The Georgia Bulldogs’ 1st game against the Vanderbilt Commodores in over 2 years wasn’t much of a contest.

The No. 2 team in the country flexed its muscle both offensively and defensively against a vastly overmatched Commodores squad, cruising to a 62-0 win at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville on Saturday afternoon.

It was the first time the Bulldogs and Commodores met since Aug. 31, 2019, a 30-9 Bulldogs victory in Nashville. It took them less than 1 quarter to break the 30-point mark in this one. In fact, their 62 points were the most against an SEC opponent since a 63-31 win over Kentucky in 2014.

Georgia held a 334-50 edge in total offense at halftime, picking up 17 first downs to Vanderbilt’s 3 while scoring touchdowns on each of its 1st 5 drives. JT Daniels was 9-of-10 for 129 yards and 2 touchdowns in the 1st quarter alone before giving way to Stetson Bennett IV, who finished 12-of-16 for 162 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Bennett, in turn, left in the 3rd quarter as the rout allowed coach Kirby Smart to play plenty of backups.

Brock Bowers, a true freshman tight end from Napa, Ca., had a breakout performance, with 2 touchdown catches and a 3rd score on the ground.

The Bulldogs, runaway favorites, provided an early thrill to a heavily red and black crowd as Georgia fans swarmed upon Nashville. Following the Commodores’ opening possession, a drive that started near midfield ended with Bowers cashing in on a 12-yard end-around to put Georgia up 7-0 just 3:39 into the contest.

The tight end, who entered the game as the Dawgs’ leading receiver, was at it again following a short Vandy punt, escaping tacklers and finding the end zone for the 2nd time on a 25-yard pass from Daniels to make it a 14-0 contest with 8 minutes to go in the 1st.

On the ensuing kickoff, James Ziglor coughed up the ball during the return for the Commodores and the loose ball was grabbed by UGA’s Daijun Edwards. Zamir White punched it in 2 plays later as the lead grew to 21-0.

As if things couldn’t get worse for Vandy, Ken Seals was picked off by Christopher Smith to set the Dawgs up with another short field. And it took 2 plays for Daniels to find Ladd McConkey in the end zone for the sophomore’s 1st career touchdown.

It was Georgia 28, Vanderbilt 0 with just over 8 minutes played in the opening quarter. And the Dawgs weren’t done.

The lead grew to 35-0 on another end-around on their next drive, this time with McConkey taking it in from 24 yards. Jack Podlesny’s 31-yard field goal with just seconds remaining gave the Dawgs a 38-0 advantage at the break.

Then, Bowers earned his third touchdown on the day on Georgia’s 1st drive of the 3rd quarter as Bennett hit him down the left sideline for a 25-yard score to make it 45-0. A short Kenny McIntosh TD run in Georgia’s next drive made it 52-0, then a 36-yard Podlesny field goal made it 55-0. Later, Daijun Edwards extended the margin to 62-0 with his first touchdown of the year.

The game had long been decided by that point as the Bulldogs easily improved to 4-0 thanks to another high-flying offense performance and the biggest shutout win for the Dawgs in series history against Vanderbilt.

The road gets tougher from here for Georgia during a pivotal October. Arkansas is next on Oct. 2 before the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry is renewed against Auburn on Oct. 9.