ATHENS — National pundits might scoff at Georgia’s 59-0 win over Coastal Carolina, the Chanticleers being a well-paid sacrificial victim from the FCS (formerly Division I-AA).
But there was no scoffing going on in the Bulldogs’ locker room at Sanford Stadium on Saturday. Relief wouldn’t be the right word, but it was a genuinely celebratory bunch.
“Ooo-wee, been a long time,” exclaimed junior wide receiver Tavarres King, who hauled in two touchdown passes for the Bulldogs. “Too long.”
Nine-and-a-half months, to be exact. Georgia (1-2, 0-1 SEC) hadn’t scored a victory since it defeated Georgia Tech 42-34 in Atlanta on Nov. 27. And the Bulldogs hadn’t beaten anybody the way they beat Coastal Carolina (1-2) since well before that.
To say Georgia dominated the game wouldn’t be strong enough. The Bulldogs outgained their visitors 470 yards to 112, had 23 first downs to 7 and completely emptied their bench after leading 35-0 at halftime. The Chanticleers didn’t record a first down until well into the second quarter. It was the most points scored by a Georgia offense since laying 62 on Kentucky in 2004.
“It’s been a while, so it’s nice to get that bad taste out of our mouths and get rolling,” said sophomore quarterback Aaron Murray, who threw three for touchdowns and ran for another in two quarters of action. “We know we have a great team. We feel like we can compete with anyone in the nation. ... The last two games, the way we played, have made us very confident.”
Said coach Mark Richt: “The guys did about as good as I could have asked them to do. I thought they showed up ready for business, and they took care of business. I was proud of that.”
It wasn’t as though the Bulldogs were feeding off the atmosphere. In fact, Saturday’s game broke the Sanford Stadium sellout streak of 64 consecutive home games. They came up 800 short, with the official attendance announced at 91,946. Actual attendance was well below that.
“I know our opponent returned some tickets just [Friday] or something,” Richt said. “They sent like 500 tickets back or something, so there wasn’t much time to get them sold. I don’t think it was that big of a deal. Our guys knew it wasn’t going to be about all that. It was going to be about taking care of business.”
Business was effectively closed in the first quarter of this one.
After getting called for a holding penalty on the opening kickoff return, the Chanticleers proceeded to lose four yards in three plays before punting with their backs on the end line. Four plays later freshman tailback Isaiah Crowell rambled 27 yards up the middle untouched to put the Bulldogs ahead 7-0 only 2 1/2 minutes into the game.
Crowell, the sensational freshman from Columbus, finished with 86 yards on 16 carries and a 12-yard reception before leaving the game early in the third quarter.
Coastal Carolina had two more three-and-outs, and Georgia answered each with long methodical touchdown drives. That made the score 21-0 before the first quarter was completed.
And it could have been worse. Bacarri Rambo fumbled the ball back to the Chanticleers after a 43-yard interception return deep into Coastal territory and a zig-zagging 74-yard punt return for a touchdown was nullified by a block in the back downfield.
“It could have been 90-0, couldn’t it?” said Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett, a YouTube sensation with his recent dogs versus “kitty-cats” rant. “At one time I looked over there on the sideline and I thought, this thing’s going to be crazy. [But] our kids kept fighting, and they didn’t let that happen.”
Georgia paid the Chanticleers $475,000 to play Saturday’s game at Sanford Stadium, and it would appear the Bulldogs got their money’s worth.
It afforded the Bulldogs a needed respite after facing a pair of top-10 opponents in the season’s first two weeks. In all, they played 72 players in the game, including four freshmen who previously had not played a collegiate game. They used three quarterbacks.
Five starters missed the game with injuries, including three who probably would have played had it been an SEC game.
So it should be physically and mentally rejuvenated team that travels to Oxford, Miss., to face Ole Miss on Saturday. The Rebels (1-2, 0-1) lost to Vanderbilt (3-0) 30-7 on Saturday in Nashville.
“I don’t think they’ll be happy,” Richt said of the Rebels. “They’ll be defending their turf. They’ll be playing for a lot of things.”
As we all know, so will the Bulldogs.
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