Georgia defeats Ole Miss

The No. 6 Bulldogs (8-1, 6-1 SEC) will repeat as SEC Eastern Division champions if they can beat their oldest rival Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Tigers (2-7, 0-6), who won the national championship just two years ago, are looking for their first conference win of season.

Because of what’s on the line Saturday, Georgia’s postgame celebration was short-lived.

“I tried to start the minute the game was over,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “I told them right away to get your minds right right now; get your jaws set. … Auburn’s a fierce rival. They don’t like Georgia, and they’re going to play their tails off. Hopefully with what’s on the line they’ll respect that.”

Georgia’s players were listening.

“This league is insane; the athletes are all so good,” said senior receiver Tavarres King, who caught a game-turning 40-yard touchdown pass right before halftime. “Anybody can slip up on anybody any day. We won’t overlook anybody.”

Saturday provided a good lesson to that end as it took the Bulldogs a while to get going against Ole Miss (5-4, 2-3 SEC). Georgia trailed for all but the final three seconds of the first half. That’s when the game turned on a scintillating touchdown pass from Aaron Murray to King.

Georgia faced third-and-20 at its 40-yard line after Murray was sacked on back-to-back plays. They were sack Nos. 4 and 5 in the first half, and it appeared the Bulldogs would be satisfied with trailing by three at the half.

They weren’t. Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo called for deep routes down each sideline. After pump-faking to the left side, which moved the Ole Miss safety, Murray evaded pressure and ran to the right. He found King running free behind Ole Miss cornerback inside the Rebels’ 20 and delivered a strike.

“I just threw my hand up and gave Murray a hooty-hoo and he saw me,” King said. “It was one of those plays where we just saw each other, our eyes connected and he made a great play.”

That and Marshall Morgan’s extra point gave the Bulldogs a 14-10 lead as it left the field for intermission. The Bulldogs did so with the knowledge it would receive the second-half kickoff. They took full advantage, scoring on their next two offensive possessions, and that was pretty much that.

“It was good to get 14 points in a row; it was crucial,” Richt said. “I thought Ole Miss outplayed us in the first half. We outscored them but they outplayed us.”

Murray also had a 66-yard touchdown pass to Marlon Brown earlier in the second quarter and was pretty much unstoppable from then until the Bulldogs took their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter. By then they led 30-10.

It was a nice rebound for Murray, who had three interceptions in last week’s win over Florida. The junior from Tampa, Fla., finished the night with 384 yards and four touchdowns on 21-of-28 passing. Already the school record-holder, he now has 80 career TD passes, which is sixth in SEC history.

“I’m a little sore, but nothing that a good ice bath won’t take care of,” said Murray, who was hit several other times in addition to the sacks. “You always feel better after a big win like this.”

Murray didn’t want to waste much time talking about Saturday’s game. He was already focused on next week.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” he said. “It’s at their place. Anytime you play away, it’s always a challenge. It’s going to be a love environment, and it’s a big-time rivalry game. We know they’re going to be ready to go and we to be, too.”

Georgia got a sixth 100-yard game from freshman tailback Todd Gurley, who had 117 yards on 18 carries. But it was the Bulldogs’ defense that was the story of the second half. They limited Ole Miss to 55 yards after halftime and outscored the Rebels 2-0 from the 11:45 mark of the second quarter on. That was thanks to a safety by linebacker Alec Ogletree, who also had an interception, a sack and led Georgia with 11 tackles.

“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Ogletree said. “We made adjustments to shut them down. It was great.”