No. 5 Georgia (9-1) took care of business Saturday night in a dominant 35-10 victory over No. 10 Texas (7-3) behind a special game from quarterback Gunner Stockton.
The matchup was highlighted by UGA scoring 21 unanswered in the 4th quarter after a 14-10 lead over the Longhorns going into the final period. Georgia pulled away from UT with two 4th-down conversions and a perfect onside kick recovered by Cash Jones. Kirby Smart’s gutsy call to steal a possession up 21-10 helped the Dawgs put the nail in the burnt orange coffin.
The night to remember at Sanford Stadium has kept UGA in the hunt for the SEC championship and virtually punched its ticket to the College Football Playoff. For UT, the loss has put it on the outside looking in for playoff contention. It was also a memorable night for quarterback Gunner Stockton, who had a monster 5-touchdown performance. Completing 24 of 29 passes, the first-year starter threw for 229 yards and 4 touchdowns while adding 29 more yards and a touchdown on the ground. After another heroic-esque game, buzz is starting to circulate on Stockton’s chances of being in New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony in December.
A few favorites for the prestigious award going into the weekend faced adversity on the field Saturday.
Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson was a favorite going into the weekend, but the Crimson Tide fell to Oklahoma 23-21 in their 2nd loss of the season. The one-touchdown, one-interception outing has dropped Simpson’s odds to +15000 per FanDuel. Marcel Reed — quarterback of the undefeated No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies (10-0) — went down 30-3 to South Carolina (3-7) after throwing 3 interceptions in the first half, putting his Heisman hopes in doubt. He then led the biggest comeback in the FBS this year, scoring 28 unanswered for a 31-30 final and a celebration at Kyle Field. It was certainly a tale of two halves. Interestingly enough, Reed’s odds to win the award got significantly better, now at +550, giving him the third-best odds.
Last week, Gunner Stockton was sixth in Heisman odds after three touchdowns and 264 yards in a win against Mississippi State.
After taking down Texas, the quarterback from Tiger, GA, has the fifth-best odds at +2500.
This is how the current top five for Heisman odds per FanDuel shapes up:
- Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) -110
- Julian Sayin (Ohio State) +210
- Marcel Reed (Texas A&M) +500
- Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) +2000
- Gunner Stockton (Georgia) +2500
On Monday, Smart was asked to discuss his quarterback and the possibility of him winning a Heisman Trophy:
” He embodies everything about that award,” Smart said of Gunner Stockton. “Resiliency, character, determination. All those words that embody how the trophy winner, Gunner’s got it. And he’s done it on the biggest stages in front of the biggest audiences against some of the toughest competition.”
Even ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, considered by many to be the media’s face of college football, is also a huge fan of Gunner:
“This kid (Stockton), he’s played so well in these big games,” Herbstreit said on Saturday night after calling the Georgia-Texas game. “He had five total touchdowns tonight and five incompletions against Texas, top-10 team.”
Stockton has 2,619 total yards and 27 touchdowns on the season. Next week, he continues his campaign to be named college football’s best player against Charlotte at 12:45 p.m. ET.
