georgia vanderbilt Kirby Smart

ATHENS —Kirby Smart told the world he wanted his Georgia football team to get off to a fast start, and, presto!

What Kirby Smart wants these days, Kirby gets.

The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs struck like lightning against Vanderbilt en route to the 55-0 win.

“We want to start fast,” Smart said as Georgia took the field on Saturday at Sanford Stadium, “and we want to be explosive.”

The Bulldogs had failed to score in the first quarter in their previous two games with Missouri and Auburn.

Some wondered if the offense was still dialed in after the season-opening 49-3 in over Oregon and 48-6 stomp job on South Carolina in Game Three.

Stetson Bennett answered that question by leading the Bulldogs on four touchdown drives on their first five possession en route to a 28-0 halftime lead.

“We started fast,” Smart acknowledged, “We still had one wasted drive (in the first half). We’ve got to convert.”

Bennett finished 24-of-30 passing for 289 yards and 2 touchdowns, both scoring passes coming in the first half.

The Bulldogs had failed to score first-quarter points in the past two games, leading to Smart’s goal for a fast start against the Commodores.

The Georgia head coach certainly knew his team would be capable — Vanderbilt entered the game 130th (of 131 teams) in the nation in pass defense, and 126th in the country win total defense.

Smart and his staff knew the importance of getting the offense on track with a back-loaded schedule consisting of …

• Florida (Jacksonville), Oct. 29

• Tennessee (Athens), Nov. 5

• Mississippi State (Starkville), Nov. 12

• Kentucky (Lexington), Nov. 19

• Georgia Tech (Athens), Nov. 26

Bennett, who entered the weekend 10th in the Heisman Trophy odds but with only 5 TD passes in six games, cashed in early, often and downfield.

Bennett asserted himself with deep completions to Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint (28 yards), Dominick Blaylock (25 yards) and Darnell Washington (34 yards).

The deeper passes had been a problem through the first half of the season.

Bennett entered the day 7-of-23 for 181 yards on throws that traveled more than 20 yards through the first six games.

Smart kept the pedal down on the Commodores, going for a fourth-and-10 in the third quarter with a 31-0 lead.

It was a sign of Smart’s confidence in the offense, and also, evidence of a much more aggressive mindset.

Smart had seen enough from Bennett to remove him from the game before the fourth quarter.

But that didn’t mean the Bulldogs were done throwing the football.

Carson Beck came out firing in the fourth quarter, attempting his first passes since the third game of the year against South Carolina.

Beck completed his first seven passes for 94 yards and a TD before a walk-on dropped a perfectly thrown ball.

Beck, who finished 8-of-11 passing for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns, fired a second touchdown pass with 7:21 left to Arik Gilbert, leaving the scoreboard tilted at 48-0.

Gilbert recorded his first catch and touchdown since transferring into the program from LSU following the 2020 season and sitting out 2021.

Reserve running back Cash Jones capped the game’s scoring with a 36-yard touchdown run with 1:31 left, making it 55-0.

The Bulldogs beat Vanderbilt 62-0 last season in Nashville.

Saturday marked the Commodores’ first trip to Athens since 2018.

Vanderbilt canceled out twice on UGA in 2020, citing Covid-related issues in skipping the game which led to UGA not having a Senior Day for what would have been the winningest class in school history had the teams played.

Georgia does not play next Saturday before returning to game action at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 29 against Florida in Jacksonville.