No. 2 Georgia powers past Tops 70-20
Published 4:53 pm Saturday, September 12, 2026
Western Kentucky redshirt junior quarterback Brock Glenn runs for a touchdown during the Hilltoppers’ 70-20 loss to No. 2 Georgia on Saturday in Athens, Georgia.
(WKU ATHLETICS)
Gunner Stockton threw five touchdown passes, tying a school record, and No. 2 Georgia gained more momentum for its Southeastern Conference schedule by overwhelming Western Kentucky 70-20 on Saturday in Athens, Georgia.
Wearing all-white uniforms for the first time in team history, Georgia (2-0) led 49-0 in the first half — matching the most productive half in school history — as it prepared for next week’s SEC opener at Arkansas.
“Hats off to Georgia Bulldogs. They’re an excellent team, one of the best in the country,” WKU coach Tyson Helton said in a news release. “Looking for positives that came out of this game, one thing our young men did was they kept competing, kept straining. Obviously, it was not good a lot of times – there’s a lot of things we’re going to have to get better at if we’re going to be a good football team. But one big part of football is you gotta keep straining, you gotta keep grinding, you gotta compete if you’re going to be a good football team, and I feel like they did that. Now we gotta go back to the drawing board, fix the problems, find answers, find the right people. We’ll take this one, put it behind us, and try to get better.”
Georgia coach Kirby Smart warned that a road SEC game will be a significant test following two lopsided home wins over Tennessee State and Western Kentucky.
“It’s fun when you score on every possession but is it real?” Smart asked. “Do you think we’re going to do that in SEC play? … It’s all rosy and dandy until you’ve got to go on the road and you have to play somebody of SEC caliber.”
Stockton completed 13 of 16 passes for 234 yards while throwing touchdown passes to five different targets. Stockton has eight touchdown passes and no interceptions in two games. He left each game in the second quarter.
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“It feels good,” Stockton said. “You always want to execute at the end of the day and just do your job.”
Tyriq Green had a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and recovered a fumble in the end zone for another score for the Bulldogs.
Stockton utilized one of Georgia’s deepest positions — tight end — by throwing a 7-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Barbour about 1 minute into the game. Stockton also threw scoring passes to running back Chauncey Bowens and receivers London Humphreys, Sacovie White-Helton and Talyn Taylor. Nate Frazier ran for 55 yards and a touchdown.
Landon Roldan’s 9-yard scoring run gave Georgia a 49-0 lead in the second quarter, tying the school record for most points in a half.
Backup quarterback Brock Glenn had scoring runs of 15 and 10 yards for the Hilltoppers (0-2). Glenn threw a 7-yard scoring pass to Coleson Arends with 1:17 remaining following a fumbled punt return by Roldan.
WKU scored its first touchdown with 1:14 left in the first half to make it 49-6, after a missed PAT. Glenn scored the first touchdown of his WKU career on a 15-yard run after Jaylen Wester forced a fumble recovered by Xavion “Tutu” Griffin on the UGA 15.
“It was an awesome opportunity to come in with a different group of guys and try to put a game plan together and go execute it,” Glenn said. “Obviously this atmosphere is a great atmosphere. We thought that we were prepared for it. Obviously there’s some stuff to grow from and I think that we’re going to try to take care of that this coming week before we play Indiana.”
Glenn came off the bench and threw for 84 yards and a touchdown on 12-of-23 passing. He also rushed for a team-best 70 yards and two touchdowns on 13 attempts.
Eleven different WKU players caught passes in the game, and five caught multiple passes. Freshman Jonathan Stafford Jr. and tight end Lofton Howard led the team with three catches each. Howard’s three receptions and 14 receiving yards are career highs. Quincy Burroughs had three receptions for 29 yards. The 29 yards receiving are a career best and the three receptions are tied for a career high.
Tight end Coleson Arends caught two passes for 18 yards and a touchdown. The receptions and touchdown were the first of his college career.
Fourteen different WKU players recorded multiple tackles in the game, led by seven from safety Jaylen Lewis. Lewis also recorded a forced fumble. Wester forced two fumbles in the game. Wester now has six forced fumbles in his college career and four for WKU over two seasons.
Griffin and long snapper Nolan Imhoff each recorded fumble recoveries.
Jackson Smith punted 10 times for 449 yards, an average of 44.9 yards per punt. He had two travel 50-plus yards and four downed inside the 20-yard line. The 449 yards punting are fifth-most in a game in program history.
“On the environment, it was pretty good, but football is football at the end of the day,” Wester said. “I feel like we just have to play 11 as one better and trust the person beside us to do their job. I think that’s where we could get better.”
The Hilltoppers will be back on the road next week to face No. 5 Indiana on Sept. 19. Kickoff at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana, is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised nationally on Peacock.
