Athens, GA – From the start of the opening kickoff till the clock hit 00:00, Georgia dominated Arkansas State on Saturday on their way to a 55-0 route of the Red Wolves.

The Bulldogs were explosive on offense and their first offensive possession of the game was a glimpse of what was to come. Georgia marched 60 yards down the field in six plays in just under 3 minutes for their first points of the game, a 3-yard touchdown run by senior Brian Herrien (35). After that first score, it seemed the Arkansas State defense had figured out the Dawgs, holding them to two field goals from senior placekicker Rodrigo Blankenship (98). The first quarter would end with UGA leading 13-0.

Once the second quarter started, it didn’t take long for Georgia to find the endzone again on their fourth offensive possession of the game as the Bulldogs only took three plays and 52 seconds to do so. It was a drive highlighted by a 60-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jake Fromm (11) to true freshman wide receiver Dominick Blaylock (8) on a 3rd and 2 play from UGA’s 40-yard line. On Georgia’s next offensive possession and up 20-0 on the Red Wolves, Fromm would make another big play on a third-down, hitting junior running back D’Andre Swift (7) with a 48-yard TD pass. And Fromm wasn’t quite done yet. Just before half-time, the junior field general would orchestrate a 7 play, 66-yard scoring drive, hitting wide receiver Lawrence Cager (15) for a 5-yard touchdown pass, Fromm’s third of the quarter.

Georgia headed into the locker room at half-time with a 34-0 lead. The Dawgs offense scored on six of their seven possessions, only punting once. Out of those six scoring drives, all took less than 3-minutes and two of them took less than 2 minutes off the clock. But as explosive as UGA was offense, the Bulldog defense was stifling, tenacious, and dominant. Out of Arkansas States 8 offensive possessions in the first half, 7 ended in punts, and only one came close to putting on points on the board for the Wolves, a missed 50-yard field goal attempt from Georgia’s 33-yard line.

In the second half of the game, even with Georgia clearing the benches, it was more of the same for the Bulldogs. On offense, running backs James Cook (4), Zamir White (3), and Kenny McIntosh (6) all had rushing touchdowns for UGA. McIntosh’s was a “get-up-on-your-feet” 62-yard scamper the true freshman rattled off in the fourth quarter, which would put the Dawgs up on the Wolves 55-0. On defense, Georgia showed pride and did not let Arkansas State cross the goal line even though the Red Wolves threatened to do so with 6:23 to go in the game. State drove 62 yards to the Bulldogs 13-yard line, but true freshman defensive back Lewis Cine (16) would intercept Layne Hatcher‘s pass to deny the Wolves the opportunity.

OFFENSIVE STATS

UGA turned in another 500-yard plus performance on offense, amassing 656 yards of total offense of which 388 came through the air and 268 on the ground.

Jake Fromm was a surgeon completing 17 of 22 attempts for 279 yards and three touchdowns. Stetson Bennett would come in in the second half and pick up where Fromm left off, completing 9 of 10 attempts for 109 yards. Between Fromm and Bennett, they connected with 13 different receivers. Two true freshmen led the Dawgs in receiving. Dominick Blaylock on 4 catches for 112 yards and a touchdown while George Pickens had 5 catches for 84 yards.

On the ground, it was running back by committee per usual. D’Andre Swift led Bulldog running backs with 76 rushing yards on 9 carries. On the day, Swift had 140 all-purpose yards. In total, six Georgia running backs made the stat sheet for the game.

DEFENSIVE STATS

On defense, the Dawgs only allowed the much talked about Red Wolves’ offense a total of 220 yards. The Georgia front seven were like a red and black wall and Arkansas State found it difficult to run against, finishing with just 43 rushing yards on the day. Even when the Wolves turned to the air, there was not much relief as the Bulldogs held Bonner and company to just 177 yards passing.

UGA would sack the quarterback 4 times and add 7 tackles for loss. Of Arkansas State’s thirteen offensive possessions, the Georgia defense forced five 3-and-outs. Tyler Clark and Robert Beal Jr. would lead the Bulldogs in tackles with 5 apiece. Clark had 1.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss.

SPECIAL TEAMS STATS

Jake Camarda continues to flip the field for Georgia this season when he is called upon to punt. Even though the Dawgs had to punt only three times, Camarda averaged 48.7 yards per punt including a long of 61-yards.

Rodrigo Blankenship continues to be Mr. Automatic when it comes to placekicking. Blankenship was perfect on the day going 2-for-2 on field goals and 7-for-7 on PATs.

PARTICIPATION REPORT

Below is a list of starters for the Bulldogs as well as the player’s participation report for the UGA vs. Murray State game.

OFFENSE STARTERS

WR 87 Tyler Simmons
LT 71 Andrew Thomas
LG 66 Solomon Kindley
C 55 Trey Hill
RG 74 Ben Cleveland
RT 77 Cade Mays
TE 89 Charlie Woerner
QB 11 Jake Fromm
TB 7 D’Andre Swift
TB 4 James Cook
WR 15 Lawrence Cager

DEFENSE STARTERS

DT 52 Tyler Clark
N 99 Jordan Davis
DE 1H Malik Herring
JACK 13 Azeez Ojulari
MIKE 30 Tae Crowder
WILL 32 Monty Rice
LC 27 Eric Stokes
LS 2 Richard LeCounte
RS 20 J.R. Reed
RC 3C Tyson Campbell
STAR 23 Mark Webb

PARTICIPATION REPORT

Georgia: 1D-Nakobe Dean, 1W-Divaad Wilson, 1B-Trey Blount, 1M-Trezmen Marshall, 1Y-Makiya Tongue, 1J-Jer. Johnson, 1-George Pickens, 1S-Stetson Bennett, 2C-Sevaughan Clark, 2E-Willie Erdman, 3-Zamir White, 4S-Nolan Smith, 4M-Peyton Mercer, 5L-Matt Landers, 6-Otis Reese, 6M-Kenny McIntosh, 7S-Tyrique Stevenson, 8B-Dominick Blaylock, 8-Lewis Cine, 9P-Nathan Priestley, 9-Ameer Speed, 14-DJ Daniel, 17-Eli Wolf, 18-Brett Seither, 19-Adam Anderson, 22-Nate McBride, 24-Prather Hudson, 25-Quay Walker, 28-Anthony Summey, 29-Christopher Smith, 31-William Poole, 33-Robert Beal Jr., 35-Brian Herrien, 36-Latavious Brini, 39-Hugh Nelson, 41-Channing Tindall, 42-Jake Skole, 44-Travon Walker, 45-Bill Norton, 47-Payne Walker,
50-Warren Ericson, 51-David Marshall, 54-Justin Shaffer, 57-Daniel Gothard, 59-Steven Nixon, 61-Blake Watson, 69-Jamaree Salyer, 72-Netori Johnson, 73-Xavier Truss, 75-Owen Condon, 78-D’Marcus Hayes, 81-Jaylen Johnson, 82-Kolby Wyatt, 84-Walter Grant, 86-John FitzPatrick, 88-Ryland Goede, 90-Jake Camarda, 91-Tymon Mitchell, 92-Justin Young, 94-Michael Barnett, 95-Devonte Wyatt, 96-Zion Logue, 97-Brooks Buce, 98-Rodrigo Blankenship.

CLICK HERE for the full box score and stats from UGA’s 63-17 win over Murray State.