UGA Football Gets Banged Up, but Gets Wins in Nashville over Vanderbilt
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NASHVILLE - No. 1 UGA Football team got three field goals from kicker Peyton Woodring, ran for 281 yards, and remained undefeated with a 37-20 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon at FirstBank Stadium.
Georgia (7-0, 4-0) extended its school-record winning streak to 24 games, and the victory was the Bulldogs 23rd straight SEC regular-season win. Georgia is off next Saturday before facing Florida in Jacksonville on Oct. 28.
The Bulldogs out-gained the Commodores 542-219, with quarterback Carson Beck completing 29 of 39 passes for 261 yards and touchdown. Running back Daijun Edwards ran for a career-high 146 yards on 20 carries and helped seal the win with a 1-yard score with 3:13 remaining in the game.
Vanderbilt (2-6, 0-4) struck first, completing all four of its passes on the game’s opening drive, including a 49-yarder from quarterback Ken Seals to wide receiver London Humphreys for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 12:07 left in the quarter.
The points were the first Vanderbilt has scored against Georgia since 2019, when the Bulldogs won 30-6. The teams didn’t play in 2020 due to the pandemic, and Georgia won the 2021 and ’22 games by a combined score of 117-0.
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The Commodores defense forced a Beck fumble on Georgia’s first drive of the game, taking possession at the Bulldog 32-yard line. The Bulldog defense got three stops and then Vanderbilt kicker Jacob Borcila missed a 47-yard field goal attempt.
Georgia escaped trouble on its next drive when center Sedrick Van Pran picked up a botched handoff on third-and-1 and ran for 6 yards and a first down. Edwards ran for 20 yards on the next play, Milton ran for 28 yards down to the 1 later in the drive, and Beck scored on a 1-yard plunge to make it 7-7 with 5:42 left in the opening quarter.
Georgia’s defense forced a Vandy punt on the ensuing drive, and the Bulldog offense went 77 yards for a touchdown and the lead. Beck connected with wideout Ladd McConkey on completions of 31 and 13 yards to move the ball into Vandy territory, and Milton later finished off the drive with a 3-yard run to make it 14-7 with 13:42 to play in the second quarter.
The Bulldogs added to their lead late in the second quarter with Woodring’s 31-yard field, making it 17-7 with 3:49 left in the half. Bowers suffered an ankle injury on the drive and did not return.
Georgia defensive back Tykee Smith ended the Commodores’ ensuing drive with an interception, his fourth of the season, at the Georgia 45 with 37 seconds left.
Going on the attack, Beck hit tight end Oscar Delp for 20 yards to the Vandy 37. On the next play, Beck went deep to wideout Dominic Lovett for 30 yards, down to the 5, with 19 seconds left. Two plays later, Beck and Lovett connected on a 4-yard touchdown in the left corner of the end zone, pushing the Bulldog lead to 24-7 with 12 seconds remaining.
The Bulldogs got the ball to start the second half, and the drive ended with a career-long 44-yard Woodring field goal, pushing the Georgia lead to 27-7 with 6:22 left in the third quarter.
Vanderbilt cut the Bulldog lead to 27-14 on the first play of the fourth quarter, scoring on a 3-yard pass from Seals to receiver Richie Hoskins. The Bulldogs answered on their next drive, going up 30-14 on a 30-yard field goal by Woodring with 9:05 left in the game. It was the eighth straight made field goal by the freshman.
The Commodores’ CJ Taylor intercepted Beck with 6:17 to go in the game and returned the ball to the Bulldog 1. On the next play, Sedrick Alexander scored to cut Georgia’s lead to 30-20. Vanderbilt went for 2 and Seals’ pass was incomplete.
Edwards did all of the work on Georgia’s next drive, running the ball on five straight plays, including a 62-yarder down to the 6-yard line. He later scored from the 1 to make it 37-20 with 3:13 left in the game.