Georgia proved it can be formidable defensively in Saturday night's 20-17 win over Arizona State, holding the Sun Devils to 1 yard on 12 fourth-quarter plays.
Arizona State had the ball at Georgia's 49-yard line with 6:40 remaining after a 21-yard punt return but gained 4 yards in three plays and punted. The Sun Devils got it back at the Georgia 20 following Jarrell Holman's 22-yard interception return with 5:30 left, but three plays lost a yard and Bobby Wenzig's field-goal attempt was blocked by A.J. Green.
"That's how we have a chance to be a good defense," Bulldogs defensive coordinator Willie Martinez said, "because when bad things happen, you step up and you rise to the occasion."
If only Georgia could carry that kind of performance into the Southeastern Conference.
The Bulldogs have been ravaged in league play, allowing 427 total yards to South Carolina and 485 to Arkansas. Quarterbacks Stephen Garcia and Ryan Mallett rung up 721 passing yards and seven touchdowns on Georgia's secondary, which is why Arizona State's Danny Sullivan was welcome relief.
Sullivan completed 10 of 32 passes Saturday for 116 yards. The Sun Devils managed just 204 yards overall after amassing 212 last season, when the Bulldogs won 27-10 in Tempe.
"I just think sometimes you match up against one team better than another," Georgia head coach Mark Richt said. "I think a lot of it had to do with our defensive front and their ability to penetrate in the run and pass game. They had a little more success running the ball this year than they had a year ago, but I think we had more success pressuring the quarterback than we had a year ago, too."
Said defensive end Justin Houston: "Coach Martinez told us to have fun out there. That's what we did. We had fun, and we made plays."
Saturday's showing enabled Georgia to improve from 97th to 67th nationally in total defense (355.75 yards per game), 108th to 95th in scoring defense (29.75), and 112th to 90th in pass defense (243.0).
The No. 18 Bulldogs get back into SEC play this week by hosting the No. 4 LSU Tigers, who racked up 497 yards against Georgia last year in Baton Rouge. LSU will be the highest-ranked team to visit Athens since 1995, when No. 3 Florida obliterated the Bulldogs 52-17.
Georgia has lost three straight games to top-10 teams, falling to No. 8 Alabama (41-30) and No. 5 Florida (49-10) last year and to No. 9 Oklahoma State (24-10) earlier this month.
LSU is 4-0 but hasn't been convincing. The Tigers struggled defensively in a 31-23 win at Washington, struggled offensively in a 23-9 win over Vanderbilt, and they needed a late defensive stand to preserve Saturday's 30-26 win at Mississippi State.
"The country has found out that Washington is a pretty good football team, so they've played a couple of good opponents that would test them," Richt said. "They've been through it and we've been through it. Now, we've just got to see how we match up against each other."
Odds and ends
Drew Butler continues to lead the NCAA Bowl Subdivision in punting, though his average slipped from 54.5 to 50.1. ... The Bulldogs rank 118th out of 120 teams nationally in penalties per game at 10.25. ... Richt admitted the offensive line, which had a new look Saturday with Cordy Glenn at left tackle, struggled.
David Paschall is a sports writer for the Times Free Press. He started at the Chattanooga Free Press in 1990 and was part of the Times Free Press when the paper started in 1999. David covers University of Georgia football, as well as SEC football recruiting, SEC basketball, Chattanooga Lookouts baseball and other sports stories. He is a Chattanooga native and graduate of the Baylor School and Auburn University. David has received numerous honors for ...
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