The Georgia Bulldogs are bringing home the SEC Championship trophy, beating the Texas Longhorns for the second time this season in a 22-19 overtime victory. This is the 17th SEC championship in Georgia’s history and Kirby Smart’s third as head coach. The win didn’t come without drama. Starting quarterback Carson Beck suffered an injury to his throwing elbow on the last play of the second quarter. Backup quarterback Gunner Stockton got his first experience against an SEC opponent in the second half, leading Georgia’s offense to 223 yards in the second half and bringing home the victory.

Texas found their way to the SEC title game in their first season in the conference. The Bulldogs beat the Longhorns 30-15 in October, but Texas survived the rest of their schedule unblemished going 11-1. 

Texas opened up the game with the ball and started moving it early until Daylon Everette tipped a Quinn Ewers pass to himself for the interception. Georgia’s offense flubbed their good field position, going three and out on their subsequent drive. Texas’s offense found life after a 50 yard pass to Matthew Golden set up a 41-yard field goal by Bert Auburn, putting the Horns up 3-0. Georgia stalled again on their next drive, and Texas took their time in the next 14 plays, driving it 56 yards and kicking another field goal, making it 6-0. 

The first half ended with Georgia struggling to maintain drives. The Longhorns held the ball for 20:02 of the first half compared to Georgia’s 9:58. To make matters worse, Mike Bobo was in the locker room preparing his backup quarterback to face the number one defense in the nation. 

Gunner Stockton listened, and in his first drive he led the Dawgs 75-yards in 10 plays finished off by a Trevor Etienne ten-yard rushing touchdown. Both teams traded scoreless drives before Bert Auburn missed a 51-yard field goal, his second miss of the game. 

It was only a minute into the fourth quarter when Quinn Ewers found DeAndre Moore Jr. on a 41-yard touchdown, tying the game at 13 apiece. The Georgia offense responded, taking the ball all the way down to the Texas goal line, eating nine minutes off of the 4th quarter game clock, resulting in a Woodring field goal to make the score 16-13. 

Daylon Everette nearly sealed the game with a late interception until Stockton’s lack of experience nearly cost Georgia the game when he threw a costly interception late in the 4th after being pressured by the Texas defensive line. Texas ran the 2-minute drill giving Bert Auburn a chance to tie the game with 18 seconds remaining, which he did, sending the game into overtime.

Texas failed to find the endzone in their first overtime possession. Georgia took over, and after Gunner Stockton took a big hit on 2nd down and had to leave the game, and injured Carson Beck stepped in to hand the ball off to Trevor Etienne who put Georgia on top 22-19, and the celebration ensued. 

After the game, Georgia players hailed the Rabun Gap quarterback as the hero of the night. “We had full confidence in [Stockton] to get the job done,” senior Lineman Tate Ratledge said. “He did a great job stepping up when he had to.” Kirby Smart added, “The players believe in Gunner. They love Gunner. The offensive staff did a great job helping him out in how they called the game. And he did a great job executing.”

The win secured the 2 seed in the college football playoffs. Georgia will play the winner of Notre Dame vs. Indiana on January 1st.