No. 7 Georgia impressive in win over LSU

Baton Rouge, La. — It was one of those games that leaves you shaking your head. Or maybe uttering words like Mark Richt’s first two at his post-game news conference: “Goodness gracious.”

Georgia beat LSU here Saturday, and while the outcome wasn’t necessarily shocking, the score and many other details boggled the mind.

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Jason Getz/jgetz@ajc.com

Georgia linebacker Darryl Gamble (50) dashes 40 yards with an interception return for a touchdown in the opening seconds of the game against LSU in Baton Rouge.

What was more impressive?
Georgia's 52-38 crushing of LSU
Florida's 63-5 rout over Kentucky
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BY THE NUMBERS

• How They Scored • UGA Stats
• SEC Scores • SEC Standings

• No. 7 Dogs tame Tigers
• Photos: Dogs win in Bayou
• Bradley: Florida beware
• Next for UGA: Gators
• Blog: Pass the Gatorade
• Moreno has last laugh
• Gamble's TDs ties record
• Grade the Bulldogs VOTE!
• More on UGA • Past games

Start with the score: 52-38. That means the Bulldogs scored more points against the defending national champion than they had scored in any other SEC game this season — and more, in fact, than they scored against Georgia Southern.

And then consider these improbabilities:

• A fill-in middle linebacker, Darryl Gamble, intercepted two passes — and returned both for touchdowns.

• A third-string fullback, Fred Munzenmaier, carried the ball for just the second time in his college career — and scored his second touchdown.

• A backup tight end who was supposed to be back home in Athens with a bad shoulder, Aron White, played two snaps — and caught a 48-yard pass on one of them.

“What a blessing,” Richt, Georgia’s coach, said of the game. “I’m just thrilled to death for everybody who made the trip.”

Amid the improbabilities, Georgia got huge games from the anchors of its offense, tailback Knowshon Moreno and quarterback Matthew Stafford. Moreno ran 21 times for 163 yards, including a stirring 68-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Stafford completed 17 of 26 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns, including a 49-yard third-quarter TD throw under pressure to A.J. Green, who had dropped a pass on the previous play.

Both Stafford and Moreno called Saturday’s performance Georgia’s most complete of the season.

“We stayed focused really well this week, knowing we’d need our ‘A’ game on both sides of the ball,” Moreno said.

The victory — coming in the opener of a season-defining stretch of four consecutive games away from Athens — sets up an even bigger battle in six days: Georgia (7-1, 4-1 SEC) vs. Florida (6-1, 4-1) in Jacksonville with the winner “more than likely going to Atlanta,” Richt said. That would be for the SEC championship game in the Georgia Dome on Dec. 6.

Like Georgia, Florida did its part Saturday to fuel the hype. The Gators demolished Kentucky 63-5.

“I guess we’re a different team than Kentucky is,” Gamble said. “So we’ll just see how that goes next week.”

Playing middle linebacker in the absence of the injured Dannell Ellerbe, Gamble had much to do with Saturday’s game going the way it did.

On LSU’s first snap, he gave Georgia the lead. He read quarterback Jarrett Lee’s eyes, cut in front of receiver Brandon LaFell, intercepted the pass and returned it 40 yards to the end zone to put the Bulldogs ahead just 20 seconds into the game.

They never trailed.

LSU tied the game briefly at 7, but Munzenmaier’s 1-yard touchdown run with three minutes left in the first quarter put Georgia ahead to stay.

The Bulldogs led by two touchdowns early in the second quarter (21-7), by three touchdowns late in the third quarter (38-17) and again by three touchdowns late in the fourth quarter (52-31).

The same player who started Georgia’s scoring ended it. With just over three minutes to play, Gamble intercepted his second pass of the game — and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown.

By returning two interceptions for touchdowns, he tied an NCAA single-game record for linebackers. He also had 13 tackles.

“This topped my biggest game,” Gamble said. His previous biggest, he said, came in 10th grade.

Georgia’s defense gave up 497 yards, but the 14 points produced by Gamble’s interceptions matched the margin of victory.

In all, Georgia’s 52 points were the most the Bulldogs had ever scored against LSU. And more than they scored against Tennessee and Vanderbilt in the two previous games combined. And more than any LSU opponent had scored in Tiger Stadium in 15 years. Go figure.