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ATLANTA – Gunner Stockton had never thrown more than 12 passes in a college football game headed into Saturday night.
There was little reason to expect that to change, either, with Stockton’s last action coming in a 59-21 blowout against Massachusetts where he completed three of four passes when the game had already long been decided.
But there was Stockton, forced into duty after Carson Beck got knocked out of the game on the last play of the first half, dropping back to pass against the Texas Longhorns for the 13th time of an SEC Championship game and he … threw an interception.
The late fourth-quarter interception while at Texas’ 31-yard line opened the door for the Longhorns to hit a game-tying field goal with 18 seconds remaining to send the SEC Championship to overtime for the first time in its 33-year history.
It was a devastating turn of events for a Georgia team that came rallied in the second half behind Stockton and a rowdy, mostly Bulldogs crowd inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. His movie-esque night just might not have been meant to end in victory.
Stockton didn’t fold after the interception, though.
Instead, he literally put his head down and tried to get every yard he could to will his team to an overtime win. A gutsy 8-yard run that ended with Stockton taking a massive hit and his helmet popping off set the Bulldogs’ up at the 4-yard line.
One play later, running back Trevor Etienne danced into the end zone and the Bulldogs were again SEC champions. Stockton, the little-known backup, helped deliver the heroics on a day that felt it was going against Georgia’s way for much of it.
“I mean the kid played just tough as nails,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “He hasn’t gotten to play much this year … but…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/gutsy-gunner-stockton-lifts-georgia-to-sec-title-over-texas-sparing-cfp-from-a-jordan-travis-2-0-predicament/
Author : John Talty
Publish date : 2024-12-08 04:11:00
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