Number one Georgia scored 21 points in the second quarter and then pulled away from UAB in the second half for a 49-21 win over the Blazers in the 100th game of Kirby Smart’s tenure as the Bulldogs head coach.
Georgia improved to 4-0 on the season while Smart improved his overall record to 85-15 in Athens. The .850 winning percentage is the best over the first 100 games at one school of any coach in SEC history.
“It’s an honor. It takes a great organization, and we have one,” Smart said. “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.”
The Bulldogs also continued their impressive run over the last two and a half seasons as they extended their school record overall winning streak to 21 games dating back to their 34-11 win over Michigan in the 2021 CFP semifinal,
The Bulldogs also extended their home winning streak to 22 games going all the way back to a 21-0 win over Kentucky in October of 2019.
Georgia quarterback Carson Beck completed 22 of 32 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns. Beck has now thrown for 1,183 yards and six touchdowns in the Bulldogs’ first four games.
The Bulldogs got on the scoreboard on their first drive of the night as Beck found Arian Smith on a 12-yard touchdown pass. It was the fifth TD catch of Smith’s career and his first since a 76-yard reception against Ohio State in last season’s Peach Bowl.
Following Mekhi Mews’ fumble on a punt return late in the first quarter, the Blazers scored their initial points of the first half less than a minute later as quarterback Jacob Zeno hit tight end Bryce Damous on a 16-yard scoring strike.
The Bulldogs then followed with touchdowns on their next three possessions to build a 28-7 advantage late in the first half. Daijun Edwards scored on two of the drives while Beck found All-America tight end Brock Bowers on the other. It was Bowers’ first touchdown catch of the season.
UAB scored a late touchdown in the first half to cut Georgia’s lead to 28-14. The Blazers drove 70 yards on 9 plays in just over a minute as Zeno found freshman receiver Amare Thomas on a 2-yard scoring pass.
UAB also got the football to start the second half but following a three-and-out forced by the Bulldogs’ defense, the Georgia offense struck quickly as Beck scored on a one-yard run to cap a 59-yard drive to give the Bulldogs a 35-14 lead.
Following another UAB punt, the Bulldogs took over at their own 39-yard line and scored 4 plays later as Beck found Bowers on a ten-yard touchdown pass. The touchdown catch was the 22nd of Bowers’ illustrious career. The junior from Napa, California finished the game with 120 receiving yards and now has 2,079 in his career moving him into 9th place on Georgia’s all-time list, just 20 yards shy of Lindsay Scott.
“He’s (Bowers) the best player in college football,” Beck said. “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.”
Georgia’s final touchdown of the night came on senior running back Sevaughn Clark’s first career rushing TD, a 7-yard scamper with just over nine minutes remaining.
The Bulldogs get back in action next Saturday as they hit the road to take on the Auburn Tigers. It’ll be Georgia’s first road game of the season with kickoff set for 3:30 eastern time. The Tigers are 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the SEC after a 27-10 loss to Texas A&M earlier in the day.
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