It was the perfect football weather in Athens today as the Georgia Bulldogs kicked off their second-to-last regular season game against the UMass Minutemen “between the hedges.” 

In what was supposed to be an “easier” victory for Georgia, started off sloppy with a tie game heading into the second quarter. But once the Dawgs hunkered down late in the game, they were able to cruise to a 59-21 victory.  

Georgia quarterback Carson Beck finished the day completing 20 of 31 pass attempts for 297 yards and four touchdowns. Backup quarterback Gunner Stockton played the final 10 minutes and was 3-of-4 for 45 yards. 

Playing more of the backups and the younger guys was Georgia’s plan heading into this game all along, but the game didn’t work out quite like it was supposed to with the defense giving up 21 points early on. 

Still, a handful of the Bulldogs deep on Georgia’s depth chart saw action late in the game, and head coach Kirby Smart was overall proud of the snaps they took. 

“I was really proud of those guys, and what they did.” Didn’t play real well defensively,” Smart said. “Obviously, disappointing there — probably the best thing we need for a wake-up call. Played really well offensively, but we overmatched our opponent.” 

While it was a frustrating first half for Georiga, one of the Bulldogs that Smart didn’t have to worry about, and who had a consistent day, was their true freshman running, back Nate Frazier. 

Frazier rushed 21 times for 126 yards and three touchdowns, marking his first 100-yard game at Georgia. 

There was nothing different that Frazier did leading up to this game, though Smart noted it helped that Massachuettes’ defensive linemen were much smaller than Georgia’s offensive linemen and they capitalized on that. 

“Nothing different,” Smart said. “He did the same thing this week. He’s done every week. He competes at practice. He gets better. Let me get a big, physical offensive line against small guys, and that created a huge advantage for us.”

It’s very rare for a freshman to see that much playing time at Georgia but Frazier has had no choice but to step up in place of a banged-up running back room and has only proven time and time again that Georgia can count on him.