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Georgia Tops Vanderbilt 27-8 10/18/2003
Georgia Tops Vanderbilt 27-8 Although Vanderbilt held Georgia scoreless in the first half and carried a lead into halftime, the Bulldogs rallied and went on to win 27-8 Saturday afternoon in Nashville, Tenn. No. 4 Georgia improves to 6-1 and 4-1 in the SEC as Vanderbilt slips to 1-7 and 0-4 in conference play. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Michael Cooper, Tyson Browning and Ronnie Powell had second-half touchdown runs as No. 4 Georgia rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to beat Vanderbilt 27-8, clinching the Commodores’ 21st consecutive losing season. The defending Southeastern Conference champion Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1) were coming off an emotional rout of Tennessee last week. 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. If Vandy had managed any offense, the Commodores might have had their first victory over a Top 10 opponent since 1974. But the nation’s stingiest defense held Vandy to 218 yards. Georgia took its first lead at 3-2 midway through the third when Billy Bennett’s 40-yard field goal capped a 15-play drive. Cooper added a 6-yard run for a 10-2 lead later in the third as Georgia scored on three straight possessions. Vanderbilt drove to the Georgia 23 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, but backup quarterback Stephen Bright, with starter Jay Cutler out for a series with a concussion, missed receiver Brandon Smith with a pass on fourth-and-3. Georgia answered with its longest drive of the game, a 77-yarder that ended with Browning’s 23-yard run with 9:48 left. The Commodores pulled to 20-8 with a 25-yard TD toss from Cutler to Matthew Tant with 1:06 left, and they tried an onside kick. But Sean Jones picked it up on the hop and ran 39 yards to the 2, setting up Powell’s clinching TD. Greene finished 19-of-30 for 208 yards. Georgia started slowly and was shut out in the first quarter for the first time since Dec. 1, 2001, against Houston. The Bulldogs held the ball for only four minutes, and it got worse in the second. The Commodores downed two consecutive punts at the Bulldogs 4, and Georgia went three-and-out on each possession. The Bulldogs were sluggish on offense, even picking up a delay-of-game penalty coming out of a timeout just before halftime. If Vandy had managed any kind of offense, the Commodores’ lead could’ve been bigger. Their only points came on Ralph McKenzie’s sack of Greene in the end zone with 5:12 left in the second quarter. |
