ATHENS — Gunner Stockton did not have a problem with the decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 with 13:20 remaining in the fourth quarter.
He didn’t have a problem with offensive coordinator Mike Bobo’s play call, an outside zone run to the right side with Cash Jones carrying the ball.
Stockton doesn’t have the ability to call his own plays, but he staunchly supported the series of events that led to the disastrous play in Georgia’s 24-21 loss.
“Yeah, coach (Mike) Bobo gets paid to call plays, and I have 1,000% confidence in coach Bobo, and he made the right call,” Stockton said. “They made a good play, so they got us.”
Stockton came up a yard short after a rush on the previous down. Outside of sacks, it was one of only four rushing attempts on the night for Stockton. He had only 20 passes on the night, a byproduct of Alabama’s third-down dominance when it held the ball.
Georgia conversely went 2-of-8 on third-down conversions, not succeeding until midway through the third quarter on a 21-yard run by Stockton.
Stockton got off to a slow start, misfiring on all four of his first-quarter pass attempts. But he found Zachariah Branch for an 8-yard gain on Georgia’s first play of the second quarter. Then he completed a long pass to Colbie Young for a 38-yard touchdown.
“He’s amazing. He’s a great quarterback, and I stand behind him every day,” Young said of Stockton. “Like I said in the media before, he makes amazing throws, amazing plays, and he made that amazing check on my touchdown play, and I trust him 100%.”
Stockton likely should have had another touchdown, as freshman receiver Talyn Taylor got behind the Alabama defense in the third quarter. Stockton put it right on the money to Taylor, but the freshman receiver dropped the pass.
Georgia would punt two plays later on what was the drive before the fateful fourth-down decision.
“I told him it ain’t the end of the world,” Stockton said. “I promise you. I messed up today, so it ain’t the end of the world.”
Georgia had only 130 passing yards on the afternoon, but the Bulldogs ran for 227 yards, the most against Alabama since Kirby Smart became Georgia’s coach.
Smart did think Georgia missed some opportunities from a passing standpoint, but overall, he was encouraged by the direction of the offense.
“For Gunner, there was a couple times (the) pocket broke down, and he tried to protect the ball, but I don’t know that it was a rushing issue,” Smart said. “I think it was probably a third-down conversion. Not great. Sure not as good as them, and then being able to throw the ball and catch the ball with more consistency. We’ve got to be able to do that. We know what our identity is. We know who we are.”
Stockton echoed Smart in terms of praising the Georgia rushing attack. It helped make his job easier, even if it did take the ball out of his hands at times.
Bobo always is a popular punching bag for the fan base. In a game where Georgia scored a season-low 21 points and lost by three with a controversial late-game play, playcalling became an easy topic to scrutinize.
But Smart made the call to go up-tempo before the fourth-down play. And Stockton knows it is on him to go out and execute.
“I think we ran the ball well, and we controlled the line of scrimmage,” Stockton said. “And coach Bobo did a great job. We just got to execute for him, and today it starts with me looking at myself in the mirror.”
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