Dawgs Complete the Sweep on a Hot and Humid Sanford Saturday
Darrell Huckaby is a syndicated columnist and author of six books including two about Georgia football. Read Huck’s Wit and Wisdom every Wednesday and Sunday. Subscribe at https://dhuck.substack.com/.
Dawgs Complete the Sweep on a Hot and Humid Sanford Saturday
There are hot days, there are August-in-Georgia hot days, and then there was Saturday afternoon Between the Hedges. It was 101 degrees at kickoff.
One hundred and one.
That isn’t football weather. That is a temperature for baking cornbread.
There were people walking into Sanford Stadium carrying bottled water, wet towels, battery-powered fans and expressions usually associated with pioneers crossing Death Valley.
By the end of the first quarter, Georgia led Tennessee State 28-0 and half the crowd had apparently decided that discretion was the better part of valor. I don’t blame them.
I love the Georgia Bulldogs as much as anybody, but there comes a point when you have to ask yourself, “Do I really need to see the third-string left guard badly enough to die?”
Fortunately, the Bulldogs seemed immune to the heat. Maybe Kirby Smart has installed air conditioning in their shoulder pads. I wouldn’t put it past him.
Georgia opened the 2026 season by beating Tennessee State 63-3 in a game that was actually more lopsided than the score indicates, which is difficult to accomplish when you win by 60 points.
The Bulldogs scored touchdowns on their first five possessions. Five possessions. Five touchdowns. That’s not offensive efficiency. That’s bullying.
And leading the whole operation was Gunner Stockton, who apparently spent the offseason studying how to play quarterback without making mistakes. Gunner completed 15 of 16 passes for 202 yards and three touchdowns. Fifteen of sixteen.
I’ve known Baptist preachers who couldn’t complete 15 of 16 sentences without wandering off onto another subject.
The one incompletion probably kept Gunner awake Saturday night. I can hear him now: “Dadgum it. I should’ve had that one.”
Meanwhile, Georgia fans are thinking, “Son, if you complete 15 out of every 16 passes all year, we’ll name a county after you.”
Stockton looked calm, confident and completely in command. He threw touchdown passes, moved the offense and generally behaved like a man who had someplace else to be later and wanted to get his work finished early.
Then there was Nate Frazier. Frazier carried the football four times for 72 yards and scored three touchdowns. Four carries. Three touchdowns. That means he scored on 75 percent of his rushing attempts. If he keeps that up, they’ll have to change the Heisman Trophy voting rules.
Georgia eventually played four quarterbacks, which is usually a good indication that things have gotten out of hand. By the fourth quarter Kirby was probably walking down the sideline asking if anybody had played quarterback in high school.
And how ‘bout Jaden Reddell? He looked for all the world like the second coming of Brock Bowers and it’s a shame the officials took a brilliant touchdown away from him with a phantom face-mask penalty, which was the worst call of the weekend until what happened to Western Michigan. And the Big Ten review booth didn’t even have the decency to use lubricant.
But back to Dooley Field. As impressive as the offense was, the Georgia defense was downright inhospitable.
Tennessee State didn’t get a first down until midway through the second quarter. For a while they didn’t have any yards. None. Zero.
They had traveled all the way from Nashville to Athens and were having trouble traveling from one side of the line of scrimmage to the other. The Tigers finished with only 10 rushing yards on 30 carries. Ten. I’ve gained more yardage than that trying to find my car after a Georgia game.
It was the sort of defensive performance Georgia fans have become accustomed to under Kirby Smart. Big people running very fast and arriving in a bad mood.
Tennessee State finally kicked a field goal late in the first half, which made it 35-3 and probably caused somebody in Nashville to say, “Well, at least we avoided the shutout.” Sometimes you have to celebrate the little things.
Georgia finished with 63 points, 661 yards of offense and enough highlights to keep the SEC Network busy until Thanksgiving.
And the best part? The Bulldogs actually swept a doubleheader this weekend. Georgia won Saturday afternoon. And Georgia Tech lost Thursday night.
That counts as two victories where I come from.
The Yellow Jackets were playing Colorado at historic Grant Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium on the Flats, conveniently located near the interstate so disappointed Tech fans can get home quickly.
Tech led late. Then Colorado scored a touchdown with 42 seconds remaining and won 14-13. Forty-two seconds. That’s barely enough time to order a Frosted Orange at The Varsity.
But then Tech drove the field, giving their nerdy fans hope, before Colorado broke their collective hearts by blocking what would have been the winning field goal.
So, Georgia fans got to enjoy the rare football doubleheader: Dawgs win, Jackets lose.
That’s what I call a perfect weekend.
Now, nobody should start making hotel reservations for the national championship game just yet.
Tennessee State isn’t Alabama.
Or Ohio State.
Or LSU.
Georgia committed penalties. At one point we were substituting so freely that we had two 51s in the game, negating a field goal.
There were some special-teams adventures. There will be plenty for Kirby Smart to holler about at practice because Kirby could probably find something wrong with a 63-3 victory if the Powerade wasn’t arranged alphabetically. That’s why he’s Kirby. But season openers are about answering questions.
Can Gunner Stockton run the offense?
Fifteen of sixteen says yes.
Can Georgia run the football?
Ask Nate Frazier.
Can the defense still suffocate people?
Ten rushing yards says yes.
Can Georgia Tech still find creative ways to make Georgia fans happy without Georgia even playing them?
Apparently so.
The Bulldogs are 1-0. The Jackets are 0-1. Gunner Stockton looked like a surgeon. The Georgia defense looked like a collection agency. And 93,000 Georgia fans survived an afternoon hot enough to melt the bronze off the Chapel Bell.
Football is back. The Dawgs are undefeated. Tech isn’t.
And somewhere Saturday night, a Georgia fan raised a cold beverage toward Atlanta and said the sweetest words in Southern football:
“How ’bout them Dawgs”
Well, how ‘bout em!
Look for me next week. I’ll be the good-looking guy in the Tennessee jersey. If you know, you know.
Darrell Huckaby