Georgia shakes off Vandy in SEC opener
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Georgia coach Mark Richt has to be thankful he has Nick Chubb on his roster to help make up for the Bulldogs’ anemic passing game.
Chubb ran for 189 yards, Isaiah McKenzie returned a punt 77 yards for a touchdown, and No. 10 Georgia beat Vanderbilt 3114 on Saturday in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
Sony Michel had a 31yard touchdown run and the Bulldogs (2-0) shook off a sluggish start that included linebacker Lorenzo Carter’s ejection for targeting and a shanked field goal.
Jordan Jenkins had two of Georgia’s three sacks, and the Bulldogs intercepted three passes, with Dominick Sanders returning the third 88 yards for the final touchdown. Richt said the Bulldogs made enough mistakes to lose and luckily did enough right to win.
“Just to get out of a game like this with a victory and still be able to learn from it will be very valuable to us, and that’ll be our goal,” Richt said.
Chubb and the Bulldogs’ offense helped Georgia overcome a shaky performance by its quarterbacks by rolling up 281 yards rushing. Greyson Lambert didn’t complete a pass in the first half and didn’t complete a pass until his eighth attempt early in the third quarter. He was 11 of 21 for 116 yards, and Brice Ramsey was 2 of 4 for 25 yards off the bench.
Lambert said he needed to calm down with the Bulldogs not changing their game plan.
“We know if we do our job it’ll come, but I’ve got to do a better job of throwing the football in the first half,” Lambert said.
Vanderbilt (0-2) was trying to beat Georgia in Nashville in backto-back games for the first time since the 1950s. The Commodores pulled to 24-14 and recovered an onside kick with 4:30 left, but Jake Ganus intercepted Johnny McCrary’s pass