Beck throws 3 TDs in 49-21 win over UAB

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and tight end Brock Bowers combined for a big night Saturday at Sanford Stadium, connecting nine times for 120 yards and two touchdowns in the top-ranked Bulldogs’ 49-21 win over UAB.

After Georgia took a 28-14 lead into halftime, the Bulldogs (4-0) dominated the third quarter, stretching their lead to 42-14. Beck was done for the night by the end of the third, finishing 22 of 32 for a career-high 337 yards and three touchdowns.

Offensively, Georgia outgained the Blazers 581-336, getting 393 yards through the air and 188 on the ground. Defensively, Georgia held UAB (1-3) to 4.4 yards per play. Eleven different Bulldogs had at least three tackles.

The win extended the Bulldogs’ school-record winning streak to 21 games, moved their regular-season win streak to 31 games, and it was Georgia’s 22nd straight win on Dooley Field. The program record for most consecutive home wins is 24, set from 1980-83.

After being held without a touchdown in the first quarter of their previous two games, the Bulldogs went 75 yards for a TD on their opening drive. The first play of the game was a 33-yard completion from Beck to wideout Dominic Lovett, and the drive ended on a screen pass to Arian Smith, who got a big block from Bowers and scooted for a 12-yard score and a 7-0 lead with 12:04 remaining in the first quarter.

UAB got a first down on its opening drive, but the possession ended soon after when, on third-and-6 at the Georgia 49-yard line, Bulldog pass rushers Warren Brinson and Chaz Chambliss stormed into the backfield, with Brinson getting the sack.

Neither team produced any points the rest of the opening quarter, but UAB did come up with some fireworks at the end. During a Mekhi Mews punt return, the Blazers forced and recovered a fumble on the Georgia 30-yard line, with one second left in the quarter.

The Blazers turned the turnover into a touchdown and a tie game. On third-and-4 from the Georgia 16, quarterback Jacob Zeno hit Bryce Damous on the left side, and the tight end did the rest on a 16-yard TD that made it 7-7 with 14:09 left in the half.

Georgia responded quickly with a touchdown drive to regain the momentum, but it didn’t come easily at first. On third-and-6 at the Bulldog 43, Beck was under pressure when he took off and fought for every inch on a seven-yard run for a first down. On the next play, he hit tight end Oscar Delp across the middle for 19 yards.

That nice pass play was followed by a 15-yard completion to Bowers, followed two plays later by a 12-yard completion to Bowers down to the 4. Bowers passed 2,000 career receiving yards on the drive. On first down from the 4, running back Daijun Edwards carried the ball in for a 14-7 lead with 10:00 on the clock.

After Georgia’s defense forced UAB to punt for the fourth time in the half, Beck directed a pass-heavy drive that ended with a 41-yard touchdown to Bowers with 22:40 left in the half. The drive began with Beck hitting wideout Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint for a 19-yard gain, and it ended with Beck lofting a touch throw to Bowers on the right side, over a defender. Bowers then broke a couple of tackles and ran the ball in for his first receiving TD of the season.

The Georgia lead was 21-7 when UAB started its next drive, which ended after one play. On first down from the 25, Georgia STAR Tykee Smith picked off a pass at the Blazer 25. It was Smith’s third interception in as many games. Four plays later, Edwards ran the ball in from the 3 for his second TD of the game, putting Georgia ahead 28-7 with 1:26 remaining in the half.

The Blazers moved the ball down to the Bulldog 2-yard line in the final seconds of the half, and cut the Georgia lead to 28-14 with a two-yard touchdown from Zeno to Amare Thomas with eight seconds left on the clock.

Georgia’s defense set the tone to start the third quarter. The Blazers got the ball to start the half and on their first play, linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson got into the backfield for a four-yard loss. Safety Dan Jackson made a stop of a two-yard gain on second down, and then UAB threw incomplete on third down.

After the ensuing punt, the Georgia offense got to work and patiently worked its way down inside the 5-yard line. And on third-and-goal from the 1, Beck lunged across the goal line on a keeper to put Georgia ahead 35-14 with 9:06 left in the third. Bowers had a 13-yard reception on the drive to top 100 yards receiving in the game.

Bowers found the end zone again with 5:38 to play in the third, scoring on a delayed screen pass to the left side on third-and-9 at the Blazer 10 and pushing the lead to 42-14. Bowers now has five career games with at least 100 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

Georgia got deep into UAB territory on the first play of the drive, when Beck his Rosemy-Jacksaint for a 50-yard gain down to the 11. Rosemy-Jacksaint finished with three catches for 94 yards and Dominic Lovett had three for 59.

With 9:05 left in the game, running back SeVaughn Clark ran the ball in from the 7 for his first career touchdown, making it a 49-14 game. Zeno ran the ball in from the 3 with 6:08 remaining, cutting the Bulldog led to 49-21.

The Bulldogs hit the road for the first time this season next Saturday when they face Auburn (3-1, 0-1) at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

POST-GAME NOTES

*Offensive Highlights: In tonight’s 49-21 win, Georgia tallied a season-high 581 yards of total offense on 76 plays. In the first half, the Bulldogs gained 322 yards on 40 plays in building a 28-14 lead.

Georgia scored a TD on its first possession of a game for the first time this season. The Bulldogs went 75 yards on six plays in 2:51 for a 7-0 lead. The drive was capped by a 12-yard pass from Carson Beck to Arian Smith. After UAB tied the game at 7, Georgia responded with a 72-yard TD drive on nine plays in 4:04 for a 14-7 edge. Also, Georgia went 92 yards on seven plays in 2:32 to build a 21-7 lead. This TD drive featured a 41-yard TD catch by junior Brock Bowers who finished with a team-leading 120 yards on nine catches and a pair of TDs.

In three quarters of play, junior QB Carson Beck went 22-for-32 for a career-high 337 yards and career-high 3 TDs plus he had a one-yard TD plunge. Then, QBs Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton saw action in the final quarter.

Senior WR Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint had a career-high 94 receiving yards on three catches including a career-long 50-yarder.

The Bulldogs ran for 188 yards on 36 carries with four TDs. Senior RB Daijun Edwards had a team-high 66 yards on 12 carries with two TDs. Senior Sevaugh Clark notched his first career rushing TD as it covered seven yards.

*Bowers Moving Up In the Bulldog Record Book: Junior TE Brock Bowers had a team-high nine catches for 120 yards including a 41-yard TD and a 10-yard TD. Tonight marked his eighth career game of at least 100 yards receiving and seventh time with 2 TDs in a game.

He has 22 career TD catches which is third in school history. Bowers went over the 2,000 yards receiving career mark in the second quarter. He is one of only 10 Bulldogs to have at least 2K career receiving yards and currently has 2,079, which ranks ninth.

*Red Zone Review: Georgia went 6-for-6 (6TDs) in the Red Zone while UAB went 3-for-4 (3TDs, 1 Downs). Coming in tonight, Georgia was 13-for-16 in the Red Zone with nine TDs while opponents were 4-for-4 (3 TDs, 1 FG).

*Defensive Review: UAB scored 21 points, gaining 336 yards on 77 plays. In the first half, the Blazers ran 38 plays for 163 yards and scored 14 points to trail 28-14. Last week, Georgia blanked South Carolina in the second half after allowing 14 points in the first half. In Georgia’s first two games this year, it carried a shutout to the fourth quarter in wins over UT Martin and Ball State. UAB got the second half kickoff and went three-and-out, losing two yards, and punted. Georgia took over at the UGA 41 and responded with a TD for a 35-14 edge.

Tonight, Georgia’s leading tacklers were senior Dan Jackson with six including a forced fumble and redshirt sophomore Xavian Sorey with a career-high six. Senior DL Warren Brinson registered his first sack of the year and third of his career.

Senior Tykee Smith registered his team-leading third INT after Mondon tipped it. It was the seventh INT by the Bulldogs this season. Smith has seven career INTs now. Georgia took over at the UAB 25. It led to a TD. Meanwhile, none of Georgia’s three turnovers led to any points.

*Extending The Streaks: With tonight‘s 49-21 win, top-ranked Georgia has extended its school record for consecutive victories now to 21. The streak began during the 2021 season (Dec. 31) when the Bulldogs beat #2 Michigan 34-11 in a CFP semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl.

The Bulldogs extended their school record for consecutive regular season wins to 31, which leads all of FBS, and is the second longest active streak in the NCAA behind DIII Mount Union (57 straight). This Georgia streak began during the 2020 season with a 31-24 win over Miss. State. on Nov. 21.

Georgia now has won 22 consecutive home games which ranks second in school history behind a 24-game home winning streak from 1980-83. The current home streak began with a 21-0 shutout of Kentucky on Oct. 19, 2019.

*100th Game For Head Coach: Today marked the 100th game as head coach for Kirby Smart, and he is now 85-15. The .850 winning percentage is the best over the first 100 games at one school of any coach in SEC history.

*Fumbles On Special Teams: UAB recovered a fumble on a punt return at the UGA 36. It was Georgia’s first lost fumble of the year. It led to a TD. The Bulldogs also lost a fumble on a kickoff with two seconds left in the first half. It did not lead to any points. Opponents now have scored six points off three turnovers this season.

*Captains, Coin Toss and For Starters: Senior Daijun Edwards (RB), juniors Brock Bowers (TE) and Chaz Chambliss (OLB) plus sophomore Malaki Starks (S) served as the game captains. UAB won the toss and elected to defer the football until the 2nd half.

There were two first-time starters in redshirt sophomore Dylan Fairchild (LG) and senior Warren Brinson (DL). Junior center Sedrick Van Pran made his team-leading 34th career start while junior WR Dominic Lovett made his first start at Georgia and his 13th overall.

*Honoring #77 Devin Willock: Redshirt freshman Earnest Greene III (LT), normally #71, wore #77 today in honor of his late teammate Devin Willock. A different Bulldog offensive lineman will be wearing #77 each game this season.

*Up Next: Top-ranked Georgia (4-0, 1-0 SEC) makes its first roadtrip as it faces Auburn (3-1, 0-1 SEC) Saturday, Oct. 7 at 3:30 pm ET (CBS). Texas A&M beat Auburn 27-10 earlier today in College Station, Texas.

POST-GAME QUOTES

Head Coach Kirby Smart

On the fast offensive start for the Bulldogs…
“I was excited offensively to see us come out, be aggressive and do some things. It was a good plan and a good execution of the plan. Anytime you can complete big, explosive plays it makes it easier.”

On his 85th win as head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs…
“It’s an honor. It takes a great organization, and we have one. We have an incredible academic setup. We have a
wonderful university that people want to attend. We have great leadership in our president and athletic director. It’s easy to be successful when you have the setup that we have.”

On the defensive output today…
“We played good in spurts. They create a lot of problems offensively. They do a really good job. We know their offensive coordinator, their offensive staff well, and they know us inside and out. They had a good plan. We executed well at times. The yards per catch was my frustration. I felt like they caught the ball and ran with it more than we’ve let other teams. Their quarterback was efficient, give them credit. At the end of the day if we stop them in the red zone we’d probably feel better about tonight but we didn’t get those red zone stops we needed.”

#15 Carson Beck | QB | Jr.

On a strong offensive start in the first half…
“We executed. That’s the biggest thing. We got down in the red zone – I think we were six of six – just punching it in
getting it into the end zone. I would say that’s the biggest part because we have been able to move the ball all year. We
just haven’t been able to get it in the end zone when we get in the red zone. I credit it to that. We practiced really hard at it this week. That was one of our focal points.”

On Brock Bowers’ performance today…
“He’s the best player in college football. I think every day he is important – just trying to get the ball in his hands. It’s
always a key factor of ours in whatever way we can, but obviously he had a monster day. I don’t know what his numbers were, but he had a monster day.”

On the standard of the offense…
“Our standard is physicality. It starts up front – that’s how we’ve always been. I think we had like 190 rushing yards, so I’m obviously super proud of the guys in that way. We were able to be explosive. We executed in all facets of the game. Third down and red zone were our two focal points that we really haven’t been as good as we wanted to as far as the standard goes. We got in practice this past week, executed, and we’re going to continue to improve as the season goes on.”

#78 Nazir Stackhouse | DL | Sr.

On how he would assess the defense’s performance…
“I would give us a C+,I mean, it’s not our standard, but we’re going to go out there and we’re going to work on it
throughout the week against the o-line. Obviously, we play how we practice and I believe that we haven’t really
practiced to the standard. It’s just something that we need to handle as a defensive line, as a core and we are going to
go in there, we’re going to fix in the following week.”

On a positive of tonight’s defensive performance…
“One thing I like about this game is I will say we held them under 100 yards, even though they had 86 rushing yards,
that’s still not the standard, we kind of want to hold them to under 50.”