King breaks receiving records, but shrugs

TAMPA -- Tavarres King established records for receiving yards in a Georgia game and Bulldogs' bowl game with 205 against Michigan State. But he wasn't feeling jovial about it in the wake of the Bulldogs' 33-30 triple-overtime defeat Monday in the Outback Bowl.

“I didn’t know anything about it,” said King, a 6-foot-1, 192-pound junior flanker from Mount Airy. “I just do what’s asked of me when my number is called.”

King's yardage came on six passes from quarterback Aaron Murray. Among them was a bowl-record, 80-yard touchdown reception late in the second quarter that gave the Bulldogs a 9-0 lead.

“It was a great play call,” King said. “We knew they were going to try to jump the route so we hit them with a double move, and Aaron put it right on the money and caught me right in stride.”

With the six catches, King became the Bulldogs' leading receiver this season. He surpassed tight end Orson Charles as the leading pass catcher with 50, and Malcolm Mitchell as receiving yardage leader with 705 yards. Mitchell had 7 catches for 61 yards to finish with 45 for 665 yards, and Charles had just 1 catch for 2 yards to finish with 45 for 574.

"I was thinking if we won he'd be MVP," coach Mark Richt said of King. "We had a chance to get him some balls downfield today and he made the plays when we made the calls for him."

Dominant defense

For the first time since the Coastal Carolina game on Sept. 17, the Bulldogs blanked an opponent in the first half; Georgia reached intermission with a 16-0 lead. It was the first time in postseason since the 1998 Outback Bowl that Georgia had posted a first-half shutout, leading Wisconsin 19-0 en route to a 33-6 victory.

The Bulldogs held Michigan State to just 51 yards rushing. That broke the previous Outback Bowl record by one. The Spartans’ 1.3 yards per rush also was a record-low output.

Record day across the board

In all, 20 Outback Bowl records were tied or broken on Monday, including longest reception, longest reception for a TD, longest punt return, most punt-return yards by a player, best punt-return average, punt returns for TD, most receiving yards, most punt yards, best punt average, longest pass completion, longest TD pass, most interceptions by one player, most interceptions returned for TD, most punt-return yards by a team, best punt average, most punt yards and fewest rushing yards allowed.

Crowell sidelined again

Freshman tailback Isaiah Crowell aggravated his left ankle injury on a screen pass at the 6:08 mark of the second quarter. Crowell gained 4 yards on the play but hobbled off the field and did not return.

Crowell, who was the third tailback in the game, finished with 3 yards rushing on 3 carries and 4 yards receiving. His freshman season ended with 850 yards rushing.

Redshirt freshman Ken Malcome made his second career start at tailback. He finished with 51 yards on 12 carries.

4 Dogs tabbed for Senior Bowl

Four Bulldogs accepted invitations to play in the Senior Bowl in Mobile later this month. Two-way player Brandon Boykin, punter Drew Butler, offensive tackle Cordy Glenn and center Ben Jones will play in the Jan. 28 game, designed to showcase the best senior prospects for the NFL draft.