The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/13/08 Section: Instant Replay

Media Credit: DANIEL SHIREY Senior receiver Mohamed Massaquoi celebrates his second-quarter touchdown.

Media Credit: FRANNIE FABIAN Linebacker Darryl Gamble (50) and free safety Reshad Jones take down Tennessee running back Lennon Creer. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: ILANA MCQUINN Georgia tailback Knowshon Moreno takes a hard hit from Tennessee's Eric Barry in fourth quarter action.

Final stats

At 3:34 Saturday, Blair Walsh booted his third touchback of the season.

Over the next three and a half hours, he would make four field goals, helping Georgia to its 26-14 win over Tennessee.

But before that, he was at the University Health Center with a tube in his arm.

"People didn't know but he was actually very, very sick this morning," head coach Mark Richt said. "He had a migraine going on, he was pretty nauseous. They had to take him out of the hotel and bring him to the Health Center to put some IV bags in him."

The ailing Walsh saw so much action because the Bulldogs, who controlled the game for most of the afternoon, scored just two touchdowns on seven red zone possessions - with Vanderbilt, the conference's second-best team in terms of red zone defense, coming to Athens next.

"They just made plays defensively," said tailback Knowshon Moreno, who ran for a very quiet 101 yards. "And at the same time we shot ourselves in the foot a few times."

After Brannan Southerland's one-yard touchdown run on Georgia's first drive, the Bulldogs couldn't finish their next two drives, stalling out in the red zone and settling for field goals both times. They made it to the Tennessee 13 on the next drive, before quarterback Matthew Stafford's screen pass was picked off.

"I don't think it's a concern but it's definitely something we need to improve," Southerland said. "We know we can do it. We had a couple mishaps and miscommunications and things down there that we need to eliminate."


Stafford, who had his first career 300-yard game, was picked off again on the second drive of the second half, this time by Tennessee's Eric Berry in the end zone. Walsh then added two more field goals, the second of which was actually tipped by a Tennessee lineman.

"Matthew doesn't typically throw the ball like that," said offensive lineman Clint Boling, who moved to left tackle after Vince Vance tore his ACL, putting him out for the season. "We're not thinking about it too much."

"That hurts. That hurts," Richt said. "The two turnovers to [Tennessee's] zero, we could lose a lot of games because of that. To this point, we really had done a nice job in the red zone."

In fact, the Bulldogs were among the SEC's best red zone offenses coming into Saturday, scoring on 16 of their 17 chances with 13 touchdowns.

Vanderbilt lost to Mississippi State Saturday, but the Commodores are still 5-1, still ranked (No. 22) and still sitting in a tie atop the SEC East. Two touchdowns may not cut it against Vanderbilt.

"You want to put points on the board but you want to score touchdowns," Boling said. "We've just got to do a better job of finishing the drill. When we get down there we've got to get touchdowns."

On average, Walsh's kicks came with the line of scrimmage at roughly the 14-yard line. But chip shots and migraines aside, you won't hear Walsh complaining if he has another heavy workload against Vandy.

"That's the funnest part of the game for me," he said laughing.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools