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WATCH: Tate Ratledge’s father shares heartwarming reaction to son’s first play in Georgia football win

Tate Ratledge made his first career appearance for Georgia on Saturday.
Jeff Sentell/DawgNation
Connor Riley
Connor Riley

For all the hemming and hawing about the Georgia quarterback situation this week, the Bulldogs seemed to pretty emphatically answer any questions people had about the team with a 27-6 thrashing of the No. 7 Auburn Tigers.

And it the final result had many people talking about it on various social media platforms.

The single best piece of social media to come out of the game came late in the game when freshman Tate Ratledge entered the game. His parents were able to attend the game and his father Dean, captured video of the play.

Ratledge shared the play to Twitter with a caption that will warm any parent’s heart.

As for the rest of the game, much of the reason for optimism came because of the play by Stetson Bennett IV. He completed 17 of his 28 pass attempts for 240 yards and a touchdown. He kept the Georgia offense moving all night and was surgical on third down, completing 8 of his 11 pass attempts for 111 yards and a touchdown. Georgia converted on 9 of their 14 third-down attempts on the night.

“Ever since I’ve been here Stetson has always been a baller,” receiver Kearis Jackson said. “He’s always stood out. Because whatever’s thrown at him he’s ready to attack it. He’s the starting quarterback now, so he has a major role now and he’s been doing a great job. He’s confident back there.”

Not bad for a player who was once a walk-on and no name recruit. This game also doubled as Bennett’s first career start.

“My goal is always to start here, that’s why I came here in the first place,” Bennett said. “I came here to win an SEC championship and a national championship for the Georgia Bulldogs.”

Following his performance, Bennett earned wide-spread acclaim in part because of his play but also because of his story.

Bennett was the only quarterback to play meaningful snaps for Georgia on the night, with D’Wan Mathis entering the game only or mop-up duty. USC transfer JT Daniels had been cleared to play on Monday, but he did not take a snap in the game.

As good as Bennett and the offense were, the defense might have been even better. The Bulldogs kept the Tigers out of the endzone and made life miserable for Auburn quarterback Bo Nix.

Auburn ran for just 39 yards. Nix was sacked three times, all in the second half. He also threw his first interception since Oct. 26 of 2019, with defender Mark Webb making the play.

Georgia was also without All-American safety Richard LeCounte due to a targeting penalty from the first half.

Still, Georgia coach Kirby Smart wants to see more out of his defense, which has given up just 16 points in two games thus far.

“I didn’t think we finished well, I thought we had four or five missed sacks, just couldn’t get him on the ground,” Smart said. “I was pleased with the way we finished (statistically); six points and the production.

“But we don’t usually give up a lot of third downs. We’ve been good at getting off the field on third down, and (Auburn was) 7 of 16, we don’t meet our goal.”

Social media was much more forgiving of the Georgia defense, as it recognized how little fun Auburn seemed to be having against the group.

As for what some of the national media is saying, they all seemed to come away impressed with Georgia’s dominant performance.

Whether it be David Pollack or Kirk Herbstreit, they saw why Georgia is one of the top teams in the country.

Georgia will have another big test at home next weekend, as the Bulldogs welcome the Tennessee Volunteers to town. Tennessee is 2-0 to start the season, though the wins have come against South Carolina and Missouri. This game will once again have many eyes as the two teams play on CBS at 3:30 p.m. ET.

More Georgia football stories from around DawgNation

NEXT Georgia football report card: Kirby Smart and his coaching staff prove fast learners
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