the ninth straight time.
The SEC opener for both teams featured nearly 1,000 yards of offense, with Georgia (3-0,1-0 SEC) gaining 502 and Tennessee 496. Bulldog quarterback Gunner Stockton finished 23 of 31 passing for 304 yards and two touchdowns, and the Georgia rushing attack piled up 198 yards on the ground. Nate Frazier, who had a 21-yard rush on the first play of overtime for Georgia, led the way with 14 carries for 73 yards.
Defensively, linebacker CJ had a team-high 11 tackles, with safety Kyron Jones adding 10. Defensive backs Joenel Aguero and KJ Bolden each had interceptions.
Tennessee (2-1, 0-1) took the opening kickoff and wasted no time driving down the field for the game’s first score. Quarterback Joey Aguilar was 5-for-5 passing for 62 yards on the drive, and capped it with a four-yard touchdown run, putting the Vols up 7-0 with 12:30 to go in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs answered with their own impressive drive, beginning with a 45-yard completion from Stockton to wide receiver Colbie Young. Stockton later hit Zachariah Branch for 10 yards, and capped the drive with a six-yard touchdown run. Stockton ran three times for 16 yards on the drive, tying the game 7-7 with 9:58 to go in the first.
The fast-paced offensive play continued on the Vols’ next drive, which ended after two plays on a 72-yard touchdown pass from Aguilar to Chris Brazzell II, making it 14-7 Tennessee 29 seconds after Georgia’s score. Tennessee later took a 21-7 lead on Aguilar’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Brazzell with 3:37 left in the first.
Georgia responded with a nine-play, 72-yard drive that included a Stockton pass to Branch for a first down on fourth-and-3 at the Bulldog 48. Three plays later, Stockton threw a screen pass left to Branch that the wideout turned into a 36-yard touchdown, cutting the UT lead to 21-14 with 14:52 to play in the half.
Both defenses forced punts on the next two possessions, and Georgia got the ball back at its 10 with 7:57 left in the half. The Bulldogs then drove all the way down to the Tennessee 2-yard line before having to settle for a Peyton Woodring 20-yard field goal, cutting the Vols’ lead to 21-17 with 1:42 to go in the half.
The Bulldogs stopped the Vols’ next drive on Aguero’s first career interception, at the Georgia 30. On the final play of the half, Tennessee intercepted a Ryan Puglisi Hail Mary pass near the goal line, and the teams headed to the locker room with the Vols up 21-17. At the break, Tennessee had a slight advantage in total offense, 259-255.
Georgia got the ball to start the second half and went on a 14-play drive to take a 24-21 lead, scoring on a 1-yard McCray touchdown with 7:19 to go in the third. Thirteen of the 14 plays on the drive were runs, including a 14-yarder by Stockton on third-and-4 at the Georgia 48. It was the first touchdown as a Bulldog for McCray, the Illinois transfer who had 15 career TDs with the Illini.
Late in the third, Georgia’s defense produced another interception, this time by Bolden, giving the offense the ball at the UT 37 with 3:48 left in the quarter. Woodring connected on a 48-yard field goal to make it 27-21 Bulldogs with 1:45 on the clock.
The Vols answered with their first big play since the opening quarter, a 56-yard touchdown pass from Aguilar to Brazzell, putting Tennessee back in front, 28-27, with 7 seconds left in the third.
Georgia opened its next drive with a 15-yard rush by Dwight Phillips Jr., and two plays later, Stockton hit wideout London Humphreys on the right side for 31 yards to the Tennessee 8. The Bulldogs weren’t able to get into the end zone, settling for a Woodring 24-yard field goal to regain the lead, 30-28, with 12:20 remaining in the game.
Tennessee responded with another touchdown drive, this one capped by a 32-yard pass from Aguilar to Braylon Staley for a 35-30 Volunteer lead with 11:01 to play. The Volunteers then sacked and stripped Stockton on third down of the ensuing drive, recovering the ball at the Georgia 34. Tennessee turned the turnover into 3 points on Gilbert’s 48-yard field goal, pushing its lead to 38-30 with 6:40 to play.
Georgia tied the game with 2:32 to go when, facing fourth-and-6, Stockton hit Humphreys for a 28-yard touchdown on the right side of the end zone. On the 2-point conversion attempt, Stockton found Branch on the left side, making it 38-38. Tennessee had enough time to drive down to the Georgia 25 and set Gilbert up for the game-winning score on the final play of the game, but he missed from 43 yards out, sending the game to overtime.
Tennessee got the ball first in overtime and had to settle for a 42-yard Gilbert field goal and a 41-38 lead. Frazier ran left for 21 yards down to the 4 on the Bulldogs’ first play of overtime, and McCray moved the ball to the 1 on the next. On second-and-goal at the 1, McCray was ruled short of the goal line, but the replay review showed that he extended the ball into the end zone for the game-winning score.
The Bulldogs are off next Saturday and return to action on Sept. 27, when they host No. 19 Alabama at Sanford Stadium.
POST-GAME NOTES
*Another Win In Overtime: The sixth-ranked Bulldogs (3-0,1-0 SEC) rallied past No. 15 Tennessee with a 44-41 win in overtime. Georgia improved to 11-7 in overtime games including 5-2 in true road games and 4-2 overall under Kirby Smart. This was Georgia’s first OT game since a 44-42 win in a school-record eight OTs against Ga. Tech last year in Athens.
Series Winnning Streak Goes To Nine: With today’s win, Georgia extended its school best winning streak against the Vols to nine straight dating to 2017. Also, the Bulldogs improved to 10-0 in SEC openers in the Kirby Smart era. Georgia leads the all-time series 30-23-2 dating to 1899. Today marked the fourth straight ranked meeting between the teams, all wins by the Bulldogs. It was the first OT game in the series since 2013 here, a 34-31 win by the Bulldogs.
*Summary Of The Offense: In overtime, Georgia trailed 41-38. Then, Nate Frazier rushed for 21 yards, Josh McCray took it three yards and then McCray plunged in from the one for the game-winning TD and a 44-41 victory. McCray (7-for-17 yards) had a pair of TDs today.
*Georgia tallied 502 yards (198-rushing, 304-passing) on 87 plays.
*Georgia trailed 38-30 with 6:40 left in the contest, Georgia eventually converted a 4th-and-6 witha 28-yard TD pass to London Humphreys with 2:38 left. Then, the game was tied on a successful two-point conversion on a pass to Zachariah Branch.It capped a nine play, 75-yard drive in 4:08. Georgia has three TDs on 4th Down conversions this year, and under Smart they are 5-for-5 in converstion this year.
*Down 21-17 to start the second half, Georgia got the ball first and marched 75 yards in 14 plays with three 3rd down conversions to take its first lead (24-21) with 7:19 left in the 3rd quarter as Josh McCray’s notched his first score as a Bulldog from one yard. The drive featured 13 rushes (68 yards) and one completion (7 yards). Georgia took a 27-21 lead with 1:45 left in the 3rd after a 48-yard field goal.
At halftime, Georgia tallied 17 points on 255 yards of offense (77-rushing, 178-passing) on 41 plays and trailed 21-17.
*Down 7-0 with 12:30 left in the first quarter, Georgia’s first possession answered the TD, going six plays in 75 yards in 2:32. The drive began with a 45-yard completion to Colbie Young and was capped by a six-yard run by Gunner Stockton.
*Down 21-7 in the 1st quarter Georgia compiled a 72-yard TD drive that ended with Zachariah Branch catching a 36-yard TD on 3rd-and-7 to cut it to 21-14 with 14:52 left in the half.
*In his first road start, redshirt junior QB Gunner Stockton earned a victory and was 23-for-31 for a career-high 304 yards and 2 TDs. In the first half, he was 12-for-17 for 178 yards and one TD.
Sophomore Nate Frazier had a team-high 73 yards on 14 carries. Junior Zachariah Branch had a team-high five catches for 69 yards and a TD while senior Colbie Young had four catches for 73 yards.
*Defensive Review: In the first Overtime, Georgia forced UT to a 42-yard field goal for just a 41-38 deficit.
*Georgia was down 35-30 with 8:21 left and the Bulldogs turned it over at the UGA 34. The turnover led to a 48-yard FG and a 38-30 game. With the game tied at 38 with 2:32 left, UT eventually missed a 43-yard field goal with seven seconds and the game went to OT.
*On UT’s second drive of the 2nd half, sophomore KJ Bolden collected his first interception of they year at the UT38 and second of his career. It led to a 48-yard field goal by Peyton Woodring and a 27-21 lead with 1:45 left in the third quarter.
*UT’s third drive gave the Vols a 28-27 lead as Chris Brazzel II snagged his third TD of the game, this one a 56-yard pass.
*With 12:17 left in the game, UT had a quick answer of a Georgia score, taking a 35-30 lead with a 75-yard TD drive in 1:16.
*The Vols finished the first half with 21 points, tallying 259 yards on 35 plays (30-rush, 229-passing). They scored all 21 points in the first quarter on their first three possession and were blanked in the second quarter on their final two possessions.
*UT scored on its second possession too, needing just two plays and 29 seconds, ending on a 72-yard TD pass to Chris Brazell II. It was the longest completion allowed by Georgia this season.
*UT went up 21-7 on its third possession, going 83 yards on 12 plays with 3:37 left in the first quarter. UT was stopped on its 4th drive. *UT allowed its first sack of the year when Joey Aguilar was called for intentional grounding, credit Chris Cole with the sack.
*Junior Joenel Aguero notched his first career interception with 1:02 left in the first half at the UGA 30. It led to no points after the final play of the half was a heave towards the end zone by Ryan Puglisi that was picked off Ty Redmond. It was the first INT for both teams.
*The leading tacklers were juniors CJ Allen (11),Raylen Wilson (10) and redshirt sophomore Kyron Jones (9) each with career-highs.
*Checking In On Special Teams: Junior PK Peyton Woodring tallied 12 points (3 PATs, three Field Goals covering 20, 24 and 48 yards) plus took care of the kickoffs. Woodring 4-for-4 on the year in field goals and 46-for-52 in his career.
*All-America punter Brett Thorson had three punts for a 47.7 average with one return for zero yards.
*Junior Zachariah Branch had one kickoff return for 28 yards and RFr. Sacovie White-Helton had one punt return for 12 yards.
*Captains, Coin Toss And For Starters: Georgia’s captains were CJ Allen, Christen Miller, Drew Bobo, and Oscar Delp.
*Georgia won the toss and elected to defer the ball until the second half. They won the toss in Overtime and choose defense too. There were no first-time starters on defense as the same 11 Bulldogs started for the second straight week. On offense, true freshman Dontrell Glover got his first career start at right guard. He is the third true freshman to start this season including second offensive lineman, joining Juan Gaston Jr. (RG) who started the opener. After missing last week’s game, Gaston returned to action Saturday.
*Up Next: No. 6 Georgia (3-0, 1-0 SEC) has an open date and will be back in action, Sept. 27 in Athens versus Alabama (2-1, 0-0 SEC) at 7:30 p.m. (ABC).
POST-GAME QUOTES
Opening Statement…
“A lot of respect for Tennessee and the atmosphere that was created here today. It was a great college football game. I’m really proud of our guys, we talked about coming in here to conquer this place, which is not easy to do, and when you do something like that, you have to make your own way. You have to absorb blows, and I didn’t have any idea how many blows we would have to absorb, but we did it, and we’ve got a resilient group. I think that is a really good football team that we just played. I don’t think we played our best football, especially defensively, I give them a lot of credit though. The made plays down the field. I’ve got a lot of respect for their quarterback. Just some guys to mention: Bo [Hughley], comes in off the bench and plays right tackle, unbelievable, Gunner [Stockton] took some shots today and stood in there and made some big-time throws. I thought the offensive staff did an incredible job, that is a really good defense we just played. Outside of probably two drives in the second half, where it felt like we had stalled out, they did unbelievable. They kept them off balance, off tempo, Mike [Bobo] and them put a great plan together, with a couple special runs that we had not run that really helped us. So, all in all, a great game, but I almost feel like I have to apologize, because I don’t think that we should have won that game. I thought they outplayed us in a lot of ways, but, that’s the way it goes. I mean, I’ve had one against them, about nine or ten years ago, that certainly went that way, so it comes and goes.”
On what Gunner Stockton showed with his play today…
Resiliency. He’s so tough, he takes shot after shot. I thought he did and good job with… his run game. It saved us on a couple of third downs in the red area, he made a couple of runs. That plus-one run game can be big for us if he can protect himself. I thought he grew up tonight. He grew up a lot. He stood in there, and that fourth down throw he made was really good. Protection was better, I still want him to trust the pocket and stay in there, but that’s who he is. I think we are going to evolve with him, where we can scramble and make some big-time plays, and he’ll keep his eyes downfield when he scrambles.”
On Stockton’s fourth down pass to London Humphreys…
“I don’t know what play they were in. We were just going to take a shot there, and we needed to score fast. We didn’t need to keep open time, and so I felt like they were defending the sticks and we were trying to get a touchdown. Sometimes you get an advantage when people play the sticks and you’re willing to take a shot… because it was no guarantee that we were going to get the two. I was in the headphones saying, ‘Hey, we need to score quickly because we may have to get the ball back.’ You can’t assume it’s a tie. The 2-point conversion was the play of the game because that actually gave us a chance.”
On the team’s youth, and their ability to perform despite their inexperience…
“They grew up. Look, the defense, for two weeks they’ve heard about how good they are, and they just got punched in the face. I think we played the run well, early, and then we started having to make adjustments to sacrifice some on the run to protect some guys. In the past, we’ve played them well, we didn’t give up big plays. Today we didn’t do that, and it’s not all on the corners. We didn’t have a guy in the middle of the field, there should be a guy in the middle of the field. They can’t throw that ball, the first one. We misjudged the ball. These are correctable things, is the good thing, and we really weren’t beat, we just misplayed it. That’s tough to swallow.”
On how close wins factor into a successful season…
“I would prefer [close games] to not be this early in the season, but it doesn’t get any easier from here. Look, our league, I don’t know what is going in college football today, but this league is tough. Every Saturday, games are going to be like that. I told our team, ‘I would not be shocked at all if it’s a fourth quarter game, and it comes down to one possession,’ which it did.”
On Josh McCray’s progress…
“It’s a big man. He was a difference maker. We thought our advantage was our conditioning level, we thought we were the better-conditioned team, and I really thought there, after that first drive to the second half, ‘alright, here we go. We’re ready to rock and roll, and try to…’ But, they bowed their neck. They were a playoff football team, they stopped the run some, and they forced us to do some different things. But, McCray was great today, he was really instrumental. I told them in overtime, ‘let’s get this guy going.’ Of course, Nate [Frazier] had the big run, and then he came in and finished it off. He’s a great complement to what we have.”
On winning five times in a row in Neyland…
“Well, I lost a lot of times in a row as a player, so, it sticks with me and I have a lot of memories, good and bad, of playing here, but, five in a row is a lot. I mean, dating back to [coaching at] Alabama, it’s probably more than that.”
On How this game affects Stockton’s confidence…
“I think it was immense… I still want to judge him by watching the tape. There are plays in there that can be made, that he’s got to settle down and have confidence. The best thing he’s got is his legs, but he has to trust his legs and use them to extend plays, not just run. These guys are fast in our league. He tries to run to the sideline, and he might only get two or three yards, whereas, if he runs north and south, and sticks it up in there, he’s going to find some honey holes in that pocket. I think right now he steps back, it’s hard to pass pro for a quarterback that goes back and does those things, but, he’s growing up and getting better. Now, there is a lot of information that Bobo put on him, ‘check this, do this…” They had a great plan put together, and a lot of it was check system for him. I felt like, with this crowd noise, he did a really good job with that. That first drive, like clockwork.”
On keeping the defense’s confidence up going into overtime…
“Oh, that defensive group in there, they’re not losing confidence. One player may have a little doubt, but that group in there, they think they can stop anybody anytime. That is a fun group to be around. They knew in overtime. They thought they were going to block that field goal. They believe in their confident group. We’ve got to play smarter, but that’s a hard game to prep for. We worked the hell out of those guys to get ready for that game, and probably overworked those guys. It came down to, we didn’t not execute, we just got beat over the top and didn’t make a play. It’s frustrating because I thought that we would play better defensively.”
On the protection getting better after Bo Hughley came in to play right tackle…
“I didn’t know they made the change. Stacy [Searels] told me on the headphones he thought that Bo was going to play better and he thought he would finish stronger than [Michael] Uini. Uini was getting a little bit sloppy and a little bit tired. I think we’re going to have to find a rhythm of playing guys and keep guys [fresh]. It was hot today. We were worried about conditioning level. We practiced hard this week and you’ve got to be careful you don’t leave it on the practice field. Some of those guys got tired. I was proud of Bo, though.”
On the catch from London Humphreys in the corner…
“I haven’t seen it. He caught it over his shoulder, kind of? I thought the catch he made on the wheel route on the sideline was even harder. Boy, he reached out and got it. But I felt like he faded back into that ball and caught it. I couldn’t tell from where I was if it was bobbled or not, but you’re talking about a huge play, wow.”
On what it says about London Humphreys that he was able to come through for the team…
“What a great kid. I mean, guys, I’ve never met a kid as nice as him. He is just the most polite, best kid. He had the fumble last week and he came over to me in the fourth quarter and was like, ‘Coach, why didn’t you, like, yell at me or cuss me out?’ And I was like, ‘London, you’re just too nice.’ I couldn’t do it. He plays so hard on special teams. He’s from this state [of Tennessee]. He was playing at Vandy. You ought to hear him in meetings. He is so intelligent and so hard-working that it could not have happened to a better guy.”
On Dontrell Glover’s start and performance…
“Yeah, I mean, geez. You’re talking about freshman coming in here and playing. I mean, incredible. I don’t know how he played. They were saying that one of the runs that we thought we should’ve scored on—we kept having to kick field goals in the red area—but one of them, they had run-through, they said was his. But he didn’t come midyear. Like, this guy shows up. And he played on a great high school program, well-coached, well-coached offensive line. And he walks in just starts playing and he’s natural, picking things up. I mean, where would we be without him? He has been a blessing for us. We’ve got to get Juan [Gaston Jr.] healthy, too.”
On what he saw from Joenel Aguero tonight…
“Well, some good and bad. He missed a couple tackles here. He had the man-to-man late in the game, it was third down – we stop them there we get the ball back. Joenel works really hard. That game is a little anxiety for him because he doesn’t like tempo, having to get lined up, thinking and changing the calls. He gets frustrated with that and we didn’t get to play against them last year, we moved Dan Jackson down there. And he played well today. I was really happy he got the pick.”
On what kind of message a win like this sends…
“Well, I think we know who we are. I don’t mean this directed at Tennessee, but I told our players, ‘There’s a lot of whistling by the graveyard.’ A lot of people don’t know what that saying means, but there was a lot of whistling by the graveyard. And that ain’t who we are. I’m not saying—I don’t think Tennessee is. They’re physical and they’re tough. But there was a lot of outside whistling by the graveyard. A little bit of acting like one thing, but we feel like our team is a certain identity and we’re not going to go down without a fight. We’re nowhere where we need to be. We’re a long way from being there, but boy, we’ve got some kids that aren’t afraid to fight.”
On what a win like this on the road can do for the team…
“It gives you confidence on the road, but look, guys, we’re going to be back at home against a really good team. We’re going to be on the road against really good teams. It can be good and bad. It’s how you take that medicine and I’m going to make sure they take it the right way and that we get better from it. We have to improve and that’s the goal. We want to be on an elevating trajectory, not flat.”
On what he learned about his team today…
“I mean, we talked about it, right? They never say die. We told them coming in it was going to be blow by blow. How many could we take? Could we sustain and could we keep throwing back? And we did, but we also cut it way too close. So, when we’ve got a chance to put somebody away, which I thought we did, we’ve got to do it.”
Redshirt Junior QB Gunner Stockton
On his passing game today taking a next step…
“Yeah, I don’t think it was a next step, but just during the week, all the work paid off. It was great to see it pay out.”
On if anything stood out in practice that shined during the game…
“I think the way we practice at Georgia is just crazy, and we get after it every day. It gets you prepared for Saturday.”
On where his confidence comes from…
“I think I get a lot of confidence from the guys in the locker room. They give me a lot, and just everything we are going through in the offseason. Just having a connection, just build off of that.”
Georgia Sophomore DB KJ Bolden
On what he learned about QB, Gunner Stockton…
“As y’all can see, he’s a dog. He’s got the whole team behind him. He never let any of the score phase him … We started off kind of slow, but it never phased him. He always came back ready with a plan, ready to attack. As you can see, Gunner is a dog for sure.”
On his interception and how Georgia’s defense confused Tennessee’s offense…
“They ran that play on one of my third-down stops. I don’t know if I got a deflection for it, but they ran that play again and I just knew the play was coming, so I jumped at it a little bit and the ball went right there to me. I got kind of lucky on that one.”
On what the win says about this Georgia team…
“We’re hungry. We’re determined. Last year, we lost in the Sugar Bowl, so this year we’re trying to go all the way. Every week, week-by-week, we just want to keep getting better.”
On the message on the sideline late in the game…
“Just be composed. It was nothing they were doing, it was something we were doing. We were just killing ourselves, so we told ourselves to stay composed. Coach Smart told us to stay composed, look at our keys, trust in each other and do our jobs. That got us back in the game.”