Georgia 63, Tennessee State 3: Slightly Sloppy Bulldogs Still Way Too Much For Tigers
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The Georgia Bulldogs were a physical mismatch for the Tennessee State Tigers, but played the officials to and their own clumsiness surprisingly close this afternoon to take a 42-3 victory.
The Red and Black came out of the gates humming. The Dawgs scored touchdowns on their first five possessions, with Nate Frazier opening the scoring by slicing through the Tennessee State defense for a 45 yard touchdown run on the opening drive. He would add a 14 yard untouched touchdown jaunt, while Gunner Stockton tossed touchdown passes to Talyn Taylor, Elyiss Williams, and Jaden Reddell. Stockton looked midseason polished, completing 15 of 16 passes for 202 yards and those 3 touchdowns before yielding to Ryan Puglisi.
Frazier would end the day with 3 touchdowns and 72 yards on only 4 carries, a tidy 18.0 yards per carry behind a massive Bulldog offensive line that looked every bit as promising as we have hoped they would be. Again, the competition will get tougher from here. But t
The defense likewise came out of the locker room with fire in its eyes. The hapless TSU Tigers didn’t manage a first down until just under the 7:00 minute mark until halftime, and were stuck at 0 total yards until that same juncture. Gabe Harris rocked quarterback Daylin Lee on the first possession, and looked great in his return from toe surgery.
Then things sort of went pear-shaped. Ryan Puglisi came in for Stockton and the offense stalled out. Peyton Woodring stroked a perfect 38 yard field goal but it was called back because the Bulldogs lined up with two players each wearing #51. That sort of thing is frowned upon by the folks wearing zebra striped shirts. After backing up five yards the Red and Black botched the snap and hold and came away empty handed.
The defense, then also beginning to substitute, allowed the Tigers to sustain their first scoring drive of the day. It began with a hands to the face penalty on Joseph Jonah-Ajonye that allowed the first of the Tigers first downs.
It would be only the first of a metric ton of penalties on the Bulldogs, 8 in total for 85 yards, some of them (a hands to the face penalty on Jaden Reddell for an exuberant stiff arm) a little questionable, but most just the result of basic boneheadedness. That’s something that will need to be fixed before the schedule gets real later this month.
That being said we saw the tantalizing whispers of what could be a very good football team. We also saw what could be a very bright future. Freshmen Kaiden Prothro and Jae Lamar scored the first touchdowns of their Bulldog careers, as did receiver Jeremy Bell, who caught a beautiful touchdown from third string QB Ryan Montgomery. To my eye Montgomery looked a little cleaner throwing the ball than Puglisi, but we’ll have to see how that rivalry plays out in the months to come.
What we learned is that Georgia does indeed have a roster deep with freakish athletes, and that the veterans at the vanguard of the lineup are as good as we remembered them being from their 2025 SEC Championship season. Ultimately it’s hard to find fault with a game in which you churn out 661 yards of offense, and surrender only 119. We didn’t learn much about how Georgia stacks up to Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas, but we did see signs that should give Bulldog fans some things to look forward to.
As Nate Frazier said on the field after the game “there’s always room for improvement.” But so far, so good for the 2026 Georgia Bulldogs. Until later…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
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