Mississippi State scored the game’s opening points on Saturday, capping a 14-play drive that took more than 5 minutes off the clock before Georgia touched the ball. The Dawgs settled for a field goal on their opening drive and then fumbled at the Mississippi State 3-yard line on their second drive.
This was a fight.
Georgia, as it has done all year, met the moment. Over the final 6 minutes of the second quarter and the first 6 minutes of the third quarter, the fifth-ranked Bulldogs scored 28 unanswered points to turn a 10-7 brawl into a beatdown. And Georgia cruised to a 41-21 victory because of it.
Coaches talk all the time about the middle 8 — the last 4 minutes of the first half and the first 4 of the second half. Games can flip in those minutes. Games can be won or lost in those moments. Georgia knows that intimately this season.
Quarterback Gunner Stockton threw an 8-yard touchdown to Oscar Delp with 5:09 to play in the first half that put the Dawgs up 17-7. On the ensuing MSU drive, Georgia came up with a fourth-down stop from its own 23 to get off the field and give the ball back to the offense.
On Georgia’s final drive of the opening half, MSU was flagged for targeting, pass interference, and then offsides. The offsides penalty came on a fourth-and-3 and extended a dead drive. Georgia scored 3 plays later on a 19-yard pass from Stockton to Zach Branch to take a 24-7 lead into the break.
Nate Frazier broke a 59-yard scoring run on the fifth play of the third quarter and suddenly the Dawgs were up by 24 points.
Georgia forced a quick 3-and-out on MSU’s first possession of the third. Georgia took over and Stockton found Noah Thomas for a 64-yard, catch-and-run touchdown to put the Dawgs up 38-7.
That was all she wrote.
MSU lost starting quarterback Blake Shapen early in the third quarter. Freshman Kamario Taylor replaced him for the rest of the game. He ran for 53 yards and 3 scores while completing 6 of his 10 passes for 97 yards.
Stockton threw for 264 and 3 scores for Georgia. Frazier had 181 yards on 12 rushing attempts.
The Dawgs moved to 8-1 on the season with the win. They are 6-1 in SEC play heading into next weekend’s showdown with Texas. Mississippi State dropped to 5-5.
No. 5 Georgi 41, Mississippi State 21
Here’s the Georgia-Mississippi State box score (use the dropdown menu to select team or player stats), followed by the complete play-by-play:
Gunner Stockton vs Blake Shapen
Did Gunner Stockton help his Heisman odds Saturday? Here’s a statistical breakdown of how Stockton performed against Mississippi State counterpart Blake Shapen:
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
