Georgia edges Gators

The game ended with Georgia sitting first-and-goal on the Florida 1-yard line as time ran out. The Bulldogs rang in the victory with an emotional celebration in the North end zone where they excessively celebrated in the 2007 game.

The team jumped up and down in unison in a huddle around coach Mark Richt, who was hugging his 15-year-old son Zach in an extended emotional embrace.

“I’m not sure if it was for Coach Richt or just because everybody was just so happy to finally win this game,” said Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones, the Bulldogs’ defensive star of the game. “This was my first year, but it sure was fun to win.”

Said Richt: “It was a big deal to the team, and it was a big deal to me personally.”

With the victory, Georgia (6-2, 5-1 SEC) remains in at least a tie for first atop the SEC’s Eastern Division. South Carolina, which holds the tiebreaker because of its 45-42 win in Athens in September, was playing Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday night.

It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Gators (4-4, 2-4), who are in their first year under coach Will Muschamp, a UGA graduate and football letterman. It’s the first time Florida has lost four consecutive games since 1988, when Georgia also handed it loss No. 4.

“We had our opportunities in the game,” Muschamp said. “We had two turnovers inside our 25-yard line, gave up 14 points on fourth-down plays and couldn’t run the ball.”

After giving up a 72-yard pass play on Florida’s first offensive play of the game, the Bulldogs bowed up to allow only 154 yards the rest of the way, including 19 yards passing in the second half.

“We’ve been hit with a lot of adversity all year,” nose guard John Jenkins said. “This is the first time we had our whole defense out back together. That was like a welcome-back party for us out there.”

Jones, who was named a Butkus Award finalist this week, recorded four of the Bulldogs’ six quarterback sacks. Gators quarterback John Brantley was 12-of-33 passing for 245 yards, and the Gators finished with minus-19 yards rushing.

“This was my first time in this game, and I just made it my business to be focused and to know my assignments,” said Jones, a sophomore playing his first season since transferring from USC.

“As you could tell, they passed the whole game. They couldn’t run on us, so we knew they had to pass.”

The Bulldogs scored two of their three touchdowns on fourth-down passes from quarterback Aaron Murray, one to Michael Bennett and another to Tavarres King. Murray was 15-of-34 passing for 169 yards and threw one interception.

“We did make some huge first downs for touchdowns,” said Richt, who improves to 3-8 against the Gators. “They were great throws and great catches against great coverage, too.”

Richt’s decisions might have been helped by the struggles of place-kicker Blair Walsh. The senior missed two more field-goal attempts — both from inside 40 yards — to fall to 13-for-23 for the season. He had only five misses combined his sophomore and junior seasons.

But Richt insists that wasn’t the reason for his decisions. “I just didn’t think we needed threes [field goals]. We needed touchdowns,” he said.

Tailback Richard Samuel recorded the other touchdown on a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter and finished with 58 yards rushing in relief of injured starter Isaiah Crowell. The game ended after Samuel’s first-down run to the Gators’ 1-yard line. Samuel left the game on crutches with his left foot in a boot.

Crowell missed most of the second half with a shin contusion, but finished with 81 yards on 18 carries.

It was a rough, physical game all around. Starting offensive guard Dallas Lee suffered a broken right leg and is out for the rest of the season.

“It was nice to be able to win one without too much drama there at the end,” Richt said.