Stats Crunch
Georgia notched a 28-6 victory over Austin Peay and moved to 2-0 on the season. The Bulldogs have started 2-0 in each of the last 11 seasons. In some of those 11 seasons, the Dawgs have played against some of the best competition in the nation… others not so much. According to CBS’s Ryan Satsky, the 11-game streak is the longest active streak among all FBS teams. If you look at just SEC teams, it is not even close.
| Georgia – 11 | Auburn – 1 |
| Oklahoma – 5 | LSU – 1 |
| Ole Miss – 5 | Mississippi State – 1 |
| Vanderbilt – 4 | Texas A&M – 1 |
| Tennessee – 4 | Kentucky – 0 |
| Missouri – 3 | Texas – 0 |
| South Carolina – 2 | Florida – 0 |
| Arkansas – 1 | Alabama – 0 |
Of those 11 straight 2-0 starts, the last ten have come under the leadership of Kirby Smart. One thing that has been a constant for almost all of those ten has been a strong defense. Here is a deeper look at each of those ten straight from the defensive side of things.
| Opponents | Points Allowed Per Game Allowed | Total Yards Allowed Per Game Allowed | Total Sacks | Total Interceptions | |
| 2016 | vs North Carolina (n) and vs Nicholls | 24.0 | 275.5 | 3 | 2 |
| 2017 | vs App State and at Notre Dame | 14.5 | 274.5 | 4 | 0 |
| 2018 | vs Austin Peay and at South Carolina | 8.5 | 244.0 | 1 | 2 |
| 2019 | at Vanderbilt and vs Murray State | 11.5 | 254.5 | 8 | 1 |
| 2020 | at Arkansas and vs Auburn | 8.0 | 248.0 | 5 | 4 |
| 2021 | vs Clemson (n) and vs UAB | 5.0 | 177.0 | 10 | 4 |
| 2022 | vs Oregon (n) and vs Samford | 1.5 | 220.5 | 1 | 2 |
| 2023 | vs UT Martin and vs Ball State | 5.0 | 242.0 | 1 | 4 |
| 2024 | vs Clemson (n) and vs Tennessee Tech | 3.0 | 161.0 | 5 | 1 |
| 2025 | vs Marshall and vs Austin Peay | 6.5 | 201.5 | 2 | 1 |
Georgia has started 3-0 in all nine previous seasons under Smart as well. This time it will be a little more difficult. The Bulldogs head to Knoxville to take on the No. 15 Volunteers. Tennessee comes in averaging close to 60 points a game and over 600 yards a contest.
Georgia currently has a 29-23-2 series advantage. Starting with Jim Donnan in the year 2000, Georgia has dominated the series, winning 19 of the last 25. The Bulldogs have also won the last eight in the series, and a victory on Saturday will give the Dawgs a tie for most consecutive wins in this series. The Vols currently have the record, but it’s the only one in the top six (remember these two teams didn’t use to face each other every season).
| Winning Streak | Seasons | |
| Tennessee | 9 | 1989 to 1999 |
| Georgia | 8 | 2017 to present |
| Georgia | 5 | 1909 to 1924 |
| Georgia | 5 | 2010 to 2014 |
| Georgia | 4 | 1973 to 1988 |
| Georgia | 4 | 2000 to 2003 |
One of the keys to victory will be winning the run game. Georgia destroyed Tennessee head-to-head in the run department from 2017 to 2021, but in the last three meetings, it has been a lot closer.
| UGA Rush Yards | UGA Rush Yds/Att | UGA TD Rushes | TENN Rush Yards | TENN Rush Yds/Att | TENN TD Rushes | |
| 2017 | 294 | 5.3 | 4 | 62 | 2.1 | 0 |
| 2018 | 251 | 5.0 | 4 | 66 | 2.6 | 0 |
| 2019 | 238 | 5.8 | 2 | 70 | 2.4 | 0 |
| 2020 | 193 | 3.9 | 2 | -1 | -0.0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 274 | 6.7 | 4 | 55 | 1.5 | 0 |
| 2022 | 130 | 3.5 | 1 | 94 | 2.2 | 1 |
| 2023 | 156 | 3.9 | 1 | 130 | 5.2 | 1 |
| 2024 | 106 | 3.4 | 2 | 152 | 3.9 | 2 |
Last week, Georgia had 190 yards rushing vs Austin Peay and added four rushing touchdowns. The four touchdown rushes were split by Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowens, who had two apiece. It was the ninth time under Smart that the Bulldogs had at least a pair of rushing touchdowns in the same game.
| Season and Opponent | Player One (TD) | Player Two (TD) |
| 2017 vs Kentucky | Sony Michel (3) | Nick Chubb (2) |
| 2018 Rose Bowl vs Oklahoma | Sony Michel (3) | Nick Chubb (2) |
| 2018 vs Tennessee | D’Andre Swift (2) | Justin Fields (2) |
| 2020 at South Carolina | James Cook (2) | Zamir White (2) |
| 2022 vs Florida | Daijun Edwards (2) | Kenny McIntosh (2) |
| 2023 CFP Championship vs TCU | Stetson Bennett (2) | Branson Robinson (2) |
| 2023 vs Ole Miss | Kendall Milton (2) | Daijun Edwards (2) |
| 2023 Orange Bowl vs Florida State | Kendall Milton (2) | Daijun Edwards (2) |
| 2025 vs Austin Peay | Nate Frazier (2) | Chauncey Bowens (2) |
This will be Gunner Stockton‘s first career road start, and Neyland Stadium is not always that kind to opponents. Since 2000, Bulldog signal callers have had mixed results in Knoxville. Here are their career stats in big orange country…
| Comp / Att | Pass Yards | TD Passes / INT | |
| David Greene | 43 / 61 | 531 | 3 / 1 |
| D.J. Shockley | 16 / 28 | 207 | 0 / 2 |
| Matthew Stafford | 16 / 33 | 174 | 2 / 1 |
| Joe Cox | 19 / 35 | 146 | 0 / 2 |
| Aaron Murray | 34 / 60 | 423 | 3 / 0 |
| Greyson Lambert | 15 / 32 | 279 | 2 / 0 |
| Jake Fromm | 31 / 44 | 372 | 3 / 1 |
| Stetson Bennett | 17 / 29 | 213 | 1 / 0 |
| Carson Beck | 24 / 30 | 298 | 3 / 0 |
While Matthew Stafford did not fare well in Knoxville, he has had a lot of success in the NFL. Last week, the former Dawg eclipsed the 60,000-yard passing mark in his career. He became the 10th player in the NFL history to reach that mark.
Gunner Stockton has had some ups and downs this season. He has also had some ups and downs depending on the game situation. Here is a breakdown of his numbers depending on what down it is…
| Comp / Att | Pass Yards | Yards / Attempt | TD Passes / INT | |
| 1st Down | 40 / 58 | 417 | 7.19 | 1 / 0 |
| 2nd Down | 15 / 21 | 146 | 6.95 | 0 / 0 |
| 3rd Down | 7 / 13 | 82 | 6.31 | 0 / 0 |
| 4th Down | 1 / 1 | 2 | 2.00 | 1 / 0 |
| 3rd Down (less than 6 yards to go) | 4 / 5 | 59 | 11.80 | 0 / 0 |
| 3rd Down (6 or more yards to go) | 3 / 8 | 23 | 2.88 | 0 / 0 |
Which Georgia players will Stockton throw it to? What about Ryan Puglisi if he gets in the game? Here is a breakdown by position completions in the first two games this season…
| vs Marshall | vs Austin Peay | |
| by Wide Receivers | 11 rec, 166 yds, 2 TD | 20 rec, 186 yds, 0 TD |
| by Tight Ends | 4 rec, 62 yds, 1 TD | 0 rec, 0 yds, 0 TD |
| by Running Backs | 4 rec, 21 yds, 0 TD | 7 rec, 45, 0 TD |
A Georgia tight end did not have a single catch against Austin Peay. Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie helped out in other areas, but as far as receiving, they were each targeted once. It was the first time since the 2021 Arkansas game that a Bulldog tight end did not have a reception.
After having zero receptions in game one, Noah Thomas had three receptions for 24 yards last week. The 24 yards gave the former Aggie 1,008 yards receiving in his career. Another transfer, Zachariah Branch only needs 65 more receiving yards to reach 1,000.
And in a crazy stat, Dillon Bell has -2 yards receiving this season. That total drops him below 1,000 in his career. He now has 999 in his career after passing the 1,000 mark once before last season. He also needs five receptions to reach 100 in his career. Colbie Young needs just one more reception to reach 100 in his career. He had a Bulldog-high seven receptions last week (career-high is nine set when he was a Hurricane).
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From milestones to firsts… Last week Ellis Robinson had his first career interception. With the Tennessee game approaching, it reminds me of Kirby Smart’s first career interception. It came against Peyton Manning of Tennessee back in 1995 in Knoxville.