ATHENS, Ga. - Georgia's 23-17 win over Georgia Southern last Saturday night in Sanford Stadium was a new experience for Bulldogs first-year quarterback Greyson Lambert.
"That was my first overtime game," Lambert said Tuesday, "and it ended pretty quickly, so it was the best overtime scenario I could have hoped for. I was excited to have the shortened field.
"When you give us the ball at the 25, we're going to score."
There was nothing new, however, about Georgia going into overtime against an in-state opponent. The Bulldogs and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have needed more than 60 minutes in each of their past two meetings, with Georgia winning 41-34 in double-overtime two years ago in Atlanta and Tech prevailing last November in Athens with a 30-24 triumph that required one extra period.
Additional time could be needed again this Saturday when the old rivals collide at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
"The way the two teams look right now, you would expect it to be a hard-fought, low-scoring game," Yellow Jackets coach Paul Johnson said Tuesday. "Anything can happen when you play this game. Last year's game was the craziest game I think I've ever been a part of."
Georgia Tech dominated the second half of last season's contest, but the Bulldogs appeared to have pulled out a 24-21 thriller when then-quarterback Hutson Mason threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Malcolm Mitchell with 18 seconds remaining in regulation. An ill-fated squib kick - "If I had to do it again, I would kick it deep," Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said Tuesday - helped enable Tech to tie the game on a 53-yard Harrison Butker field goal as regulation ended.
The Jackets took a 30-24 lead in overtime on Zach Laskey's 2-yard run and then intercepted Mason to clinch the win.
Are the two coaches sharpening their overtime tactics?
"During the season, we probably work on it every couple of weeks," Johnson said. "The way that overtime is in college, it doesn't change your game plan a whole lot other than it's a huge advantage to go second so you can see what you have to have. We do it pretty regularly, and I don't think we go past two or three weeks without practicing it."
Richt said Georgia works on overtime more in preseason camp than in the middle of a season. The Bulldogs played in just two overtime games from 2004 to 2012 but have been in four during the three seasons since.
"When you're working on red-zone offense and red-zone defense, you're pretty much working on the same plays that you would call in overtime," Richt said. "We also work on two-point plays probably every other week or so, but we feel like we've got overtime covered because we're always working red-zone offense and defense."
Lambert may have enjoyed his first overtime experience, but it's often not as fun for defenders, regardless of the outcome.
"It doesn't happen a lot," Bulldogs junior safety Quincy Mauger said, "so you kind of savor the moment, because you know it's one you're not going to forget. As a defensive back, you just don't want to mess up, because there is no redo.
"It's nerve-racking."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.