In the first half’s dwindling moments, freshman quarterback Justin Fields got his chance to throw the ball.

Yes, throw the ball. Open your eyes a little wider, because what’s coming next may be even more of a shock. He got to throw the ball deep.

Wait, what? Fields had Mecole Hardman streaking toward the end zone and found him for a 57-yard score. At one point, Hardman didn’t know if Fields would throw it —well, because he hasn’t on too many occasions this season. So Hardman popped it into cruise, then saw the ball launch from Fields' arm.

“Oh, he really threw it,” Hardman thought in the midst of his run. Meanwhile, Riley Ridley knew it was coming all along, as his arms were raised toward the air in elation.

Fields had done it, and the Sanford Stadium roar was about as loud as it could get in a 66-27 runaway win over UMass.

He showed off his dual-threat abilities in an assortment of ways. “Justin can throw that thing,” Hardman said. “We had been talking about it all week. If he had the chance to throw it, he was going to throw it.”

Fields began in the air, then went to the ground game. He finished with 121 passing yards and two touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs, and he did the same with a 100-yard rushing performance and a 3-yard touchdown scamper.

Fields is the third quarterback to run for 100-or-more yards in Georgia history. Joe Dupree did it in 1990 against Auburn, and Quincy Carter followed suit in 1998 against Kentucky—both before Fields’ time. Nevertheless, the freshman is now in the record books.

“I see that game every day, and I see him go out there and do good things with the ball and make good decisions,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. “He’s getting better with his vision downfield and making good decisions with the ball. He continues to grow and get better. That’s not surprising. I see him do that a lot in practice.”

While the passes were a rare sight for a subdued Sanford Stadium crowd (Fields’ quarterback rating was over 428 after the strike to Hardman, by the way), it was the running game that impressed his teammates the most. At times, Fields would get a few carries or hand the ball off on a run-pass option play. But he had full control of the offense against the Minutemen.

There were runs of eight, 10, 30, and 47 yards. Fields averaged 14.3 yards per run on seven carries.

“Justin’s a freak of nature,” Hardman said. “He’s a freight train when he’s running. He’s the best of both worlds. Hopefully, y’all could get a glimpse of what he has coming in the future.”

There was plenty of excitement on the sideline to see the freshman work. One example was the 47-yard run that placed Georgia at the opponent’s 20-yard-line. But he'll also catch some grief from teammates who thought Fields should’ve finished it out for the touchdown.

“We all were (disappointed),” running back Elijah Holyfield said with a chuckle. “Justin likes to brag about his speed.”

Whether by land or air, the luxury that Georgia has at quarterback was put to action.

Fields and starting quarterback Jake Fromm were a combined 10-for-13 passing for 227 yards. Georgia accounted for 28 points (four touchdowns) while Fromm was in the game for 19 plays. When the time came to play the freshman, drop-off was minimal.

“I thought both of them played well,” Smart said. “When you have a run game as physical as ours, when you're able to kind of run the ball at will and run the ball inside, it opens up the passing game. It makes it easier, and I thought both guys made good decisions with the ball.”