You don’t lose to an Ole Miss team that is actually being coached on a part time basis by another school’s coaches without a total team effort. It really takes everyone from the head coach on down screwing up royally on multiple occasions. But even when you manage to stumble repeatedly over your own feet and lose in embarrassing fashion, there are bound to be at least a couple of players who don’t totally bring shame to their family names. Those players are your MVDs, the Most Valuable ‘Dawgs from Georgia’s season-ending 39-34 loss to Ole Flippin’ Miss.
Offense: Gunner Stockton. Stockton’s 18 of 31 for 206 yards passing effort sounds pretty pedestrian on paper, and it was pretty pedestrian on the field, too. But the Rabun Ruffian almost single-handedly managed to will his team to victory, rushing for two touchdowns, including one on a play immediately after very likely being concussed on one of the most egregious non-called targeting I’ve seen since the stupid targeting rule took effect. I fully understand if you get frustrated when Stockton misses an open receiver here and there. And yes he took a couple of sacks when he should have just gotten rid of the dang ball. But that was one of the gutsiest games a Bulldog quarterback has played in a long time. I’m pretty excited at the prospect of that guy coming back as our starting quarterback next year.
Defense: KJ Bolden. Bolden was here, there, and everywhere in a depleted UGA secondary. Once Jacorwy Thomas went out for targeting (sic) Bolden almost never left the field. He finished with 10 tackles, 6 of them solo stops, and broke up a 3rd down pass attempt, as well as being one of our more reliable cover guys all night. Again, pretty dang excited for that guy to come back as the leader of the 2026 Bulldog secondary.
Special Teams: Landon Roldan. Roldan had touched the ball exactly once this season before he took the snap on a fake punt and delivered a perfect pass to Lawson Luckie for a first down conversion. It wasn’t enough to turn the tide of the game, but it was still the kind of play that reminds you that there are players on this roster who will likely step up and make more big plays in the future. On a day when Peyton Woodring missed a long but makable field goal and no one in red and black returned a kick for more than a handful of yards that’s as good as I’ve got to offer.
As always we welcome your own suggestions in the comments.
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
