ATHENS — Kirby Smart has a vision for how he wants this Georgia football team to look and win games, and Gunner Stockton is fulfilling his role.

Stockton took complete accountability after the 24-21 loss to Alabama saying, “It starts with me, I’ll look myself in the mirror and get better.”

That sort of leadership is a major component of the quarterback role, as the position is the most involved, and thus, most important, on the football team.

Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson out-shined Stockton — and everyone else — in the Tide’s victory with his accurate passes, pre-snap reads and timely plays on third downs.

Simpson is unquestionably playing as well as any quarterback in the nation.

But Georgia was still in position to win the game, even after Stockton was 0-for-4 passing in the first quarter.

Indeed, Stockton was an efficient 13-of-16 passing for 130 yards and a touchdown from the second quarter on.

The offensive game plan did not put the game on Stockton’s shoulders.

Stockton flashed his passing potential more than once against Alabama, including an NFL throw into traffic that found Zachariah Branch for a 22-yard gain on a third-and-11 at the UGA 14 with 6:03 left.

The drive ultimately stalled when Stockton threw a screen to Cash Jones on a third-and-9 at the Georgia 49, losing 4 yards and forcing UGA to punt to Alabama down 24-21 with 3:19 left.

It’s hard to know if that was the case of a regrettable play call, or a faulty check down by Stockton.

But it was only one play, and Smart made it clear in his assessment that, while Stockton wasn’t perfect, other areas of the team were more responsible for the loss in this particular game.

“For Gunner, there was a couple times pocket broke down, and he tried to protect the ball …. “ Smart said. “Then, being able to throw the ball and catch the ball with more consistency. We’ve got to be able to do that.”

Smart noted the offensive part of the team identity was largely in line with his vision, as the Bulldogs held a sizable advantage over Alabama in rushing yardage, 245-128.

“We know what our identity is, (and) we know who we are,” Smart said. “The problem is to do that, you’ve got to play better defensively, and be a hard-nosed, run team, physical, grind it out and be able to hit some shots.

“I mean, we hit some shots. We didn’t make all our shots, but it’s hard to play from behind all the time.”

Stockton has had to do that in each of the first two SEC games against Tennessee, after trailing 21-7 at the end of the first quarter, and against Alabama, down 14-0 through the first 15 minutes.

Even after Georgia’s final possession ended and the ball was punted back to Alabama with 3:19 left, there could have been time for Stockton to have one more possession had the defense made a stop.

The Bulldogs had all three timeouts and the 2-minute warning left to stop the clock.

Instead, Alabama picked up two first downs and were able to run out the clock.

Stockton does not seemed fazed by the pressure he’s under and his post-game comments indicated he’s eager to play his role once again while Smart and the coaching staff work on the bigger issues.

“I think we ran the ball well and we controlled the line of scrimmage,” Stockton said. “Coach (Mike) Bobo did a great job. At the end of the day it starts with me looking myself in the mirror.”

Fair enough, but for games to end with Georgia on top, Smart said the coaching staff will need to have better preparation for faster starts on offense and defense and better play-calling and execution on third downs.