ATHENS - Georgia football QB Gunner Stockton played his worst game in a Georgia Bulldogs uniform. There is no way around that. It was a big factor in the Dawgs’ shocking upset loss at home to the unranked Auburn Tigers.
The senior quarterback experienced a couple of first in the 27-24 loss: He turned the ball over three times and he threw two interceptions. In his 21 starts before Saturday, he has never thrown more than one interception in a single game. One of his calling cards has been his ability to take care of the football.
“Yeah, credit Auburn, they did a good job. They came out and played hard and, um, you know, they had a good football team and I just need to execute a little bit better and take care of the ball,” Stockton said.
Stockton’s final statline read 22-of-34 for 272 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and the costly fumble loss at the end of the game. He engineered a 94-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to tie the game, but his fumble on Georgia’s final drive ultimately led to Auburn’s game-winning field goal.
“Yeah, just got to, uh, you know, protect the ball and, um, you know, at the end of the day you got to... Ball security, it's everybody's, uh, livelihood, so I just got to protect the ball,” Stockton said.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart didn’t seem regretful or disappointed in Stockton by any means when he spoke to the media after the game. In fact, he only assured his confidence in giving the ball to Stockton.
“Very unfortunate on the fumble,” Smart said. “If there's anybody I'd pick to have the ball in their hands, it'd be him because he does a great job with his ball security.”
Stockton was coming off back-to-back weeks where he really turned heads due to his passing ability. He played a very clean game against Vanderbilt and then was lights-out on third down in the road win over Alabama.
“I really didn't get a chance to talk to him. We had to go out and stop him on defense. Saw him in the locker room, his head was up,” Smart said. “I mean, we wouldn't have been in the position we were in if it wasn't for Gunner. You know, we wouldn't have been able to do some of the things we did if it wasn't for Gunner. I mean, 6 of 12 on third down, that's efficient against these guys, and I'm really proud that he's growing up and getting better.”
Georgia enters its bye week with a sour loss on its tongue. Stockton and the Dawgs will have two weeks to get this right before facing the Florida Gators in Atlanta.
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