Some records you put on, and you know by the second track you're in for something great. Some records skip.
Saturday, the record skipped.
I'm Thad Okafor-Brandt. I spun indie rock on college radio in Athens for years before I figured out that a good defensive call sheet reads exactly like a good set list: open strong, build tension, save the big one for the end. I review every Georgia game like an album, and every album gets a verdict. Some weeks, that's a joy. This week, it's a growth opportunity.
Track one on the set list: honesty.
Part 1: Album Review, "Auburn 27, Georgia 24"
Here's the liner-notes version. Auburn beat us 27-24 at Sanford Stadium on a 34-yard field goal by Alex McPherson as time expired. We were ranked No. 1 for exactly one week. The AP poll now has us at No. 5.
Side A opened like a classic. On the very first play, Gunner Stockton went into the turf helmet-first and had to come out. So Ryan Puglisi came in and completed all three of his passes, including a 41-yarder to Craig Dandridge Jr., and Dwight Phillips Jr. finished the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run. Stockton came back on the next possession and threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to tight end Lawson Luckie. 14-0, Georgia. I was already writing "instant classic" in the margin.
And then the album went somewhere I didn't expect. Auburn scored the next 24 points. Its first touchdown came on a trick play, a 24-yard pass from receiver Christian Neptune. Byrum Brown, Auburn's 235-pound quarterback, wore our defense down with his legs, running 26 times for 115 yards. Our defense was on the field for 45 plays in the first half, the AP noted. Auburn outrushed us 192 to 113.
Side B is where it got dramatic. Peyton Woodring hit a 42-yard field goal, and then Stockton led a 13-play, 94-yard drive starting at our own 6, finishing it with a 4-yard touchdown pass to London Humphreys. Tied at 24 with 2:58 left. That drive is the best track on the record, and I'll defend it forever.
Then the hidden track nobody wanted. We got the ball back and drove to the Auburn 46, and Stockton lost a fumble with 58 seconds left. A roughing-the-passer penalty helped set up McPherson's kick. Auburn's sideline emptied onto the field.
The Credits
Stockton completed 22 of 34 passes for 272 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, and coach Kirby Smart said afterward that Stockton played through a stinger in his throwing shoulder. Respect. Dandridge caught four passes for 88 yards, Talyn Taylor four for 64. Phillips ran for 68 yards on 10 carries. Raylen Wilson had 10 tackles and a sack, and Chris Cole added 10 tackles.
The AP noted three turnovers and three personal fouls, and the loss ended our nine-game winning streak over Auburn and our 53-game run against unranked opponents. Fifty-three straight. That's a career-spanning box set. It's okay for a box set to end.
The Verdict
Half a classic. A brilliant opening, a gorgeous comeback track, and a final song that I'll be skipping on future listens. Every great band has an album like this one. The good ones learn from it.
The Discography So Far
We're 6-1 and 4-1 in the SEC. We beat Tennessee State 63-3 and Western Kentucky 70-20, won at Arkansas 45-17, then beat Oklahoma 41-13 and Vanderbilt 38-14. Then, one week before the Auburn game, we won 20-17 at Alabama. We score 43 points a game and allow 15.9. One skipped record doesn't erase a discography.
Part 2: The Studio Week, Then Atlanta
Georgia has an open date this Saturday, Oct. 24. No game. That's the honest schedule note. The Dawgs get a week in the studio to remix, rest and heal.
Then on Saturday, Oct. 31, we play No. 20 Florida at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, with kickoff listed for 3:30 p.m. Eastern. The rivalry has lived in Jacksonville since 1933, but with Jacksonville's stadium under renovation, it's in Atlanta this year and in Tampa next year. A Georgia-Florida game, in Georgia's capital city. I don't make the rules, friends. I just enjoy the venue.
Let me be gracious first, because a good critic gives credit. Florida won 27-24 at No. 7 Texas last Saturday, with quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. throwing two touchdown passes in his first career start. Its defense sacked Arch Manning five times and held the ball for more than 38 minutes. That's a real performance, and the Gators earned it.
Now, the full discography, because a critic listens to the whole catalog. Florida started 4-0 and climbed to No. 8 in the AP poll. Then it lost 45-17 at Missouri and 38-19 at home to South Carolina. Before the Texas game, the AP noted, Florida's defense ranked last in the SEC. For the season, the Gators allow 28.3 points a game. We allow 15.9.
Gainesville gave the world Tom Petty, and friends, I'd never start a feud with Tom Petty. But a 4-0 start, followed by two blowout losses? That's "Free Fallin'." I'm just reading the track list.
Who to Watch
Gunner Stockton, our quarterback: 1,570 yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions this season. He played through a stinger and still led a 94-yard tying drive. That's a headliner.
Raylen Wilson: leads us in tackles, with 44, and sacks, with four. He's the bass player. You don't always notice him, but nothing works without him.
Dwight Phillips Jr.: our leading rusher, 348 yards on 47 carries.
Jadan Baugh, Florida running back: 763 yards and 13 touchdowns. Our defense allows 91.4 rushing yards a game, and this will be the matchup of the afternoon.
Myles Graham, Florida linebacker: 48 tackles and the forced fumble that ended the Texas game.
The Back Catalog
CollegeFootballData.com's count has Georgia leading the series 58-44-2, and we've won the last five meetings: 34-7, 42-20, 43-20, 34-20 and, last year, 24-20. Five straight. That's what we call a greatest-hits collection.
Liner Notes: A Tale of Two Towns
Athens. The 2020 census counted 127,315 people in the Classic City, and the 2020 book "Cool Town" describes Athens as the model of 1980s indie culture. R.E.M., the B-52's, Widespread Panic and Drive-By Truckers all came out of here, and there are commemorative plaques on the sidewalk in front of the Georgia Theatre and the 40 Watt Club. Sanford Stadium holds 93,033, and its privet hedges have surrounded the field since the first game in 1929. The idea came from a Georgia athletic official who loved the roses at the Rose Bowl, but roses don't suit our climate, so we planted hedges, and a legend took root. Uga, our English bulldog, has belonged to the Seiler family of Savannah since 1956. He travels with the team and stays in the team hotel in his own room. And Georgia claims national titles from 1980, 2021 and 2022, with back-to-back College Football Playoff championships.
Gainesville. Now, Gainesville is a fine town. But here's a fun liner note. Gatorade was invented in Gainesville in the 1960s to help refresh the Florida football team. Friends, they had to invent a whole new drink just to survive their own home games. Steve Spurrier named the stadium the Swamp in 1992, and he explained that a swamp is hot and sticky and can be dangerous. That's the official mission statement. Hot, sticky and dangerous. In Athens, our mission statement is a hedge. You can sit next to a hedge without breaking a sweat.
And there's a 21,000-acre wilderness called Paynes Prairie on the south side of Gainesville. I hear alligators live there. That's the thing about the Gators: their natural habitat is a prairie south of town. Their unnatural habitat, until the Texas game, was the bottom of the SEC defensive rankings.
Encore
Here's my final note. A great band doesn't break up after one skipped record. It goes back to the studio, listens to the tape, fixes the bridge and comes back louder. We have a week in the studio. We have a quarterback who plays through stingers, a defense that allows 15.9 a game and a five-game streak in this rivalry. And on Oct. 31, in Atlanta, we get to play the encore.
Track nine on the set list: blitz. Go Dawgs.