Field Street Forum

One of Georgia’s main themes during the preseason and now into 2025 will be to play with “FPE.” Fifty-four percent of Georgia’s roster is made of players in their first or second seasons in Athens, and they have displayed youthful exuberance throughout spring, fall camp and in the opener.

After posting a 45-7 win over Marshall last Saturday, Georgia is 102-27-3 in season openers including 10-0 in the Kirby Smart era. The Bulldogs have won 12 straight openers.

In the season opener, the Bulldogs tallied 488 yards of total offense and led 45-0 until the Thundering Herd scored with 10:27 remaining in the contest.

Last Saturday marked only the second career start and first at home for quarterback Gunner Stockton, and he provided four scores, two through the air and two on the ground.

In the opener, Georgia went 3-for-3 on 4th Down conversion attempts and scored two touchdowns. On Georgia’s first posession of the season, the Bulldogs had a 4th-and-2 from the Marshall 31 when Stockton kept the ball on a zone read for 14 yards. Georgia would score one play later for a 7-0 lead. Then on their second possesion, the Bulldogs had a 4th-and-1 at the Marshall 13. Stockton scampered in from 13 yards out for a 14-0 advantage The third conversion came with the Bulldogs up 31-0 late in the 3rd quarter. On 4th-and-Goal, Stockton completed a two-yard TD strike to London Humphreys.

A total of 21 true freshmen Bulldogs made their debut and two drew a starting assignment (Ethan Barbour, one of two tight ends, and Juan Gaston Jr., at right guard. Under Smart, 13 true freshmen have started a season opener.

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ATHENS, Ga. — The fifth-ranked Georgia football team opened its season Saturday afternoon with a 45-7 win over Marshall at Sanford Stadium, extending the nation’s longest home winning streak to 32 games. The sellout crowd of 93.033 saw quarterback Gunner Stockton run for a pair of touchdowns and throw for two more, while the Bulldog defense held the Thundering Herd to just seven first downs.

Georgia (1-0) outgained Marshall 488-207, with the Bulldogs rushing for 239 and throwing for 249; five different Bulldogs scored touchdowns. Defensively, Georgia held the Herd to less than 100 yards of offense through the first three quarters and finished with six tackles for loss. Linebacker Raylen Wilson tied for the team lead with seven stops, including two for loss.

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Fifth-ranked Georgia (1-0) extended its home winning streak to 32 games today with a 45-7 victory over Marshall (0-1). That is the longest active streak in the FBS. The NCAA record belongs to Miami (58 from 1985-94) while Alabama has the SEC mark at 57 (1963-82).

The Bulldogs are now 102-27-3 in season openers including having won 12 straight. Under Kirby Smart, the Bulldogs are 10-0 in season openers and improve to 51-4 at home. Georgia is 2-0 all-time against Marshall.

Georgia opened the season with 488 yards of total offense (239-rushing, 249-passing) on 76 plays.

Redshirt junior QB Gunner Stockton accounted for four TDs in leading the Bulldogs to a season-opening win. He was 14-for-24, 190 yards, 2 TDs, 152.3 rating plus a team and career-high 73 rushing yards on 10 carries with 2 TDs. He was making his second career start including first in Athens. Today marked the first two rushing TDs of his career.

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By John Frierson
Staff Writer for UGA

Whatever Marshall tried to do on offense Saturday against fifth-ranked Georgia’s defense, the Bulldogs took it away. Through the first three quarters of Georgia’s 45-7 season-opening win at Sanford Stadium, when the starters were still mostly on the field, the Thundering Herd managed less than 75 yards of offense, no points and no third-down conversions.

“They played hard and ran to the ball,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said.

It was a solid opening performance from a defense that knows that the standard is high around here.

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