Paul Finebaum reacts to Gunner Stockton comeback, season-defining moment for Georgia vs. Tennessee

No. 6 Georgia went to Rocky Top and got a 44-41 overtime victory over No. 15 Tennessee on Saturday, with the ‘Dawgs reintroducing themselves to the national scene with that win in Neyland Stadium. That has now also changed the mind of Paul Finebaum on a lot of things about UGA, including some of his opinions on QB Gunner Stockton.

On ‘The Matt Barrie Show’ on Sunday, Finebaum gave credit where it was due for Georgia after what they did yesterday afternoon in Knoxville. That’s with the play of the Bulldogs, led by Stockton, earning them a “season-defining” win in both their first road game and conference matchup respectively.

“For a lot of people, and I’ll – once again, I’m leading the parade here who doubted Gunner Stockton. It was just amazing to see. He performed at a level that Kirby Smart believed he could but a lot of other people doubted,” said Finebaum. “The ability to come back in that game was perhaps season-defining.”

Georgia was down as much as two scores in the first quarter, eight points in the fourth quarter, and three in overtime against Tennessee, with the Bulldogs staying in it during the middle quarters while the Volunteers extended a lead early and then late. Still, UGA made play after play to stay in it, as they took a lead, later had to tie it to get to overtime, and eventually won it during the first extra period.

Starting with the team as a whole, Finebaum thinks Georgia has now set themselves as the team to beat in the SEC. That’s two-sided as the Bulldogs just won what may be their toughest game on the road this fall, with a lot of their other quality competition coming to play them in Athens, and that Finebaum isn’t yet sure who else is for certain amongst the lead in the Southeastern Conference.

“What it really does is position themselves now, because the SEC is wide open but we have forgotten Georgia and you can’t overlook them now,” said Finebaum. “And so, they have a break. Two weeks from now, they’ll be playing Alabama. That’s always been their armageddon. If they get Alabama, they’re sitting really pretty, because their tough games – Ole Miss, Alabama – are at home this year. They don’t have that brutal schedule that they did last year that they barely got by on.”

“I would say yes (that Georgia is the team to beat in the SEC),” Finebaum added. “You know, in spite, at the risk of upsetting Brian Kelly, (LSU doesn’t) look great. They don’t look great right now. Texas is too much of a mystery to even elaborate on. Alabama, you know, as I mentioned, goes to Georgia. And, you know, A&M is definitely a wild card, which I don’t want to be dismissive of. (Texas A&M has) one of the best wins of the year.”

Then, as for their quarterback, Finebaum, who was uncertain about him all offseason and as recently as coming into the weekend, gave some acclaim to Stockton, who was 23-31 (74.2%) for 304 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception while also rushing for 38 yards and another touchdown. That included his play during the game-tying drive where he threw his last touchdown on fourth-down to WR London Humphreys before completing the two-point conversion to WR Zachariah Branch. That performance by Stockton justified to Finebaum what belief that his staff had in him this offseason, and now currently also puts him among the best quarterbacks in the SEC.

“The narrative in the offseason from, you know – forget the pundits. But, people inside there are going, ‘I don’t like what I see’. It was a common theme. You couldn’t miss it,” Finebaum said. “I think the great thing for Gunner is he was off the grid the first two weeks. It didn’t matter what he did and he wasn’t great, (but) he was incredible and, you know, fill in the blank, grew up, came of age. All of them are accurate and all of them are applicable to Gunner Stockton. And, suddenly, you know, he’s ranked ahead of Arch Manning in the SEC QB rankings.”

Georgia made their case as one of the best teams in college football again with that win, especially in how they earned it, in Neyland. They’ll now get a bye before having another chance to do so when the Crimson Tide come to play between the hedges.