30-24: Georgia tumbles No. 7 Tech
November 29, 2009 by FLETCHER PAGE
Filed under Sports
ATLANTA – Georgia’s mission statement was short and to the point.
“We’re taking the state back,” Bulldogs’ linebacker Christian Robinson said via Facebook early on Saturday.
And with a 30-24 upset over Georgia Tech Saturday night, the Bulldogs have retaken control of the instate rivalry they’ve so thoroughly dominated this decade.
The win is the eighth in nine games under coach Mark Richt, who said he was “miserable” for quite some time after last season’s 45-42 loss.
It was a great job by our coaches and players and everybody involved in the program,” Richt said to reporters after the game.
Georgia devised a rushing oriented game plan, but Richt admitted he didn’t expect the results produced on the ground.
The Bulldogs rushed for 339 yards, averaging almost 8-yards a carry.
“I never would have predicted that,” Richt said. “I know we wanted to run the ball. I know we wanted to control the clock as much as possible.I never would have dreamed we would have done it quite that well.”
Both freshman Washaun Ealey (183) and starter Caleb King (170) rushed for over 100 yards, the first time two tailbacks have reached the century mark at Georgia since 2004.
“I knew the offensive line was going to come out and work hard,” Ealey said, “and I knew that our guys were bigger and stronger than theirs were. I knew they would try to arm tackle and that really doesn’t work against us.”
Richt praised quarterback Joe Cox for making the right calls at the line-of-scrimmage, saying he made most of the reads on running plays. Cox also took care of the ball, finishing 8-of-14 for 76 yards and one touchdown, and most importantly, zero interceptions.
“When you run the ball well and you don’t throw it every down you’ve got to be efficient with your passing,” Cox said. “I know a couple of plays I wish we could have completed but for the most part we completed the balls we needed and kept drives going all night.”
The Georgia defense held its end of the deal in the turnover margin, recovering a fumble and pulling down an interception.
Georgia Tech’s vaunted triple-option was held to four yards per rush and three times the Yellow Jackets coughed the football up, losing one.
“Our coaching staff put together a great game plan on the short week and our players did a great job carrying it out,” Richt said of his defensive unit.
The defense held Tech on it’s final drive of the game, with the Bulldogs up six after a Blair Walsh missed field-goal. On fourth-and-10 an incompletion gave Georgia the win, and something to celebrate over for a year to come.
“It feels great for the fans, for the people out there who showed us support, we know they’re happy,” said receiver Michael Moore, who caught a touchdown.
