Clean Old-Fashioned Hate week is here and the Bulldogs will look for their 10th win of the season and their seventh straight in the series.
The game is also being played on a Friday in Athens for the first time since 1994. Georgia won that game 48 to 10. Senior quarterback Eric Zeier was injured and was replaced by freshman Mike Bobo.
The first game of the series was in 1893 and Georgia Tech won 28-6, but Georgia won the next four by a combined scored of 75 to 0. Kirby Smart was 3-1 as a player against the Yellow Jackets. That one loss in 1998 and the following loss in 1999's outcome may have been different if instant replay reviews were a thing back then. However, the 71 wins are still the most by the Dawgs over any opponent. Here are the top seven.
Georgia has now won 30 straight at home. In that time, the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 1,173 to 350 or an average of 39.1 to 11.7. The 30 straight wins are a school record as well as the active leader currently in the FBS. If you look at the best home records since that 30-game streak started then you will see a lot of other familiar teams with great home records.
Last week, Georgia defeated UMass 59-21 in game that was tied at seven apiece after the frst quarter. The Minutemen actually averaged more rush yards per attempt than the Bulldogs (5.65 to 5.62). The Dawgs offense took over in the second quarter and did not look back.
Carson Beck looked sharp as he completed 20-of-31 passes for 297 yards with four touchdown passes and zero interceptions. The four touchdown passes give him 53 for his career. Last week, he passed Matthew Stafford and now sits in sixth place all-time on the Georgia list. His play during the last two games has been a major improvement from what he had in the middle of the season.
Gunner Stockton played in his third game of the season and threw a pass for the first time since the Tennessee Tech game on September 7. He went 3-for-4 passing for 45 yards.
It is the tenth time under Smart and the fourth time in the last two seasons that Georgia had at least four different players catch a touchdown pass in a game.
Nate Frazier had career-highs with 21 rushes for 136 yards and three touchdowns. All three scores came in the second half. The 136 yards were the second most by an SEC freshman running back in a game this season (Arkansas' Braylen Russell had 175). The 136 are also the 18th-highest total by a Georgia player under Smart.
Since 1990, only a handful of Bulldogs have had multiple games with three or more rushing touchdowns (one major surprise is that Nick Chubb had zero games with three or more touchdown rushes).
Trevor Etienne also had three in a game earlier this season against Texas.
In case you were wondering, Herschel Walker had seven games with three or more touchdown rushes.
-----
On defense, Georgia got a late score from Chris Cole. The linebacker had a 28-yard scoop and score for the game's final touchdown. It was the second straight game in which he had a fumble recovery and both happened in the fourth quarter. He along with Jalon Walker and Damon Wilson lead the Dawgs this season with two fumble recoveries apiece.
Bulldog coaching legend Erk Russell would have also loved the fact that Georgia notched three more sacks last Saturday. They had 11 through its first six games of 2024, but have had 18 in the last five contests. Thirteen different Dawgs have had a sack this season on defense.
-----
Kicker Peyton Woodring connected from 53 yards out last Saturday. It was his third field goal of 50 yards or longer this season. The last Bulldog to have four 50+ yard field goals in one season was Blair Walsh in 2009.
Congrats to Beau Gardner who was named as one of three finalists for the Patrick Mannelly Award for the nation's top snapper.
Punter Brett Thorson came in to hold a few kicks, but the Australian finished the day with zero total punts and zero total tackles.
