Georgia and its fans got what they paid for, and Florida Atlantic got its $1 million check as the Bulldogs rolled over the Owls 56-20 on Saturday night at Sanford Stadium.
The win gets No. 7 Georgia off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2008, when it began the season ranked No. 1. The Bulldogs (1-0 SEC) play host to Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Georgia simply overwhelmed their Sun Belt Conference visitors with offense. The Bulldogs rolled up a school-record 713 yards — breaking the 1993 record of 667 yards versus Southern Miss — and did it with strong running and passing.
Tailbacks Todd Gurley (111) and Keith Marshall (104) each went over 100 yards rushing — the first freshman pair to do that in a game since Thomas Brown and Danny Ware in 2004 — and quarterback Aaron Murray threw for a career-high 342 yards on 14-of-19 passing. He accounted for four touchdowns — two passing and two rushing.
Murray left the game in the third quarter and was relieved by redshirt freshman backup Christian LeMay. LeMay threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown with 10 minutes left in the game.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s vaunted defense didn’t look as dominant. Playing without All-America outside linebacker Jarvis Jones, who sat out with a slight groin pull, the Bulldogs had given up 318 yards by the end of the third quarter. The Owls, who managed only one touchdown in their 7-3 win over Wagner to open the season, tied the score at 14-14 early in the second quarter and converted eight of 12 first downs in the first quarter.
But Georgia shut out the Owls’ offense in the second half and managed to rest most of its starters in the fourth quarter.
Gurley passed the century mark with a 38-yard touchdown run at the 10:18 mark of the third quarter. That gave him 106 yards on nine carries and Georgia a 42-14 lead. At that point Marshall had 104 yards on 10 carries. Gurley has scored a touchdown in all three of his games as a Bulldog and has five touchdowns on the season.
The game featured several career highs for several players. Junior tight end Arthur Lynch scored the first touchdown of his career. He hauled in a Murray pass and went 36 yards, diving and reaching the ball over the pylon. It required an official review to reward him the score. Lynch had a career-best three catches for 73 yards.
A week after catching a career-best eight catches against Missouri, Michael Bennett had a career-high 110 yards receiving on four catches. He had a 67-yard touchdown catch late in the second quarter.
Linebacker Amarlo Herrera had a 35-yard interception return for a touchdown that made the score 49-14 late in the third quarter. LeMay scored his first career touchdown on a quarterback sneak in the fourth quarter.
Florida Atlantic showed a lot of moxie early in the game. The Owls converted six of their first eight third-down conversions and drove the length of the field twice to forge a 14-14 tie.
Starting on their own 13-yard line, the Owls completed a 32-yard pass on Georgia cornerback Malcolm Mitchell, then came back three plays later with a double-move post that went for 50 yards down to the Bulldogs’ 1-yard line. FAU scored on a 2-yard pass on second-and-goal to knot the score at 14-14 with 12:19 remaining in the first half.
Georgia had to punt on its next possession. But this time the Bulldogs played up to their reputation on defense. For the first time, the Owls went three-and-out and punted.
Georgia came back with a vengeance and ran the ball straight at the Owls. The Bulldogs rushed the ball on eight consecutive plays — with Marshall carrying the ball five times — and drove 67 yards in the process. On the last play, Murray scored on his second quarterback sneak of the day to make the score 21-14 with 6:29 left in the second quarter.
The Owls looked as if they were on the move again, quickly reaching the Bulldogs’ 42 on the next possession. But Georgia’s Cornelius Washington finally put pressure on quarterback Graham Wilbert, and Florida Atlantic was forced to punt.
The Bulldogs made ridiculously quick work of the Owls this time. They drove 80 yards in just two plays — two others plays were negated by Owls penalties – and scored on Murray’s 67-yard strike to Bennett down the middle of the field. That made the score 28-14 with 1:34 remaining in the first half, and put Georgia in firm control of the game.
