Georgia Football Hangs 70 Points on Western Kentucky for Back-to-Back Nuclear Wins

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ATHENS -  The No. 2-ranked Georgia football team looked different Saturday afternoon at Sanford Stadium, dressed in all white for the first time ever, but the result was like so many games that have preceded it. Behind another strong outing from quarterback Gunner Stockton and the Georgia defense, the Bulldogs walloped Western Kentucky, 70-20

Stockton, who was 15 of 16 passing with three touchdowns in last week’s opener against Tennessee State, completed 13 of 16 attempts against the Hilltoppers. He threw for 234 yards and tied a program record with five passing touchdowns. As a team, Georgia (2-0) had 493 yards of offense while holding Western Kentucky (0-2) to 225.

Georgia linebacker Anthony Kruah forced a fumble on the opening kickoff, and cornerback Demello Jones recovered the loose ball at the Hilltopper 18-yard line. Two plays later, Stockton hit tight end Ethan Barbour for a 7-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead 61 seconds into the game. It was the first touchdown of Barbour’s career.

On Western Kentucky’s first possession, both linebacker Chris Cole and safety KJ Bolden had a tackle for loss. After a Hilltopper punt and penalty, Georgia took over at the 50, and on first down, Stockton fired a long pass to wideout Craig Dandridge Jr. for a 43-yard gain to the 7. Running back Nate Frazier ran the ball in on the next play for a 14-0 lead. Frazier, who had three touchdowns on four carries against Tennessee State, had six carries for 55 yards and the score Saturday.

Georgia’s third touchdown of the opening quarter came on a 21-yard screen pass from Stockton to running back Chauncey Bowens, who scampered up the right side after the catch and hurdled a would-be tackler at the goal line. At that point, Georgia had 137 yards of offense on 11 plays.

Western Kentucky (0-2) picked up a couple of first downs on its next drive, but a 9-yard sack by Gabe Harris Jr. helped force a punt after the Hilltoppers drove down to the Georgia 31. On the ensuing drive, a 13-yard completion to Dandridge and a 26-yarder to wideout Talyn Taylor helped move the ball to the WKU 31 at the end of the first quarter. A couple of plays later, after a 20-yard Frazier rush, Stockton found receiver London Humphreys in the back of the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown and a 28-0 lead with 13:28 to play in the half.

Georgia needed just three plays to score on its next drive. On third-and-3 at the UGA 30, Stockton hit a crossing SaCovie White-Helton near midfield, and the speedy wideout outran everyone to the end zone, putting the Bulldogs ahead 35-0. 

Jones, who recovered the fumble on the opening kickoff, picked off a Rodney Tisdale Jr. pass on the ensuing drive, setting the Bulldogs up for another score.  That came on Stockton’s 5-yard pass on the left side of the end zone to Taylor.

Georgia linebacker Khamari Brooks recovered a Tisdale fumble on WKU’s next drive, giving the Bulldogs the ball back at the Hilltopper 16. A couple of plays later, wideout Landon Roldan ran the ball in from the 9 to make it 49-0 with 5:51 to play in the half. It was the first TD of Roldan’s career.

Backup quarterback Ryan Puglisi, who took over running the offense after Stockton’s fifth TD pass, fumbled on a run later in the half, and the Hilltoppers recovered at the Georgia 15 with 1:18 remaining. On the next play, WKU quarterback Brock Glenn ran the ball in for the first touchdown scored against the Bulldogs this season. The Hilltoppers missed the kick, so Georgia headed into the locker room at halftime with a 49-6 lead.

On the opening drive of the third quarter, Puglisi made up for his fumble, running 70 yards for a touchdown and a 56-6 lead. Georgia finally punted for the first time in the game on the Bulldogs’ second drive of the quarter. 

With 4:17 left in the third quarter of the second game, Georgia likely scored its most unusual touchdown of the season. Safety Blake Stewart intercepted a Glenn pass that bounced off linebacker Terrell Foster’s hands at the WKU 27 and started running the other way. He was then stripped of the ball around the 15, and the ball kept rolling toward the end zone. Just before the ball passed through the back of the end zone for a touchback, safety Tyriq Green dove on the ball for a touchdown, pushing the lead to 63-6 with 4:17 to go in the quarter.

Glenn ran the ball in for a 10-yard touchdown with 5:10 to go, making it 63-13. On the ensuing kickoff, Green scored his second touchdown of the game, returning the kick 91 yards into the end zone. It was Georgia’s first kickoff return for a touchdown since Terry Godwin did it against South Carolina in 2016.

Western Kentucky added a final touchdown with 1:17 remaining, scoring on a 7-yard completion following a Georgia muffed punt. Twenty-one Bulldog defenders had at least two tackles in the game, with linebacker Anthony Kruah leading the way with five.

The Bulldogs open SEC play next Saturday at Arkansas. Georgia leads the all-time series 12-4, with the most recent win, 37-0, coming in Athens in 2021. The Bulldogs are 5-0 all-time at Razorback Stadium.