Dawgs win SEC, earn second seed in CFP

Published 1:23 pm Monday, December 9, 2024

ATLANTA – The Georgia Bulldogs brought home the SEC Championship trophy Saturday, beating the Texas Longhorns for the second time this season in a 22-19 overtime victory.

It was the 15th SEC championship in Georgia’s history and Kirby Smart’s third as head coach.

The win didn’t come without drama. Starting quarterback Carson Beck suffered an injury to his throwing elbow on the last play of the second quarter. Backup quarterback Gunner Stockton got his first experience against an SEC opponent in the second half, leading Georgia’s offense to 223 yards in the final two quarters and bringing home the victory.

Texas found its way to the SEC title game in the team’s first season in the conference. The Bulldogs beat the Longhorns 30-15 in October, but Texas survived the rest of its schedule unblemished going 11-1.

Texas opened up the game with the ball and started moving it early until Daylon Everette tipped a Quinn Ewers pass to himself for an interception. Georgia’s offense flubbed their good field position, going three and out on their subsequent drive. Texas’s offense found life after a 50-yard pass to Matthew Golden set up a 41-yard field goal by Bert Auburn, putting the Horns up 3-0. Georgia stalled again on its next drive, and Texas took its time in the next 14 plays, driving it 56 yards and kicking another field goal, making it 6-0.

The first half ended with Georgia struggling to maintain drives. The Longhorns held the ball for 20:02 of the first half compared to Georgia’s 9:58. To make matters worse, Mike Bobo was in the locker room preparing his backup quarterback to face the number one defense in the nation.

Gunner Stockton listened, and in his first drive he led the Dawgs 75 yards in 10 plays finished off by a Trevor Etienne 10-yard rushing touchdown. Both teams traded scoreless drives before Bert Auburn missed a 51-yard field goal, his second miss of the game.

It was only a minute into the fourth quarter when Quinn Ewers found DeAndre Moore Jr. on a 41-yard touchdown, tying the game at 13 apiece. The Georgia offense responded, taking the ball all the way down to the Texas goal line, eating nine minutes off of the fourth quarter game clock, resulting in a Woodring field goal to make the score 16-13.

Everette nearly sealed the game with a late interception until Stockton’s lack of experience nearly cost Georgia the game when he threw a costly interception late in the fourth after being pressured by the Texas defensive line. Texas ran the two-minute drill and gave the kicker Auburn a chance to tie the game with 18 seconds remaining, which he did, sending the game into overtime.

Texas failed to find the end zone in its first overtime possession. Georgia took over. Stockton ran the football up the middle and took a huge hit down around the 2-yard line. His helmet flew off, so he had to sit out a play. That opened the door for an injured Beck to come back and hand the football off to Etienne one more time. He followed fullback/outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss to the end zone for the SEC Championship-winning TD in Georgia’s second consecutive OT victory.

After the game, Georgia players hailed the Rabun County quarterback as the hero of the night.

“We had full confidence in [Stockton] to get the job done,” senior lineman Tate Ratledge said. “He did a great job stepping up when he had to.”

Kirby Smart added, “The players believe in Gunner. They love Gunner. The offensive staff did a great job helping him out in how they called the game. And he did a great job executing.”

The win secured the 2-seed and a bye for Georgia in the College Football Playoff. Georgia will play the winner of Notre Dame vs. Indiana on Jan. 1, 2025.