It wasn’t as easy as it may look on the scoreboard.
No. 5 Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-14 at Sanford Stadium on Saturday. But for one half at least, the Eagles had the Bulldogs worried.
The teams played to a tie at 7-7 through the first 23 minutes, and the Bulldogs were clinging to a 10-7 lead inside the final two minutes of the first half, with Southern threatening to score a go-ahead touchdown. But the last 90 seconds of the half changed the course of the game
Southern’s Trevor McBurnett was called for a personal foul for a chop block on nose guard Kwame Geathers on a run that would have made it first-and-goal inside the 5. Instead, the penalty backed up the Eagles to the 22, and kicker Alex Hanks missed the 37-yard field-goal attempt.
Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray made the Eagles pay. Though Georgia took over with only 1:03 on the clock and no timeouts, it would need only 59 seconds to score another touchdown. Murray hit Malcolm Mitchell with a 24-yard strike down the left sideline, and the Bulldogs were able to take a 17-7 lead into the locker room.
“I thought that was by far the biggest turning point in the game,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “We ended up ahead by 10 instead of down by four. … It was a huge change of events.”
Georgia kept the pressure on after halftime. With the Eagles loading up to stop the running game, the Bulldogs simply placed their trust in the right arm of their record-setting junior quarterback. Murray threw touchdown passes on Georgia’s first three possessions of the second half, and the Bulldogs led 38-7.
“We knew were going to be in a one-minute situation regardless if they scored, and we needed to go down the field and score before halftime,” said Murray, who left the game midway through the fourth quarter with 330 yards on 18-of-28 passing and four touchdowns. “When we marched down there and scored that touchdown, I think we really grabbed the momentum.”
Murray’s touchdown tosses went to three different receivers, including two to Chris Conley, who led the way with four receptions for 76 yards. Tavarres King had a 43-yard grab.
Georgia tailback Todd Gurley managed only 68 yards on 15 carries, but that was enough to get him over the 1,000-yard mark for the season. Heading into the 12th game with 1,041 yards, Gurley became the first freshman since Herschel Walker in 1980 to break the 1,000-yard rushing barrier. Walker had 1,616.
The victory gave the Bulldogs (10-1) a season of at least 10 wins for the 20th time overall and eighth time in 12 seasons under Richt.
“That’s good,” Richt said with a grin. “It’s nice to have 10 wins and have three more games to go. But the reality is … we’re playing 12 games now, and we have a better chance of getting 10 wins. But I think it’s a significant number to get in any season, and I’m proud of everybody for helping us do that.”
The game also served as a good dress rehearsal for next week’s season finale against rival Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets run a similar version of the spread-option offense as Southern. Eagles coach Jeff Monken was an offensive assistant for Tech’s Paul Johnson for 13 years before taking over in Statesboro.
Southern gave the Bulldogs fits in the early going, but halftime adjustments helped limit the Eagles to 31 yards in the third quarter. After that the game was in hand.
“It’ll be a huge help (preparing for Georgia Tech),” said senior linebacker Christian Robinson, who had nine tackles and two tackles for loss for the Bulldogs. “To understand the speed and the feel of it in a 60-minute game, that’s a lot different than anything you’re going to get in practice. We really picked it up in the second half and hopefully we can carry that over into the next game.”
Southern didn’t embarrass itself. The Eagles finished with 302 yards rushing — the exact number they had against eventual national champion Alabama last year in Tuscaloosa — including 109 and two touchdowns from quarterback Jerick McKinnon. They had 318 yards of offense, but gave up 474 to the Bulldogs.
“I’m disappointed we lost the game,” Monken said. “We came here to win. … Georgia is a very good football team, one that is going to play in the SEC Championship game. We were going to have to play a nearly perfect game to have a chance to beat them, and we didn’t do that.”
Southern (8-3) falls to 0-20 against FBS schools.
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