Jones Leads Dawgs Over Tigers ~ Game Notes

FOOTBALL

Dawgs 2-0: For the first time since 2008, Georgia is now 2-0. The Dawgs improve to 39-10 on the road in an opponent’s stadium under Mark Richt, who is now 108-38 overall in this is 12th season at the helm. Georgia scored 24 unanswered points to pull away from the Tigers to post a 41-20 victory. Georgia trailed 10-9 at the half. The Dawgs are 8-4 in SEC openers under Richt including 5-1 on the road. Georgia is 2-0 all-time against Missouri, the only other meeting came in the 1960 Orange Bowl (14-0 Georgia).

Career High Receptions: Sophomore Michael Bennett and senior Marlon Brown had a career-high in catches tonight. Bennett finished with 8 catches for 79 yards while Brown had 8 catches for 106 yards and 2 TDs, his 2nd career 100-yard game. Bennett also caught a 2-point conversion to tie the contest at 17-all with 7:27 left in the third quarter. It was Georgia’s first two-point conversion since the South Carolina game last year (Murray to Tavarres King).

Murray Collects 3 More TD Passes: Junior Aaron Murray (22-for-35, 242 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) notched touchdown passes to seniors Marlon Brown (2 yards and 11 yards) and Tavarres King (7 yards). Murray now has 65 in his career, which is third in school history. His third one of the night (2nd to Brown) gave Georgia its first lead of the night at 24-20 following the PAT late in the third.

Leading Tacklers: Junior All-American outside linebacker Jarvis Jones tallied eight tackles, a sack and an interception to lead the defense. In the season opener against Buffalo, Jones had a team-high eight tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for a loss. Sophomore inside linebacker Amarlo Herrera posted a career-high 10 tackles, all in the first half, and he recovered a fumble. His previous best in a game was six tackles, set three times.

Points off Turnovers: Georgia forced its first turnover of the season to thwart a Missouri scoring opportunity inside the red zone early in the 2nd quarter. Sophomore inside linebacker Amarlo Herrera recovered the fumble at the Georgia 28. It led to an interception on the next play to give Missouri the ball at the Georgia 25. The Tigers turned the interception into a field goal. It was Georgia’s first turnover of the year. Then late in the second quarter, Malcolm Mitchell fumbled on a punt return and Missouri recovered at the Georgia 32. It led to a missed field goal. In the second half, junior outside linebacker Jarvis Jones notched his first career interception and returned it 21 yards to the Missouri goal line. It led to a touchdown by freshman Todd Gurley to put the Dawgs ahead 34-20. Then, Jones struck again as he forced a fumble that was recovered by Jordan Jenkins at the Missouri five. It led to a Ken Malcolme touchdown for a 41-20 advantage. Georgia forced three turnovers and turned them in to 14 points while the Tigers got 3 points off two Dawg miscues.

Long and Short of It: True freshman Marshall Morgan booted a career-long 52-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3 with 5:52 left in the first half. It was only his third career attempt after going 1-for-2 in the season opener last week (missed a 35-yarder and made a 45-yarder). Morgan’s 52-yarder was the longest on the road by a Dawg since Blair Walsh made a 53-yarder at Oklahoma State in 2009. However, Morgan missed a PAT late in the second quarter as the Tigers held on to their lead of 10-9 at the half. It was the first missed PAT by a Dawg since Walsh at Kentucky in 2010. In the second half, Morgan nailed a 41-yarder for a 27-20 advantage.

New Starters: Freshman tailback Todd Gurley made his first career start. Gurley finished with 10 carries for 65 yards plus two kickoff returns for 62 yards. Sophomore cornerback Malcolm Mitchell made his first career start on defense. He started 9 games on offense as a split end last year. Mitchell is slated to see action on offense too this season. Mitchell was sidelined with an ankle injury and did not play last Saturday against Buffalo. Mitchell finished with six tackles and one punt return for three yards.

A Look At The Defense: Georgia held Missouri to 20 points with scoreless quarters in the first and fourth and allowing 10 each in the second and third. The Tigers had only eight yards rushing on 20 attempts in the first half. The Tigers tallied 130 yards of total offense in the fist half as QB James Franklin was 12-of-21 for 122 yards. Georgia had 44 yards on 17 rushing attempts plus 104 passing yards as Aaron Murray was 10-for-17 for 104 yards in the first half. The Tigers ran a total of 80 plays on the night for 371 yards (102 rushing and 269 passing). Georgia was blanked in the first quarter and then rolled up 41 points the rest of the way.

Game Captains: Junior quarterback Aaron Murray, senior flanker Tavarres King, junior outside linebacker Jarvis Jones and redshirt sophomore inside linebacker Kosta Vavlas.

Up Next: Georgia (2-0, 1-0 SEC) now starts a three-game stretch at home by playing host to Florida Atlantic Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (CSS-TV). The Owls (1-1) lost 31-17 at Middle Tennessee tonight. Tickets are on sale to the general public and can be purchased online at http://gado.gs/4a or by calling the UGA Athletic Association ticket office at 1-877-542-1231. Fans arriving early to the FAU contest will get to see interim mascot “Russ” officially assume the title as “Uga IX” during a pre-game ceremony.