georgia football jalen carter daijun edwards

ATHENS — Kirby Smart didn’t spend much time handing out accolades Saturday afternoon in Nashville, or Georgia might have missed its return flight home.

The No. 2-ranked Bulldogs (4-0) dominated a pitiful Vanderbilt team (1-3) by a 62-0 count. It could have been much, much worse if Smart had not pulled starting quarterback JT Daniels in the first quarter or allowed his team to attempt a pass in the fourth quarter.

The Georgia fans who traveled were at least treated to two entertaining quarters of football — The offense managed only 3 points in the second quarter with Stetson Bennett at QB and didn’t throw at all in the fourth quarter with Carson Beck under center.

Still, there were some breakout performances worth noting that carry great promise into another Top 10 showdown week.

Beloved former UGA assistant Sam Pittman brings his No. 8-ranked Razorbacks to Athens for a noon showdown next Saturday.

Stock Soaring

Brock Bowers: The Georgia freshman tight end is off to a raging start with a team-high 272 yards on 18 catches through the first four games of the season. Bowers scored the opening TD on a 12-yard run, too.

Ladd McConkey: The redshirt freshman had his breakout game with 62 yards receiving on 4 catches and a 24-yard TD run that rates as the longest run of the season by anyone. McConkey also returned 2 punts for 19 yards and may be ready to assume those duties.

JT Daniels: Daniels was just about perfect, 9-of-10 passing for 131 yards and 2 touchdowns — the only incomplete was a drop. The early hook might cost Daniels when postseason awards are handed out, but the USC transfer is a team-first player.

Jalen Carter: The sophomore nose tackle was dominating, even if the statistics don’t do his disruptiveness justice. Carter had three tackles, including one for loss, and a QB hurry.

Kamari Lassiter: The freshman corner recorded his first career interception and saw valuable reps. It’s significant because UGA is very thin at corner, and Lassiter could emerge as an even more key contributor by November.

Stock up

Jack Podlesny: The Georgia kicker seems to have found his “stroke,” as he made all 8 extra points and field goals of 31 and 36 yards.

Christopher Smith: The senior safety recorded his second interception of the season, and while not as dramatic as the first, it shows Smith is still ball-hawking.

Daijun Edwards: The sophomore back led the team with 10 carries and he made them count for 46 yards and a touchdown. His 15-yard run was the longest among the backs. Edwards also recovered a kickoff fumble and returned it 16 yards.

Team defense: The Bulldogs had 25 different players make at least one tackle.

Stock even

Stetson Bennett: The Bulldogs veteran quarterback is certainly capable, but he threw his second interception in as many games. Other than that, he was 11-of-15 passing for 151 yards with a touchdown.

Carson Beck: Beck didn’t do much other than handoff, only 1-of-3 passing for 11 yards, but more bothersome was three motion penalties inside the 10 that seemed related to his “hard count.”

Short-yardage runs: Georgia did almost everything right against Vanderbilt, but it was disappointing to see James Cook stuffed on a fourth-and-1 at the Commodores’ 3-yard line. Kenny McIntosh was stopped on third-and-1 the play before.