Post Game Notes

UGA Sports Communications

Quick Strike Tonight: Georgia posted a 41-13 win to run its record to 6-0 (4-0 SEC). It marks the 12th time in school history that Georgia has raced out to a 6-0 start, and it’s the first time the Dawgs have done it in back-to-back seasons. The 2017 team started out 9-0. Tonight, the Dawgs had touchdown drives of 0:15 (one play, 75 yards), 2:46 (eight plays, 86 yards), 1:04 (six plays, 75 yards), 3:15 (eight plays, 75 yards) and 1:30 (three plays, 56 yards). Vanderbilt ran 59 plays for 321 yards while Georgia had 65 plays for 560 yards. The Dawgs have scored at least 38 points in five of their six wins this year. Georgia’s defense came in allowing just 13.0 points a game.

Efficient Fromm: Sophomore QB Jake Fromm finished 17-for-23 for 276 yards and tied his career high with three touchdown passes to three different players in three quarters of play. Fromm completed passes to seven different Dawgs and had touchdowns to senior WR Terry Godwin (75-yarder), junior WR Riley Ridley (10-yarder) and sophomore TB D’Andre Swift (35-yarder). Swift had four catches for 49 yards. His score was the second receiving touchdown of his career and the first since a 5-yard reception at Vanderbilt in 2017. Ridley finished with a team-high five catches for 57 yards while Godwin had two catches for 95 yards. True freshman QB Justin Fields completed the game 3-for-6 for 53 yards and rushed for 18 yards on four carries. True freshman QB Matthew Downing saw action in the fourth quarter, going 1-for-2 for 12 yards

Trailing…Briefly: Vanderbilt kicked a 25-yard field goal at the 10:30 mark in the opening period to take a 3-0 lead on a five-play, 50-yard scoring drive. This marked the first time the Dawgs had trailed all year. Following a touchback on the ensuing kickoff, Fromm connected with Terry Godwin for a 75-yard touchdown on the first play of the drive, which marked the longest passing play of the 2018 season thus far. This was a career-long catch for Godwin and the longest for the Dawgs since Fromm connected with Mecole Hardman for an 80-yard score in the 2018 CFP National Championship versus Alabama. Georgia outscored Vanderbilt 17-0 in the third quarter and the Commodores final TD came with two seconds left in the contest.

Series History and Homecoming: With tonight’s 41-6 victory, Georgia now leads the all-time series with Vanderbilt 57-20-2 including 21-4 when it’s Homecoming. Overall, Georgia is 77-18-2 in Homecoming contests.

Red Zone Stop Turns Into Points: While the Commodores made the best out of their first trip to the Red Zone, Georgia’s defense held Vanderbilt scoreless on their second trip to the Red Zone. The Dawgs stalled a drive that started on Vanderbilt’s 5-yard line by stopping the Commodores on the Georgia 14-yard line during a 4th-and-1 situation. This was the Dawgs’ third Red Zone stop of the year. Following that stop, Georgia marched 86 yards down the field and capped the eight-play drive with a 24-yard touchdown run from junior TB Elijah Holyfield. Sophomore Richard LeCounte led the Dawgs with six tackles and a forced fumble, freshman ILB Channing Tindall had a career-high five stops. Senior ILB Natrez Patrick had four stops, including a tackle for loss.

Blankenship Sets PAT Record, Connects From Deep: Junior PK Rodrigo Blankenship connected on five extra points to make him 32-for-32 on the year and to give him 121 straight. This topped Blair Walsh’s school record of 119. Blankenship also had touchbacks on seven of eight kickoffs, giving him 44 on the year and 132 in his career. In the second half, Blankenship drilled a 53-yard field goal to put Georgia up 31-6. He is now 3-for-4 from 50+ in his career. This kick was the longest for Blankenship since he sent a career-long 55 yarder through the uprights versus Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl Game. He added a 28-yarder in the fourth quarter. He is 9-for-11 on field goals.

Group Effort In The Ground Game: Georgia gained 219 yards on the ground in 34 carries for a 6.4 average. Junior Elijah Holyfield led the group with 64 yards on six carries (10.7 avg.) with one TD while freshman James Cook had seven carries for 56 yards (8.0 avg.) while sophomore D’Andre Swift had seven for 50 yards (7.1 avg.).

Penalties: Georgia had 13 penalties for 115 yards while Vanderbilt was flagged nine times for 69 yards.

Injuries: Redshirt sophomore LG Solomon Kindley went down in the first quarter with a right knee injury. True freshman Trey Hill came in for Kindley. This is the third starting offensive lineman for the Dawgs that has gone down at some point this year (sophomore LT Andrew Thomas, redshirt sophomore RG Ben Cleveland. Thomas has returned to the lineup while Cleveland is still out.

Homecoming King & Queen: Senior Avalon Kandrac who is from Roswell and majoring in Biological Engineering was crowned the 2018 Homecoming queen. Senior Chip Chambers who is from Watkinsville and majoring in Biology and Economics was crowned this year’s Homecoming king.

Captains: Tonight’s captains were juniors Elijah Holyfield and David Marshall and sophomore Andrew Thomas.