Okay guys, we made some editorial changes today. It was decided that ee’s game breakdowns would be more suitable for the gameday post. And JP agreed to run with the ND gameday post.

Funnily enough, someone mentioned this in the comments this week… the POS (Post-Game Overreaction Show) that UGASports.com runs after every UGA game. People are able to “call in” and vent their frustrations or their positive feelings coming out of the game. This is a safe place to freakout over the weakness you saw, the strengths you saw. Here’s your chance to get it out and move on with your week.

Now, don’t make me regret this. Everyone is entitled to high emotions right at the end of a game. If you disagree, be civil about it, no one should be called out for just unloading after the game. So, keep it civil and we’ll see how it goes.

My takeaway? Kirby was purposely “hamstringing” his defense to give them some adversity. This was a tuneup for Bama and I don’t think calls and alignments are being revealed yet. I fully expect to see “all in” next week.

P.S.: I’m open to a better name for this post…

Go Dawgs!

Afternoon, esteemed colleagues.

Quick question for soliciting your feedback…the team here has noticed a decline in engagement (both views and comments), and wanted to do a little digging in to what’s going on.

Not sure if it’s the season itself (easy wins vs. losses that cause us to pontificate), lack of interest, or content selection.

Any feedback or suggestions you all may have is welcomed and appreciated.

JP

First real test of the season…passed.

Georgia finally played a team with enough talent to potentially make things interesting. And our Dawgs responded emphatically with a 41-13 drubbing of the best team of the 1950’s decade, moving to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the SEC.

Was it perfect?

Hardly.

We gave up 296 total yards. Oklahoma had more first downs than we did. They possessed the ball for more than 35 minutes. Gunner threw an interception. The third quarter made me dry heave a little bit.

And we still won by 28 points.

Why?

Because we’ve got some dudes on defense.

Still not booking the flight and hotel to the CFP Championship game yet.

But this past weekend didn’t do anything to dissuade me either.

Apologies for the super late posting this week and completely whiffing last week…life’s been crazy the past couple of weeks, which is another way of saying I suck.

On to the grades…

Quarterback: Not Perfect, But Good Enough

OK, this was definitely Gunner’s most ordinary game of the season.

14-25 for 171 yards, one touchdown and one interception isn’t going to shoot you up any Heisman boards, and I wouldn’t say Gunner brought his “A” game.

Couple of throws I didn’t love. Held the ball a little long a time or two. The interception wasn’t great, even if the ball wasn’t tipped. Didn’t love some of the decisions in the third quarter, but not sure Gunner was at fault when he and receivers were clearly not on the same page.

That said, he made a few big plays that weren’t of the ordinary variety.

That 35-yard touchdown to Talyn Taylor was a beauty. The 30-yarder to Taylor on our initial touchdown drive really loosened up the offense. The final big pass to Taylor (damn, Taylor had a game!) was beautifully placed, even if the catch was the more impressive feat.

The 4^th down throw to Barbour on the initial touchdown drive was also pretty clutch and he had to squeeze that ball in between a couple of defenders.

Room for improvement, but came through in the most important situations.

Grade: B-

Running Back: Been Waiting To Do This For A While

We absolutely need Nate Frazier. He’s our best back and was playing his best ball to start the season. Nothing but love for Nate and we need him at his best when we get to the brutal mid-season stretch.

But it was nice to see what this group can do without him.

Bowens YPC isn’t going to set the world on fire, but he ran tough to put a couple of TD’s on the board, and he’s been even more impressive as a receiver out of the backfield in these early season games. Didn’t love the fumble, no more of that sh*t.

Fair warning, my Dwight Phillips crush is getting worse.

Eight carries. 84 yards. 10.5 yards per carry.

He FINALLY got the ball with a lot of space to work with and did what I knew he could do…54 yards to the house. Dude just has a different gear.

I said before the season that I wanted to see more Dwight Phillips. I may have been a little repetitive about it. I will not apologize. The guy is a potential home run every time he touches the ball. I’m totally good with anywhere between 6-10 touches a game.

Let’s not forget, Oklahoma’s defense is very good.

Grade: B

Offensive Line: Very Solid, Maybe Even Good?

This might be the best defensive front we play all year, at least that’s what I heard all week leading up to the game.

I wouldn’t say we dominated them, but they did a more than admirable job. Only 1 sack on the day, created some nice running lanes here and there, Gunner had decent time for the most part and don’t recall any holding penalties.

All of this with our best RB on the shelf. I’ll take it. Still believe this group is better than the 2025 version.

Grade: B

Receivers (WR’s + TE’s): Talyn Taylor Would Like To Have A Word

Remember a few weeks ago when I said of Talyn Taylor:

“Start buying that stock now if you haven’t already.”

That looks to be sage advice. 110 yards and a touchdown, with one of the catches being of the super highlight variety. He’s starting to look like the guy.

Not too much production out of the remainder of receiving group, which is a little frustrating. The lack of effort to get the TE’s involved in the receiving game was beyond puzzling to me, but guess I won’t complain since the scoreboard at the end of the game made me very happy.

Don’t remember any drops, which is always good. A little hard to judge since opportunities were a little more scarce than average.

Grade: B-

Defensive Line: Smiling

I’ll keep it short and sweet, loved it.

Mateer rarely had the luxury of time or comfort to make decisions. This group was winning battles all day long.

Oklahoma’s conventional running game was non-existent. Mateer had a couple of runs that extended drives, but dude is a good athlete and is going to make some plays with his feet from time to time.

Whatever, they were generating pressure and making life pretty damn difficult on the Sooners. Jordan Hall continues to look better every week. Griffin looked excellent and Horton picked up a sack. Stock up.

Grade: A

Linebackers: Chris Cole…That Is All

Chris Cole put together a Lawrence Taylor stat line.

Eight tackles. A sack. Two fumble recoveries. Dude was all over the field…oh yeah, one of the fumble recoveries went for an 85 yard touchdown where he reached over 22 mph…that’s ludicrous speed.

Raylen Wilson was equally impressive with a whole sh*tload of tackles, think he had a forced fumble, a sack and 1.5 TFL’s.

Justin Williams chipped in with another 4 tackles, but very efficient with less reps to work with compared to Cole and Wilson.

Quintavious Johnson had a nice performance with 4 tackles as well…almost overshadowed somehow.

Most impressive position group of the game.

Grade: A+

Defensive Backs: Big Plays, But Not Perfect

KJ Bolden grabbed a pick on a perfectly played ball and also produced a nice run after the interception. But…he was victimized on Oklahoma’s most significant passing play.

Ellis Robinson had a gorgeous PBU and I generally don’t even look his way during the game because he doesn’t get tested too often. I don’t think his injury is too significant according to rumors, and I thought I even saw him come back into the game, but could be wrong on that…hope he’s OK.

I thought that might have been Demello Jones’s best game as a Dawg…coverage was sticky all day and produced a couple of nice tackles as well.

Khalil Barnes had a couple of tackles and a pass breakup.

Dinkins had a great individual effort punching the ball out after a first down reception, and recovering the fumble as well…killing any momentum Oklahoma was trying to build during our 3^rd quarter lull.

Some criticism, we looked to be playing a little bit of soft coverage and gave up a few easy pitch and catch plays. Not sure if that is on the players or the coaches as a defensive strategy. I’m torn between B+ and A- on this group…you tell me.

Grade: B+A-

Special Teams: Reliably Boring

Peyton Woodring?

Two field goals. 45 yards. 49 yards (and looked like he caught it a little fat). Perfect on his extra points.

Drew Miller?

Five punts.

Four punts of 50+ yards. Three inside the 20. Two touchbacks (think he’ll get a little more control to keep these out of the endzone).

No major gaffes on returns or kick coverage. That’s a pretty damn good day.

Grade: B+ (only because of the touchbacks…gotta have some incentive)

Offensive Coaching: Not Pissed, Not Thrilled

The good, we scored 41 points against a great defensive team and we did so without our best RB and a valuable WR.

The reality, 7 points were the result of a defensive TD, another 7 on a very short field following a forced turnover, and another 3 following a forced turnover where I don’t think we even moved the ball.

Still, 24 points against that defense is nothing to be embarrassed about. Thought we did some very good things following our first possession and found a nice groove. The 3^rd quarter was totally fugly, but the 4^th quarter looked more like the first half.

Don’t understand the lack of usage of the TE’s when it comes to targets in the passing game, especially when we have so many options to create mismatches…just don’t get it.

What to do? Feels like a B- but wouldn’t argue if we want to make a solid B.

Grade: B-

Defensive Coaching: Little To Criticize

Oklahoma was going to bring their A+ game with backs against the wall.

Their most impressive drive of the game ended in zero points when Mateer threw the Vaseline ball that Cole ran back hitting Forrest Gump levels of speed.

Beyond that, the run defense was a brick wall. The pass coverage did its job outside of a missed assignment or two.

We forced a couple of turnovers by making legitimate defensive plays and our linebackers ate all game.

Not the greatest offense in the world we were facing, but not our fault…they still dominated.

Grade: A

Athens Atmosphere: A+

Couldn’t have been a much better day to be in Athens. My wife and I even got carded going into a bar to watch some of the early afternoon games…it’s the little things, isn’t it?

The weather was pristine and gotta give the fans some credit for solid execution on the red/white/black striping of the stadium.

When the game got out of hand, definitely some early departures from certain sections, but fan participation for the first half was excellent. They definitely affected the game and made life difficult on Mateer…not to mention a seismic explosion on the Cole fumble return.

Don’t want to knock any gameday atmospheres of other teams, but could any of them really be better than Athens, GA for a big game?

Enjoy the rest of your week and Go Dawgs!

Yet again in 2026, the Dawgs started the game with fury, strong execution and confidence. There was a point in the first half, while Oklahoma was peeing down its leg, that I realized that this team has really embraced the mission to break the other team’s will. And, for 3 of the 4 quarters in the game, they did that really well. Their OL did not enjoy dealing with the Georgia front 7, their DL was frustrated most of the day, and Mateer lost a significant part of his soul yesterday. I don’t think he, or that team, will ever recover from that game. You’re welcome, Horns. On to the bullets:

• Like I alluded to above, the defense was incredibly fast and punishing early on. I know Kirby was disappointed in them not finishing on Mateer, but there are few QBs that elusive in CFB this year, and I thought they finished pretty dang well. 3 sacks and lots of pressures.
• You could definitely see the difference in talent reveal itself in the way Sacovie and Peanut went down on first contact more than in the first 3 games. Good lesson for them and hopefully they work on that going forward because we need their speed for explosive plays.
• I’ll say it again, but I love the way our backs run with their pad level. Chauncey does not look fun to tackle, and I saw even some OU guys make business decisions on him. Great early blitz pickup by him as well.
• Gunner still looked like he was in complete control, even against that defense. Sure he made a couple of bad decisions, especially on the INT, but that’s an elite defense with confusing looks and he still performed well. I wish he could layer his throws a little better, but that’s more of an NFL problem for him anyway.
• Beautiful set up with a double move by Talyn and a laser beam from Gunner before taking a big hit. Was that the same play from the Bama home game last year?
• I don’t care what they’re listed at, but OU’s OL is the smallest I’ve ever seen for that program in this century.
• I think I’ll probably always think about this as “The Chris Cole game.” Dude was errrrywhere.
• Couple of weird things I noticed about an otherwise amazing performance by the defense: much more space given to the OU receivers than I expected (other than Sategna, who deserves it), and the middle of the field was open for their TEs to roam freely. Anyone have an insight on that strategy? Was Schuman baiting Mateer or just being conservative?
• I’ll get to the third quarter mind melt shortly, but OU actually had an impressive drive in the second quarter, using pace and better blocking to move down the field….until IT happened.
• I don’t know what I would do if I saw Elijah Griffin and Chris Cole coming at me full speed, but it might look like Mateer’s blooper reel fumble. Coach 30 layup there.
• Mateer is so bad under pressure, as long as you maintain rush lanes, and UGA did for the most part.
• Let’s pause for a moment and give some flowers to the crowd yesterday. Well done! We could feel it through the screen. I love how we’ve turned Sanford into a place where offenses go to die. I counted 3 delay of game penalties and 2 timeouts caused by the crowd. Just, damn.
• Raylen Wilson is quietly putting together a day 1 or 2 NFL draft pick kind of season.
• OK, let’s get this out of the way. The team clearly looked at the scoreboard (and Mateer’s eyes) too much and took their foot off the gas coming out of halftime. Bobo must’ve pulled out his Sphincter Salmon and Booger Green crayons and made a mess out of the third quarter. Kirby finally got pissed off and tore a couple heads off (including Gunner’s), and things got back to normal before the game ended. But, whatever that was, let’s not go back to it ever again.
• Venables apparently also was shook by the moment. When they finally scored a TD, the math didn’t make sense going for 2. Dawgs made them pay for it.
• Even though the TEs were free over the middle most of the day, Dinkins got a little bit of revenge with the sweet strip and fumble recovery. Love the secondary depth this year.
• There was a lot of squawking from the OU defense yesterday. Which made Zykie Helton’s shit-talking of David Stone during Peanut’s long TD run even funnier. Scoreboard, bitchez!
• Not a great statistical day for the offense (other than Peanut), but that’s to be expected against the OU defense.
• ESPN announcer Louis Riddick gave a rousing Georgia Football program commercial (and not behind a paywall) late in the game. Thank you for your service, sir.

Survive and advance has always been the key to successful college football seasons. This Georgia team is doing a whole lot more than that. They’re sending messages to future opponents by demoralizing everyone they play, regardless of the competition. There are still things to get better at on both sides of the ball, but it’s mostly consistency rather than deficiencies. Next week, Jared Curtis comes to Athens. Pretty sure the front seven are gonna anchor his ass down into the turf a few times. Georgia by a million. Go Dawgs!

Gunner can see the field. Although abandoning the run game completely in the middle eight was definitely a strategy.

A win is a win. If you’d told me we beat the Sooners by 28, I’d have laughed. Yet here we are, and Florida looks tough.

Discuss.

Ever wondered who is fielding the most transfers and have the most legacy players who have seen the field of play this year?Surprisingly, Georgia leads the way with retaining their recruits. Good on Kirby,

Seriously, what’s happening at UCLA? And Tech has 64% transfers playing snaps in 2026…who are they and why are they there?

I gotta admit, this is genius.

Tennessee is offering 50% off alcohol inside Neyland Stadium at 9 a.m. to help get people inside early with President Trump in attendance pic.twitter.com/rVfeiDI1RK

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 25, 2026

We listen and we don’t judge.

Honestly, if I were about to watch my home teams’s hopes get obliterated in front of the President, I’d start drinking at 9 am as well.

It’s not like they piss in toilets there, anyway. They generally pee in cups and throw them on the visiting team’s band as they enter the stadium, which I know from first hand experience.

Don’t forget to take a swim in the river later, Vols.

Fittingly, Sony Michel delivers the narration for the Gameday trailer:

Game 4 Trailer | For The Love Of The Game@PiedmontHealth pic.twitter.com/FbdLNDp7Nb

— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) September 25, 2026

Guh. No words.

Except Go Dawgs.

Incredible.

The idea that the ACC can get a bid is almost as ludicrous as Notre Dame’s preferential treatment for the CFP.

Also, reminder that Indiana will play a full half season before facing a ranked opponent.

Discuss.

Shot:

Chaser:

New excuse just dropped: Ole Miss was apparently playing music through the snap “again and again.”

Let’s update Lane Kiffin’s running list since Saturday:

• The return was more emotional than he expected
• He wasn’t as “in competitive mode” as he thought he’d be
• It’s hard… https://t.co/04eB35hBdb

— Brennon Chapman (@BrennonChapman) September 23, 2026

Turns out hot yoga does put you more in touch with your feminine side, Lane.

I asked earlier this week what a proper mea culpa would be, but turns out Lane doesn’t have one.

Somehow, this is one of the highest paid coaches in college football.

Makes sense, especially nowadays.