The Georgia tailback mystery finally got solved Saturday.
Isaiah Crowell did not start in the SEC Championship game — that honor went to junior Carlton Thomas — but he played off and on despite a left-ankle injury that had him limping noticeably when he wasn’t running in the game. Crowell and Georgia coaches confirmed after the 42-10 loss that the polarizing freshman tailback never was suspended nor disciplined before the game. The only question regarding his playing time was his health.
“My ankle hurt the whole game,” said Crowell, who finished with 15 yards on 10 carries, 11 coming on one run. “I just wanted to suck it up and play for my team.”
Meanwhile, Thomas ended up going down with an injury, too. The 5-foot-7, 163-pounder injured a knee on a short run out of bounds at the 9:40 mark of the third quarter and did not return. He finished with 28 yards on seven carries. Georgia managed 78 yards rushing on 34 attempts, an average of 2.2 yards per carry.
Thomas’ injury did not appear to be serious. “It’s probably a sprain,” said Thomas, who was having the knee iced after the game. “They don’t think I tore anything.”
With Crowell and Thomas hobbled, the Bulldogs once again turned to redshirt freshman Ken Malcome. Malcome finished with a team-best 37 yards on five carries, a 7.4-yard average. All Malcome’s runs came in the fourth quarter with the outcome essentially in hand. He also had a 17-yard pass reception.
“They were tough, but once you’re in there you get used to it,” said Malcome, who started against Georgia Tech in the Bulldogs’ previous game week. “I’m just running the football like I know I can. I feel like I can do more. I’ve got a lot more to learn, but I can believe I can be a lot better.”
So does Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. “It was good to see Ken come out and run the football like we know he can and push the pile. We’re going to see what he can do in this bowl game for sure.”
But it didn’t matter who was in the game at running back, no one was getting anything done against the LSU defense, which entered the as the nation’s No. 2-ranked defense.
Tampa-bound Bulldogs?
Georgia is in line for one of three bowl games: the Capital One in Orlando, the Cotton in Dallas and the Outback in Tampa. The 14th-ranked Bulldogs (10-3) are competing for those spots with No. 9 Arkansas (10-2) and No. 12 South Carolina (10-2).
Most people at the Dome on Saturday thought the Bulldogs would end up in the Outback, with the Gamecocks in Orlando and Arkansas in Dallas. Bowl announcements are scheduled for Sunday.
Georgia has several players from the Tampa area, including quarterback Aaron Murray, tight end Orson Charles and linebacker Ramik Wilson.
“It’d be nice to go home for the bowl,” Murray said. “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”
Busy day for Murray
Murray, the Bulldogs’ sophomore quarterback, attempted a career-high 40 passes. He was 16-of-40 for 163 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Murray connected with senior tight end Aron White for a 12-yard touchdown at the 0:42 mark in the first quarter to put Georgia up 10-0. That improved Murray’s school-record mark for a season to 33 touchdown passes. White hauled in his fourth of the season.
More records for Walsh
Georgia senior Blair Walsh booted a 40-yard field goal at the 11:45 mark in the first quarter to give the Bulldogs a 3-0 edge. That set an NCAA record, giving him 44 career games at least one field goal. Former Bulldog Billy Bennett held the record with 43.
Walsh is 19-for-31 this season. He has 404 career points, second in SEC history to Bennett’s record 409.
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