ATHENS — Georgia dug deeper into its stable of young backs with starter Nate Frazier sidelined by injury and the results were explosive.

Junior Dwight Phillips Jr. rushed for a game-high 84 yards on eight carries, the bulk of it coming on a career-long 54-yard touchdown run that salted the game away in the second half after Chauncey Bowens (nine carries, 26 yards) punched in two first-half touchdown runs.

The No. 2-ranked Bulldogs beat Oklahoma — the SEC’s top scoring defense entering the game — by a 41-13 count on Saturday at Sanford Stadium with offensive coordinator Mike Bobo calling for runs and passes with nearly equal efficiency and balance.

UGA had 129 yards rushing on 26 attempts while the pass game netted 177 yards on 27 attempts.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart made it clear he was pleased with Phillips’ performance.

“We’ve got to get Peanut (Phillips) more touches and find ways to get him the ball,” Smart said. “I mean, that, that’s what we saw all spring and fall. We just got to get more opportunities. And some of these leads have hurt our opportunities to get him in because, you know, you want to protect him too.

“You don’t want him out there taking hits when you’re up 30 points on somebody. I was really proud of him today. His ball security, his hitting the hole … “

Bowens took a short pass 24 yards and churned out tough yardage on his touchdown runs, but Smart believes the backs were capable of even more and was disappointed with Bowens’ second-half fumble

“We gotta hang onto the ball, gotta get more yards after contact,” Smart said. “We talk about Dawg yards, and if we’re gonna be an elite team they’ve got to turn 3-yard runs into 5-yard runs, (and) they gotta turn 5-yard runs into 7-yard runs. They gotta get yards after contact, and I don’t know that we actually did that today.”

The Sooners entered the day leading the SEC allowing just 7.7 points per game, but Georgia held a 28-0 lead at halftime partly as a result of two Oklahoma turnovers that led directly to 14 points.

“I think we played against a really good defense, really good defense,” Smart said, “but we did not knock them out, blow by blow take them out of the game like we wanted to with physicality. We’ve got to do a better job of that.”

Sophomore tailback Bo Walker also got some quality work, carrying three times for 11 yards, while tight end Jaden Reddell broke some tackles on a jet sweep that gained 8 yards.

Gunner Stockton had two 5-yard scrambles, but Oklahoma dropped him for a 2-yard loss on a sack and tackled him 6 yards behind the line on a designed run. Stockton got back to the line of scrimmage for no gain on his other rushing attempt.

Stockton’s numbers weren’t glamorous, but Sooners coach Brent Venables pointed out he avoided making the same sort of mistakes Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer made that cost his team a chance to win.

“We held the ball some and that created some opportunities for Georgia to sack us,” Venables said. “The flip side, Georgia wasn’t going to take a sack, that quarterback took the ball and he launched it and had one of his most inefficient days that he’s had in a couple years.”

The Bulldogs run game was strong enough to set up Stockton to connect on some deep passes, even if his stat line — 14-of-25 passing, 171 yards with a touchdown and interception — wasn’t his best.

“I would love to have had Nate out there, he’s a great player and great teammate, but I thought Peanut — Dwight — he had a great run, he played his butt off, he’s one of the most explosive guys on the field,” Stockton said. “And Chauncey had a good day, he had some good runs, they played really hard.

“I think we were doing what we do all week and what we prepared for, it’s whatever is called and just go execute it.”

Georgia did just that, even with its best tailback not playing against one of the nation’s most vaunted defenses.