Dan Mullen Georgia Stetson Bennett

ATHENS — Count former SEC head coach and QB guru Dan Mullen among those impressed with Stetson Bennett.

Mullen, most recently the head coach of the Florida Gators, put Bennett’s growth into perspective during his analysis on ABC at halftime of the LSU-Florida State game on Sunday night.

“Last year it was always, can they win despite Stetson Bennett? Let’s put everything on everybody else and not let him make mistakes.” said Mullen, who went 1-1 in games coached against Georgia with Bennett as the Bulldogs’ starter in 2020 and 2021.

The Bulldogs won last year’s game with Florida, 34-7, but it was on the strength of a defense that forced three turnovers and scored a touchdown.

Bennett was 10-of-19 passing for 161 yards with a TD and two interceptions against Mullen’s final Gators’ team.

Bennett’s performance against Oregon, however, was anything but lackluster.

Georgia became the first SEC team in four years to score TDs on its first seven drives in a game, and Bennett was named the Walter Camp National Player of the Week.

“He was THE guy,” Mullen said. “He played like this is my team, and I can carry us to victory.”

Mullen has coached some notable quarterbacks, directing future NFL quarterbacks Alex Smith at Utah and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow as a QB coach, and Dak Prescott (Mississippi State) and Kyle Track (Florida) as a head coach.

Bennett may have opened some NFL scouts eyes on Saturday in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, executing Todd Monken’s offensive game plan to near perfection.

Bennett was effective throwing downfield when needed and he scrambled out of trouble on the occasions the Oregon pass rush got through the offensive line.

Bennett was a cool 25-of-31 passing for 368 yards and 2 touchdowns before Carson Beck relieved him in the third quarter and continued the onslaught going 5-of-6 passing for 71 yards with a touchdown.

“You saw a ton of stuff on the perimeter,” Oregon safety Bennett Williams said when DawgNation asked him about the UGA game plan in the postgame press conference at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“It was all out, quick screens. I think they had one deep ball, and they weren’t running the ball down our throat. It was all perimeter scheme.”

Oregon coach Dan Lanning confirmed the game plan was to challenge the Bulldogs on the perimeter.

Bennett, however, was accurate in the quick pass game, getting the ball out to playmakers often and letting them go to work.

Bennett was 10-of-10 passing for 138 yards on throws to his running backs, with starter Kenny McIntosh doing most of the damage with 9 receptions for 117 yards.

It was a much different game plan that Florida saw from Bennett last season in Jacksonville, with the Bulldogs rushing 33 times for 193 yards including Zamir White’s 42 yard touchdown run.

Bennett’s 368 yards against the Ducks was a personal best and represented the most for a Georgia quarterback since JT Daniels passed for 392 yards in a 24-21 Peach Bowl win over a No. 8-ranked Cincinnati.

Georgia’s 46-point victory margin over No. 11-ranked Oregon was the program’s largest ever against an AP Top 25 opponent.