If you were thinking the Georgia Bulldogs' opener against Arkansas on Saturday was going to bring some clarity to the quarterback situation, think again.
Even after junior Stetson Bennett came off the bench to rally the No. 4-ranked Bulldogs to a 37-10 victory, coach Kirby Smart wasn’t ready to pronounce him the starter heading into next Saturday’s home opener against No. 8 Auburn.
“We’ll decide this week how we’re going to go forward,” Smart told reporters at Reynolds-Razorback Stadium. “We’ve got to go back and watch the tape.”
The video will show that D’Wan Mathis didn’t play very well in his first career start and that JT Daniels didn’t play at all. It will also show that Bennett, the almost-forgotten third party in this four-party play, played fantastic, especially in the third quarter.
The redshirt junior from Blackshear relieved Mathis with 10:07 remaining in the first half and Georgia trailing 7-2. By the time he left the game and Mathis returned to the field late in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs were leading 34-10.
“That’s the juice we needed; he gave us the juice we needed,” Smart said.
It was an amazing performance by a player who came to Georgia as a walkon, left for junior college in pursuit of a grant-in-aid and came back with a scholarship offer. Bennett’s play before Saturday had been limited to spot-duty as a reserve, and mostly at the end of blowout games. This was only his sixth appearance at Georgia, with no starts.
But Saturday, Bennett provided the spark for an offense that had none in its first six possessions. He led Georgia on a 59-yard field-goal drive in the last minute of the first half, then finally got the offense rolling in the third quarter with back-to-back scoring drives. With him under center Georgia outscored the Razorbacks 32-3.
“The two-minute drill really boosted my confidence before the half,” Bennett said. “I felt more comfortable with the guys and went in there knowing what we were going to do.”
Bennett finished the day with a solid quarterback rating of 152.8 as he completed 20 of 29 passes for 211 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also gained 20 yards rushing on five carries, not including a beautiful, pylon-tapping two-point conversion to extend the lead in the third quarter.
Daniels is the most experienced of Georgia’s quarterbacks with 742 snaps and 12 starts at Southern Cal. But, despite traveling with the team to Fayetteville, he was unable to gain medical clearance to play. Daniels is still recovering from surgery to his right knee. Smart said Daniels “could factor it” if he’s cleared this week.
The 6-foot-6, 210-pound Mathis earned the start based on his performance in preseason camp. But he had a tough time in his first college game. Hampered by the Bulldogs' lack of rushing attack and penalties galore, Mathis nonetheless made plenty of mistakes on his own. He threw an interception, mishandled a snap and ran out of bounds short of the first-down marker, among other things. He finished 8-of-17 passing for 55 yards with 4 yards rushing.
“Not all the things that went wrong were D’Wan’s fault,” Smart said. “I know people will want to blame D’Wan. … But at the end of the day it’s up to all of us to get it right.”
No matter what happens going forward, Bennett will have the memory of coming off the bench to rally Georgia to a victory. The son of UGA alums, Bennett returned to Georgia from Jones County (Miss.) with no guarantees he’d ever get this chance.
“When I left I didn’t think I’d be back, but when I came back I thought I could be here,” Bennett said of playing a vital role. “It felt nice.”
Bennett said he had no idea whether he’d play or not Saturday. Georgia brought in Jamie Newman as a graduate transfer last January, then Daniels over the summer. With Daniels unable to play, the coaches chose instead to go with the untried redshirt freshman in Mathis.
If he didn’t know better, Bennett might have thought the Bulldogs didn’t want to play him.
“At the end of the day, Coach Smart is bringing everybody in here to compete and he’s trying to win a national championship," Bennett said. "If those guys coming in give us the best chance to win a national championship, you know, that’s what we’ll do. But you just have to compete with those guys every day.”
Said Smart: “I’m proud and happy for Stetson. I wouldn’t take that moment away from him, no way in the world. He did a great job. He rallied the guys around him, and I think they saw his competitive spirit.”
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