DEL.ICIO.USStafford’s late TD helps Bulldogs escape Wildcats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Lexington, Ky. — Georgia did plenty of things wrong Saturday, but did just enough right to win.
The receiver who fumbled the ball away twice in the fourth quarter, Mohamed Massaquoi, made a huge 78-yard catch-and-run to set up the winning touchdown.
Brant Sanderlin/bsanderlin@ajc.com
Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford threw for three touchdowns and a career-high 376 yards.
The defense that seemed inept much of the game stopped the Wildcats three times in the final 12 minutes, the last a game-clinching interception by Demarcus Dobbs with 46 seconds to play.
And the team that blew a 14-0 lead in the early going held on in the end for a 42-38 win over Kentucky on a brisk, windy afternoon in Commonwealth Stadium.
“Everybody did enough,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “Just to win is great, period, at this point for us after what happened last week.”
What happened last week, of course, was the debacle of a 49-10 loss to Florida that derailed Georgia’s hopes of SEC and national championships.
And what happened here Saturday was a team trying desperately — and for much of the game futilely — to get back on track.
A combination of defensive meltdowns and special-team breakdowns had Georgia behind 38-35 with 12 minutes to play, and the Bulldogs’ prospects looked even bleaker when Massaquoi fumbled the ball away after catches on each of their next two possessions.
“I came up to him on the sideline and was about to say something [supportive] to him after the second fumble,” Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford said later, “and before I could say anything, he said, ‘I’m fine.’
“I said, ‘I know.’”
Said Massaquoi: “You just have to have a short memory so you can make another play.”
Indeed, on the first play of Georgia’s next possession, from its own 15-yard line, Stafford threw to Massaquoi, who caught the pass, broke a tackle and continued 78 yards down the sideline to the Kentucky 7.
No fumble this time.
Three plays later, Stafford avoided a sack and threw into the right corner of the end zone, where 6-foot-4 freshman receiver A. J. Green leaped high and came down with the ball despite having four defenders around him.
“I figured if [Green] didn’t catch it, no one would,” Stafford said.
Richt had his doubts about the play, having counseled Stafford to throw the ball away and preserve a game-tying field-goal opportunity if the protection broke down and the receivers were covered.
“I was not real happy there initially,” Richt said. “But when I saw the results, I thought the kid was a genius.”
Georgia 42, Kentucky 38.
While Green caught the game-winning pass, it would not have happened if not for senior Massaquoi’s post-fumbles play.
“For [Massaquoi] to get a chance to redeem himself was such a blessing for that kid,” Richt said. If Georgia had lost, Richt added, “I’m sure he would have forgiven himself one day, but it would have taken a long time.”
To get the win also required that the defense redeem itself.
For most of the day, the defense allowed yards and points by bulk to a Kentucky option offense led by freshman quarterback Randall Cobb — an offense that the week before had scored only 14 points against Mississippi State.
But with Kentucky leading 38-35 in the fourth quarter, Georgia’s defense twice forced the Wildcats to punt.
nd then, with Georgia leading 42-38, just 46 seconds to play, Kentucky at the Bulldogs’ 13-yard line, Georgia defensive end Dobbs saved the game by intercepting a screen pass.
“Whenever you can make a play that is the deciding factor of a game, it feels good,” Dobbs said. “The way they were driving down the field, we knew we’d have to make a stop somewhere.”
Indeed, it was the first time in the entire game that either team stopped the other inside the red zone.
The win might have raised as many questions as it answered about Georgia, but in the end it improved the Bulldogs’ record to 8-2 with games remaining against Auburn and Georgia Tech.
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