Georgia traveled to Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday and improved to 6-0 with a 45-14 blowout win over the Vanderbilt Commodores. The Bulldogs tightened their grip on second place in the SEC Country Power Poll in the process.
The 2017 SEC Country Power Poll, consisting of 26 voters from around the SEC, placed Georgia in the No. 2 spot behind the Alabama Crimson Tide. This is the fourth consecutive week Georgia has been ranked second.
Despite staying put in the SEC Country Power Poll, Georgia did make moves in the traditional Top 25 polls, thanks to Oklahoma’s upset loss to Iowa State. Georgia jumped from No. 5 to No. 4 in the AP poll and from No. 6 to No. 5 in the coaches poll.
The win over Vanderbilt featured another dominant performance by the Georgia defense. Although the Bulldogs’ streak of two games without allowing a touchdown was snapped, they still limited the Commodores to 14 points, 7 of which came when a Jacob Eason fumble was returned to the 1-yard line in fourth quarter garbage time. Vanderbilt gained just 236 yards of total offense on the afternoon.
Georgia’s greatest weapon in the win was its rushing game. The Bulldogs gained 423 yards and scored 4 touchdowns on the ground. Per usual, senior tailbacks Nick Chubb and Sony Michel led the way, with Chubb rushing for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Michel totaling 150 yards and a touchdown.
“They do everything right,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of his two senior tailbacks. “What they’ve done for this university, we can never repay them for what they’ve done for this university. They’ve come back. They give so much. They care about it. They did it, not for themselves, but for everyone else on the team. That’s lost in college football a lot of times. You don’t see guys who do that. It shows how much they care.”
Georgia returns to Athens this Saturday for a homecoming showdown with the 1-4 Missouri Tigers. Missouri ranks 14th out of 14 teams in the SEC Country Power Poll.
Your Week 6 Power Poll rankings
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS | 1ST PLACEVOTES | PREV | HIGHVOTE | LOWVOTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama (13 - 1) | 338 | 26 | 111 | ||
| 2 | Georgia (13 - 2) | 310 | 0 | 223 | ||
| 3 | Auburn (10 - 4) | 288 | 0 | 323 | ||
| 4 | Texas A&M (7 - 6) | 241 | 0 | 549 | ||
| 5 | LSU (9 - 4) | 201 | 0 | 1059 | ||
| 6 | Florida (4 - 7) | 197 | 0 | 449 | ||
| 7 | Mississippi State (9 - 4) | 190 | 0 | 7410 | ||
| 8 | Kentucky (7 - 6) | 178 | 0 | 6410 | ||
| 9 | South Carolina (9 - 4) | 153 | 0 | 8511 | ||
| 10 | Tennessee (4 - 8) | 89 | 0 | 12712 | ||
| 11 | Vanderbilt (5 - 7) | 79 | 0 | 11913 | ||
| 12 | Arkansas (4 - 8) | 65 | 0 | 9713 | ||
| 13 | Ole Miss (6 - 6) | 30 | 0 | 131114 | ||
| 14 | Missouri (7 - 6) | 7 | 0 | 141214 |
This week's voters:Alex Hickey (SEC Country)Alex Martin Smith (SEC Country)Andrew Astleford (SEC Country)Ben Wolk (SEC Country)Blake MorganBrandon Walker (SEC Country)Chip Towers (DawgNation)Chris Kirschner (SEC Country)Christopher Walsh (SEC Country)Eric Bolin (SEC Country)Joe Mussatto (SEC Country)Jordan Mcpherson (SEC Country)Justin Ferguson (SEC Country)Ken Bradley (SEC Country)Lauren Shute (SEC Country)Marq Burnett (SEC Country)Mike BambachMike Griffith (SEC Country)Nick SussPete ScantleburyRyan YoungSam SpiegelmanSeth Emerson (DawgNation)Thomas Neumann (SEC Country)Trent Shadid (SEC Country)Zach Abolverdi (SEC Country)