Associated Press photo by Curtis Compton / Georgia tailback James Cook, right, gets past Vanderbilt safety Tae Daley for a touchdown during the first quarter of Saturday night’s SEC East matchup in Nashville.NASHVILLE – The Georgia Bulldogs opened a football season full of promise with a Swift whipping of Vanderbilt.
Racking up 244 yards and three touchdowns through its first three possessions, Georgia built a 21-0 lead and cruised to a 30-6 thumping before a mostly red-clad sellout crowd of 40,350 at Vanderbilt Stadium. Junior running back D’Andre Swift repeatedly broke into open field by rushing 16 times for 147 yards and averaging 9.2 yards per carry, while junior quarterback Jake Fromm completed 15 of 23 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown for the Bulldogs.
Swift surpassed 100 yards during Georgia’s final four regular-season games last season against Power Five conference opponents and did it again as the Bulldogs won their 13th straight contest against a Southeastern Conference Eastern Division foe dating to the start of the 2017 season.
“I thought I could have played a little better and that we left some plays out there, but I’m happy with the win and the way I started,” Swift said. “We came out strong, and our defense did a phenomenal job all night. We just need to work on finishing more on offense.”
Georgia was opening against an SEC opponent for the first time since 1995, when South Carolina visited Sanford Stadium, and Saturday marked the first time the Bulldogs and the Commodores had opened a season against each other since 1956.