Monticello Native Has Another Strong Game with ‘Dawgs

Some of the Georgia Bulldogs think they came out a little flat Saturday against the Southeastern Conference’s worst team. Coach Mark Richt has another theory.

“Personally, I just think Vander-bilt outplayed us,” Richt said.

The fourth-ranked Bulldogs trailed 2-0 at halftime before three second-half touchdown runs in a 27-8 victory over Vanderbilt, which clinched the Commodores’ 21st consecutive losing season.
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The defending Southeastern Conference champion Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1) were coming off an emotional rout of Tennessee in front of more than 107,000 last week. On Saturday, only 27,823 fans were in the stands, and thankfully, most of them wore Georgia red.

The Commodores (1-7, 0-4) sacked David Greene six times and intercepted a pass in holding the SEC’s third-best offense to 343 yards. Georgia had been averaging 408.5 yards and had just 64 yards by halftime, including only 8 in the second quarter.

It was the first time the Bulldogs have been shut out through halftime since 1999 against Auburn.
While the offense sputtered, the defense sparkled. Two turnovers, two sacks, seven quarterback hurries, and seven tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including three by linebacker Odell Thurman.

The redshirt-sophomore from Monticello also contributed 10 tackles and one of the quarterback sacks.

Next up for Georgia is homecoming against Alabama-Birmingham (3-4, 2-2 in CUSA).
Since 1922, Georgia is 63-16-2 in homecoming matchups. The Bulldogs have won their last eight homecoming games with the last loss coming in 1994.

The last time Georgia faced a non-conference opponent for homecoming was 1989, and the Bulldogs defeated Temple 37-10. Since then, Georgia has faced either Kentucky or Vanderbilt on homecoming.

The game can be heard across the Southeast on the Georgia Radio Network (WNGC-FM 106.1 Athens, 750 AM Atlanta) with the legendary Larry Munson handling play-by-play duties.