Poor play in third quarter dooms Bulldogs

Athens — Georgia had experienced other spurts of inexplicably bad football this fall. The first half against Alabama. The second half against Florida.

But the third quarter against Georgia Tech surely was the Bulldogs’ worst.

Leading 28-12 at halftime Saturday, Georgia was outscored 26-0 in the third quarter, during which the Bulldogs allowed a staggering 201 yards rushing, fumbled away a kickoff to set up a quick Tech score, missed tackles, missed assignments and, well, you name it.

The meltdown was reminiscent of the Bulldogs’ first half on Sept. 27, in which they were blown out by Alabama 31-0, and second half on Nov. 1, in which they were outscored by Florida 35-7.

By the end of Saturday’s third quarter, during which Tech was as good as Georgia was bad, the game had turned from 28-12 Georgia to 38-28 Tech. The Yellow Jackets led the rest of the way, outscoring the Bulldogs 33-14 in the second half and winning 45-42.

“We lost our edge in the second half,” Georgia senior defensive tackle Corvey Irvin said. “I guess we lost our composure. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but it sounds good.

“I guess we felt like we had the game wrapped up in our pocket, but we didn’t. We came out in the second half and hurt ourselves with missed assignments, missed tackles, turnover, penalties. And [Tech] capitalized on every mistake.”

Linebacker Rennie Curran said the Georgia defense was disciplined in adhering to assignments against Tech’s triple-option offense in the first half but grew lax later.

“We were stopping them in the first half, but then we let it out of the gate,” Curran said. “We talked all week that against this offense you have to focus on assignments and can’t make mistakes.

“We were executing in the first half, but … the third quarter was definitely mistake-filled. … It’s hard knowing we made the mistakes that ultimately brought us down.”

Things went so badly so fast in the third quarter that Georgia coach Mark Richt gathered his team for an impromptu sideline meeting halfway through the period.

“I just wanted to try to help them refocus,” he said.

Richt and defensive coordinator Willie Martinez said the second half boiled down to Tech executing and Georgia not.

“It’s really simple: You got to make plays, make tackles,” Martinez said. “You just got to keep playing assignment football. You just got to execute. … They were making plays; we weren’t making plays.”

Georgia ends its regular season 9-3, with the losses — to Alabama, Florida and Tech — attributable to three halves in which the Bulldogs were outscored by a combined 99-21.