Gunner Stockton needs to have a big day against Ole Miss if Georgia wants a good chance to win. He however has had a few shaky performances recently, so who knows what version of Stockton we will get.
Will we get the confident, aggressive passer who went into Tuscaloosa and sliced up the Alabama Crimson Tide? The one who hung in the pocket and converted multiple key third downs through the air, with some legit, outside-the-numbers stuff under pressure? The cerebral veteran who saved his best stuff for when his team needed him most?
Or will we get what we’ve seen from Stockton in the last two games? The game manager. The point guard. The guy whose job it is to keep the offense on schedule, execute the reads in front of him and not make any mistakes that lose Georgia the game.
For a game like Georgia had against Florida last week, his performance was good enough. The Gators made so many backbreaking mistakes when they had the ball that it took a lot of pressure off Stockton. He steered the ship just fine in Georgia’s 27-8 win.
But two weeks prior, with Auburn nipping at Georgia’s heels, Stockton threw two interceptions and had a terrible fourth quarter fumble. The Bulldogs dropped a shocker, 27-24.
Gunner Stockton has to be better to keep up with Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss
This week, Georgia will be facing one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Mississippi’s Trinidad Chambliss. It’ll be the teams’ third matchup in the past two seasons, and the first two games were both shootouts where the winner scoring over 38 points.
The pressure will be on Stockton as he tries to keep up with Chambliss.
“He's a really good guy, and I have a lot of respect for him and the way he carries himself, and definitely the way he plays,” Stockton said of Chambliss. “He's a really good football player. Just looking forward to it and the week of prep we have for it.”
Stockton is not a Jekyll-and-Hyde player. There is not a “good” version of him or a “bad” version that will take effect over the course of an entire game. The Alabama game was probably the best performance he’s had as a Bulldog, but even that game featured some throws he’d like to have back, and could’ve easily been intercepted on.
Head coach Kirby Smart brought up Stockton's performance against Alabama, where he was intercepted once and had another one overturned after replay review, when talking about the quarterback’s perception following the loss to Auburn.
“The guy played really good against Alabama, and he could've really easily had two interceptions right? I mean, he had one, and the other was debatable right?” he said of Stockton during Georgia’s bye week. “So he played pretty good and had two interceptions. He still did some really good things in the game.”
And even in the Auburn game, arguably Stockton’s worst as a Bulldog or at the very least his worst this season, there were some good things. Stockton led the Bulldogs on an inspired comeback to tie the game in the fourth quarter after trailing by 10 points. The fumble later undid that, sure, but he did play some great football in that game.
Stockton has typically been a big-game player. He tends to save his best performances for the biggest games, like when he accounted for five touchdowns against Mississippi in their regular season meeting last year. Even in the Sugar Bowl loss when the offense faltered in the middle of the game, Stockton got it together in the fourth quarter with the Bulldogs down and nearly willed them to victory.
Stockton’s best plays this season have come when he’s aggressive and targets areas of the field he was more hesitant to in 2025. He’s had success attacking the sideline or layering the ball over the intermediate middle that he simply didn’t have last season. His deep ball has been on point throughout the year, and he’s seen the field with the absolute best of them at points.
When Stockton has been off, it’s typically because he made a mistake with either accuracy or a read, and allows it to fester in his decision making. He typically becomes a much more restrained, timid passer after a turnover. Stockton avoids pulling the trigger on riskier throws that could hit for explosives, and it limits Georgia’s offense.
Gunner Stockton is due for a big game
This week, Stockton is in a good position to let it rip, if he can get his confidence up in a tough environment. Chambliss is a great player leading a potent offense, which will always put pressure on the opposing quarterback, but there’s a lot working in Stockton’s favor.
Georgia has one of the country’s best offensive lines, and a talented stable of running backs who capitalize on that in the running game. An improved Georgia defense should also limit the need for the Bulldogs to score on every possession.
Mississippi will be forced to stack the box to stop Georgia from running at will. That will lead to some one-on-one opportunities for Stockton to hit the Bulldogs’ wideouts, and could make the difference in this game.
It’s going to come down to how Stockton performs, is it going to be another Alabama game, or will we get an Auburn-esque blunder at the end?
Georgia’s running game will allow it to control the pace and flow of the game against Ole Miss. Its defense could give Stockton some additional room for error too. If he can hit on a handful of explosive pass plays and stay out of turnover trouble, Georgia has what it needs to win this game. It will, however, take some signature stuff from its quarterback.
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