Danny Sullivan dropped back to pass and a red-jerseyed surge quickly pursued him. Under pressure, the Arizona State quarterback threw high for wide receiver Chris McGaha. The ball went over his head and directly to safety Bacarri Rambo, who intercepted it to return the ball to Georgia.
The Bulldogs defense also executed many other plays Saturday night that, unlike those from the past two Saturdays, did not end up in long gains or touchdowns. Under scrutiny for their shortcomings in the past two weeks, Georgia’s defenders looked like a significantly improved unit against the Sun Devils.
Said coach Mark Richt, “I thought the defense played lights out.”
Georgia rose up most impressively on Arizona State’s final possession, when a Joe Cox interception gave the Sun Devils the ball on the Georgia 20-yard line with 5:30 remaining and the score tied at 17.
The Bulldogs held ASU on three downs and then memorably blocked Bobby Wenzig’s field goal try to keep the game deadlocked.
“We’re not a group that points fingers and is negative towards each other,” linebacker Rennie Curran said. After Cox’s interception, “We were like, Hey this is our opportunity for us to show greatness and show what we’re about.”
After giving up 78 points in Georgia’s back-to-back wins over South Carolina and Arkansas, the Bulldogs’ defense gave up only one touchdown to Arizona State. The Sun Devils’ other touchdown was delivered by Arizona State safety Jarrell Holman, who returned an interception 27 yards to the end zone.
Georgia held the Sun Devils to 3.4 yards per play, compared to 7.7 against Arkansas and 5.1 against South Carolina.
Where Razorbacks quarterback Ryan Mallett had time to throw, and Gamecocks quarterback Stephen Garcia repeatedly escaped pressure to find targets, the Georgia pass rush repeatedly made trouble for Sullivan.
He completed only 10 of 32 passes, many thrown under duress. He finished with 116 yards against the same defense that coming into the game ranked 112th in Division I-A and last in the SEC in passing yards allowed (285.3 per game).
Georgia coach Mark Richt’s assertion that the defense’s woeful numbers had much to do with the offense’s turnover problems seemed to be borne out. In the first three games, nine turnovers and long punt and kickoff returns had played a direct hand in setting up 60 of the 102 points Georgia allowed.
The Sun Devils’ only touchdown drive began in Georgia territory, off of a turnover. Of the nine Arizona State possessions that began in its own territory, only one netted points.
“People, a lot of times, forget when offenses do score, most of the time they have a short field and they have that turnover that they want,” Curran said. Field position is “a huge part of the game.”
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