Gunner Stockton did not have his best game against Georgia Tech on Friday, in fact it may have been one of the worst of his career. Sure the Bulldogs still beat Tech, but his performance did not instill any confidence as Georgia enters postseason play.
Stockton finished the night completing 11 of 21 passes for just 70 yards and one touchdown. He also threw a costly interception early in the game as well which marks the third straight game he has thrown a pick.
But even if Stockton didn't play as well as anyone would have liked, Kirby Smart believes his performance wasn't as bad as he originally thought.
"He did some good things," Smart shared via 247sports.com. "He made some good decisions... I thought he forced the one ball for the interception but that's not like him. So he probably played better than I actually thought after the game."
Kirby Smart shares his confidence in Gunner Stockton entering the postseason
Georgia's strategy on offense against Georgia Tech was to run the ball as much as possible, so knowing that Stockton was never going to have his best statistical game of his career. But even if that is the case, he left a lot to be desired.
But Smart doesn't think he played as bad as people think. Outside of his early interception Stockton did a good job of taking care of the football and making the smart play. And after the injury to starting center Drew Bobo, it was really important for Stockton to take care of the football because his offensive line didn't help him out much in the second half.
Even though Smart thinks Stockton didn't play that poorly against Georgia Tech, he needs to be much better against Alabama and in the College Football Playoff. Georgia likely won't win another game if he has another poor performance like he did on Friday, so hopefully this game was an outlier and he'll get back to his normal self this weekend in the SEC Championship game.