You don’t take the field under the lights of Sanford Stadium against a top 10 team and cruise to victory without a total team effort. Even then some players are bound to stand out above the rest. These indispensable contributors are your MVDs, the Most Valuable ‘Dawgs from Georgia’s 35-10 beating of the Texas Longhorns.
Offense: Gunner Stockton. One regrettable interception aside Gunner Stockton played one heckuva football game. Gunner was 24 of 29 passing for 229 yards and four touchdowns passing, and another 29 yards and a score on the ground in what felt like his most complete, confident game as the starter. The game appears to have slowed down for him a bit, and he’s seeing the whole field way better than he was early in the season. That’s a very promising sign.
Defense: Chris Cole. The entire Bulldog defense got after Arch Manning all night, but no one more doggedly than Cole. He finished the game with 7 overall tackles, 4 of them solo stops, including a touchdown saving tackle on Ryan Wingonin the second quarter: While he didn’t tally any sacks Cole hit Manning repeatedly and in the absence of a dinged up CJ Allen was the most disruptive linebacker in the lineup.
Special teams: Kirby Smart. Sure, Peyton Woodring executed a flawless onside kick. Cash Jones made the sure-handed recovery. But it was the head Dawg himself who made the gutsy call to attempt an onside kick that essentially ended the game. Admittedly I’d be among the first to second guess Smart if it hadn’t worked out. But the flipside of that is that I have to give him props for timing and sheer guts because it did.
As always, your nominations are welcome in the comments. Until later…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
