ATHENS, Ga. - The University of Louisiana at Monroe could not stop the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon, but Mother Nature could.
Lightning strikes within five miles of Sanford Stadium suspended the football game for an hour during the third quarter, and they were detected again with 9:54 remaining in the fourth quarter. Georgia coach Mark Richt and ULM counterpart Todd Berry got together with their athletic directors and decided to terminate the contest, thus resulting in a 51-14 win by the Bulldogs.
"We're kind of used to this," Richt said, referencing the fact the Bulldogs are the only Southeastern Conference team without an indoor practice facility. "Back in the day, you would hold a cat out and if the cat didn't get wet, you would practice. Nowadays you've got all this radar, and if lightning strikes within a certain mileage, you're guaranteed to shut down for 30 minutes."
Saturday was Georgia's first terminated contest of the modern era.
The damage long had been done by the time the game was called, with quarterback Greyson Lambert completing 8 of 12 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns in his Bulldogs debut and tailback Nick Chubb starting his sophomore season with 16 carries for 120 yards and two scores. Lambert threw a 15-yard touchdown to tight end Jeb Blazevich in the first quarter and had a 28-yard scoring strike to Malcolm Mitchell in the third quarter.
"I don't think I did bad," Lambert said, "but it's all because of the O-line and the receivers and the running backs being able to run the ball all game. That opened up some stuff through the air, which helped."
The Bulldogs gained just 67 yards in the first quarter but pounced for a 14-0 lead with their defense and special teams. Sophomore outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter blocked a Chris Qualls punt after the Warhawks went three-and-out on their opening possession, which set up a Chubb 7-yard run and a Chubb 14-yard touchdown run.
On ULM's next play from scrimmage, quarterback Garrett Smith was intercepted by Bulldogs cornerback Aaron Davis, whose 26-yard return set up the score from Lambert to Blazevich on the ensuing snap.
"Our defense and special teams broke the game open for us," Lambert said. "They put the offense in a lot of good situations early on. Being able to get that lead and that cushion eases everybody's nerves and allows us to get settled in quicker than we usually would."
Georgia got going offensively in the second quarter, racking up 200 yards, including a six-play, 96-yard drive that culminated with Chubb's 23-yard touchdown run that made it 28-0 with 7:01 left in the half. Chubb averaged 7.5 yards per carry, while backups Sony Michel (6.8), Keith Marshall (7.3) and Brendan Douglas (5.7) also were effective.
"We've got a lot more stuff we can show," Chubb said. "It was our first game, and we had to knock some of the rust off. You saw some explosive plays, which is what we live by, and we built our momentum off of that."
The Bulldogs were effective overall in Brian Schottenheimer's debut as offensive coordinator, netting 435 yards in 50 minutes. Georgia averaged 8.4 yards per play and converted five of nine third-down opportunities.
The Bulldogs will travel to Vanderbilt this Saturday afternoon for a CBS-televised game that will kick off at 3:30 EDT.
"Hopefully I'll grab some film in the morning and get started right away," Lambert said.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.