5 things to know about Georgia Bulldogs vs. Vanderbilt Commodores in SEC football matchup

Georgia football gets another 3:30 p.m. home game Saturday against Vanderbilt in an SEC matchup.

Here are five things to know ahead of the game:

More: UGA football midseason report: All-America worthy, schedule ahead, improvement & decline

Also: How much UGA paid for the Bulldogs' national championship rings and how many received them

Stetson Bennett takes licking, keeps on ticking

Quarterback Stetson Bennett was on the field early for pregame warmups last week, getting his body stretched out and ready a week after it took its share of hits from the Missouri defense.

“I was sore during the week, but that’s just you get hit that many times in an SEC game, that’s going to happen,” said Bennett, who coach Kirby Smart revealed was bothered by a sore shoulder.

Bennett completed 74.2 percent of his passes in the first four games for a 9.9 yards per attempt average, but those numbers dropped to 61.3 percent the last two games against Missouri and Auburn with a 6.9 yards per attempt average.

More: How much UGA paid for the Bulldogs' national championship rings and how many received them

He’s gone the last three games without a touchdown pass. Georgia is one of only four Power Five conference teams to win three straight games without a TD pass during the playoff era along with Wisconsin in 2021. Minnesota in 2016 and Alabama in 2015, according to ESPN’s David Hale.

Smart said Bennett hasn’t had “a lot of limitation,” due to the sore shoulder.

The Bulldogs failed to connect on deep ball opportunities in the 42-10 win over Auburn.

“I feel great about Stetson as a passer,” Smart said. “Always have. He does a tremendous job seeing the field. He does a great job going through his reads. He's got great arm talent. He can throw touch passes. He can anticipate throws as good as anybody in terms of anticipating a guy getting open while he's getting pressure. I've seen him repeatedly do that here.”

Vanderbilt offers a chance for Georgia’s passing game to get rolling.

The Commodores have given up the third most passing plays of 30 or more yards this season with 28 including an FBS-high 6 of 60 or more yards, according to cfbstats.com.

“You have young players that are getting experience in front of your eyes against top quality competition and our mistakes are magnified, our margins are razor thin,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said. “We’re frustrated with the pass defense and we want to be better.”

Freshman Branson Robinson and the push from the UGA O-line

Bulldogs freshman Branson Robinson came two yards away from becoming the first 100-yard rusher for Georgia since James Cook at Tennessee on Nov. 13 of last season.

That was 11 games ago.

Georgia’s 292 rushing yards against Auburn last week was its most since 316 against Missouri on Nov. 12, 2020.

The 5-foot-10, 220-pound Robinson’s 98 yards and a touchdown came on 12 carries. That showing and an injury to Kendall Milton should mean a bigger workload for Robinson.

More: UGA football midseason report: All-America worthy, schedule ahead, improvement & decline

“He was given the opportunity to do it and he seized that opportunity,” Smart said. “He created that opportunity for himself through his work habits, how hard he's worked since arriving…I think he's going to be a really good football player. He has great burst and acceleration. And he has great toughness.”

Milton left the game last week with a groin injury and didn’t practice the first two days this week, Smart said.

“I don't know if he's going to be able to play or not,” he said.

Give credit for Georgia’s offensive line for not giving up on a play until the very end.

Warren McClendon pushed the pile an extra 5 yards on a Daijun Edwards’ 27-yard run. Tate Ratledge, Xavier Truss and Broderick Jones provided another push for another 5 yards on a Daijun Edwards run. Ratledge and Truss helped pick up an extra 7 or so on a Kenny McIntosh run.

“That's something Coach [Stacy] Searels takes a lot of pride in,” Smart aid. “I thought the two or three plays Warren McClendon ignited our entire offensive line. Because on the play, you can see that he never broke down, his goal was, 'I'm charging on,' and everybody saw him and thought, 'Well, if he's going to do it, then I want to do it,' and they all piled in. You're really special when you got five guys doing that relentlessly. I would say Warren was doing it relentlessly and the others joined.”

Vanderbilt Commodores slow progress in year 2 under Clarke Lea

Georgia’s game with Vanderbilt last season in Nashville was about over not long after it started.

The Bulldogs jumped to a 35-0 lead in less than 12 minutes en route to a 62-0 blowout in the second largest decision in an SEC game in program history.

The Commodores have already exceeded their win total from last year when it went 2-10. Their three wins have come against Hawaii, Elon and Northern Illinois.

The losses have come against three teams currently ranked in the top 15: Alabama (55-3), Ole Miss (52-28) and Wake Forest (45-25).

“You watch the Ole Miss tape, they came out and attacked and played well,” Smart said of last week’s game in Nashville. “I mean, well coached. So the expectation is that you're going to grow and get better. And everybody measures that in different amounts. I'm sure Clark has his way of measuring it just like we have our way of trying to measure improve. But they, probably to me, one of the most improved teams in league in terms of the way they're playing right now.”

“Once you get past the sting of the result, you can see progress being made,” Lea said. “We have to have some patience and awareness and just continue to pour into the process we started knowing that over time that will deliver the results we’re looking for.”

Vanderbilt replaced Mike Wright with A.J. Swann as starting quarterback.

Swann, a four-star freshman out of Cherokee High, was evaluated closely by Georgia as a recruit, Smart said. He is seventh in the SEC in passing efficiency, one spot ahead of Bennett. Swann has thrown 8 touchdowns without an interception.

“We had him down several times.,” Smart said. “Really throws the ball well; he's a sneaky athlete. Kid throws back shoulder balls, RPOs, spins it really good. You can see why they've had confidence in him. The most recent games he stood out and done tremendous job. For a freshman to go into the environments he's played in, he's played really well.”

Georgia football linebacker's 'very emotional' game

Rian Davis, who played mostly on special teams during his injury-riddled college career, found out Monday last week he would start at inside linebacker for an injured Smael Mondon.

“I didn’t really believe it,” said Davis, who nearly left the team during the 2020 COVID0-19 season while dealing with off-field issues. “It really clicked in Thursday or Wednesday. It’s time to do what you’re supposed to do.”

Davis, a fourth-year junior from Apoka, Fla., was coming off a torn ACL when he got to Georgia in 2019. He was sidelined with a torn labrum and torn quadriceps.

“Me and the training staff, we’ve got a good relationship obviously,” he said with a smile.

Davis texted his mother, Melinda to tell her he would start last week.

“It meant a lot,” he said. “It was a very emotional game for me. I’ve been through a lot.”

Davis had a career-high 4 tackles in the game, second most on the team.

“It’s not easy to get good some feedback out of Schu,” he said of his position coach Glenn Schumann. “He grades really hard, but he told me he’s proud of me. I stepped up and overall did a pretty good job.”

Said Smart: “I was proud of Rian because he's not a guy who's played a lot of snaps. He's had a lot of injuries. He's been dinged up even in recent weeks, but he went out and pushed through and played well for his team.”

Mondon remains questionable with an ankle injury. Trezman Marshall could return from a knee injury.

A G'day for Aussie punter Brett Thorson

Freshman punter Brett Thorson from Australia sent out a tweet after the Auburn game after sharing a photo of him with family members.

“If anyone sees a few people with some weird accents walking around Athens for the next couple weeks then don’t be afraid to say gday and point them in the right direction,” he wrote, “they’re probably lost.”

Thorson picked a good time to have a strong game last Saturday.

All five of his punts pinned the Tigers inside the 20 after fair catches at the 15, 6, 14, 9 and 8 yard lines.

Thorson averaged 41.4 yards per punt and is averaging 42.9 for the season.

Georgia is 11th in the SEC and 117th nationally in punt return yards allowed at 13.5, but opponents have returned only two of Thorson’s 14 punts.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Here are 5 things to know about Georgia football vs. Vanderbilt