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Georgia Sets TD Record In 45-14 Win Over GSU
ATHENS, Ga. --- The No.
5 Georgia Bulldogs set a new school record for touchdowns in a season
in Saturday's 45-14 win over in-state rival Georgia Southern at Sanford
Stadium. Aaron Murray's pass to receiver Chris Conley late in the third
quarter gave the Bulldogs their 55th TD of the year - breaking the
record of 54 attained in both the 1942 and 2011 seasons.
The Bulldogs improve to 10-1 on the season heading into next week's
regular-season finale vs. another Peach State rival, Georgia Tech, Nov.
24 at noon. Georgia today reached the 10-win plateau for the 20th time
in school history, doing so in back-to-back seasons for the first time
since 2007-08.
The Bulldogs posted 474 yards of total offense on the afternoon,
including 354 through the air as Murray went 18-for-28 for 330 yards
and four touchdowns. Parker Welch came in for Murray in the fourth
quarter and threw his first career score to redshirt freshman Justin
Scott-Wesley, who earned his first career touchdown on the play as
well. Georgia got 15 carries for 68 yards from freshman Todd Gurley,
who had one touchdown. Classmate Keith Marshall added seven carries for
29 yards. On the receiving end, Conley pulled in four catches for 76
yards and two touchdowns, while tight end Arthur Lynch and receiver
Tavarres King each had three catches. King and Malcolm Mitchell each
had touchdowns on the day.
Defensively, Alec Ogletree led the way with 12 tackles, including one
for loss. Christian Robinson had nine, while Garrison Smith and Shawn
Williams each posted seven.
On the opening drive of the game, the Bulldogs got rolling as Murray
found Lynch for a 49-yard gain that brought Georgia down to the Georgia
Southern 29 yard line. Murray found his tight end a second time, this
time for a 15-yard gain, to get to the 14. Then on first and goal,
Murray appeared to scramble in for the touchdown, but the play was
reviewed and brought back as it was ruled that his knee was down. But
on the next play, the rookie Gurley broke into the end zone and this
time it stood up, as the Bulldogs took a 7-0 lead following the extra
point with 11:21 on the clock in the first quarter, which is where it
remained at the close of the first quarter.
The Eagles knotted things up at 7-7 early in the second quarter on a
one-yard run for quarterback Jerick McKinnon with 11:53 to go in the
period.
On Georgia's next drive Gurley surpassed the 1,000-yard mark on the
season, ultimately setting up a Marshall Morgan 37-yard field goal with
6:25 to play in the first half that made it 10-7.
The Bulldogs closed the first half strong, as Murray mixed up his
options to find King and Jay Rome on consecutive throws to get down
into GSU territory, before completing a 24-yard pass to Mitchell in the
end zone to make it 17-7 at the end of the half.
Conley got in on the action with 8:51 on the clock in the third quarter
as Murray found the sophomore for the 13-yard touchdown as Georgia went
up 24-7 following the extra point. The defense also came out hot to
start the second, forcing consecutive three-and-outs on Georgia
Southern's first two possessions.
Georgia went up 31-7 when Murray found a streaking King for the 43-yard
completion and the score with 5:07 remaining in the third, and Conley
tacked on his second of the game as he reeled in the 33-yarder with
2:39 left to push the home team's lead to 38-7 - marking the
school-record setting 55th Georgia touchdown of the season.
GSU added their second touchdown of the day as McKinnon ran in it 23
yards with 6:41 remaining in the game, making it 38-14, but the
Bulldogs weren't finished, as Welch capped a solid drive with the
touchdown pass to Scott-Wesley with 3:13 remaining - increasing the
school-record season touchdown total to 56 and giving both players
their first career scores on the play as Georgia wrapped up the
victory, 45-14.
Georgia moves to 5-0 all-time vs. the Eagles, all of those meetings
coming in Athens. GSU dropped to 8-3 on the season with today's loss.
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