Last season, Vanderbilt went to Athens and upset the Georgia Bulldogs by a point on a day that Georgia observed its homecoming activities. On Saturday, the No. 5 Bulldogs turned the tables on the Commodores in a big way with a 45-14 victory in Nashville.
The victory improved Georgia’s record to 6-0, their first 6-0 record since the 2005 season.
Here are three things to know from the Bulldogs’ victory:
Run, run, run. Then run some more.
Georgia’s run game continued its methodical march through this season. Sony Michel (150 yards) and Nick Chubb (138) combined to rush for 288 yards on 28 carries, and neither played after midway through the third quarter.
Overall, the Bulldogs rushed for 423 yards on 54 carries, an average of 7.8 per carry. They entered the game averaging 237 yards per game. On Saturday, Georgia ran 68 plays, and 54 were runs.
Quarterback Jake Fromm gained 36 yards on four carries, with 16 coming on an option play in the first half and 19 on a fourth-and-1 play to start the fourth quarter. Sophomore Elijah Holyfield gained 51 yards on seven carries, including a 15-yard run for a touchdown, and freshman D’Andre Swift gained 32 yards on four carries.
Overall, Georgia gained 549 yards of offense at a clip of 8.1 yards per play.
Tenacity continues when Georgia on defense.
Georgia entered the game ranked second in the nation in scoring defense, at 9.2 points per game. The success continued Saturday, in part because Vandy’s run game was the opposite of Georgia’s: nowhere near dominant. The Commodores rushed for 64 yards on 22 carries. Ralph Webb led the ground game with 47 yards on 12 carries. The other runners combined for 17 yards on 10 carries.
The passing game produced more. Kyle Shurmur was 17-of-31 passing for 172 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions.
Vandy’s second touchdown came on a drive that started with a goal-to-go at the 1-yard line after a turnover, but it took the Commodores four plays to score.
Georgia’s passing game does just enough.
Fromm was 7-of-11 passing for 102 yards, with an efficiency rating of 201.5. He threw touchdown passes of five yards to Swift and 47 yards to Terry Godwin.
Backup Jacob Eason entered the game with 10:15 to play in the fourth quarter. On the first play, Eason was hit on a backside blitz and fumbled. Vandy recovered and ran to the 1, setting up its second touchdown.
Eason played the rest of the way and was 3-of-3 passing for 24 yards.
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