JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Terry Godwin threw for a touchdown on the first pass of his college career, connecting with Malcolm Mitchell from 44 yards out during Saturday's 24-17 win over Penn State in the TaxSlayer Bowl.
"As the play developed, I saw the safety bite up a little bit," Godwin said, "and I knew he was going to be wide open."
Godwin, who later scored on a 17-yard reception from Greyson Lambert and was named game MVP, lofted the ball right on target midway through the second quarter. It just took a while to get there.
"It took about three or four seconds, but I was like, 'Is it ever going to fall?'" Mitchell said. "I didn't know if I needed to jump up to go get it. Fortunately, I was so far behind the guy that he didn't have time to catch up."
Mitchell said the Bulldogs worked on the play "two or three times a day the last few weeks." Interim head coach Bryan McClendon said Georgia used the same formation earlier in the game with a Godwin sweep to see if the big play would be there.
Godwin became the first non-quarterback for the Bulldogs to throw a touchdown pass since tailback Thomas Brown tossed a 9-yarder to quarterback Joe Tereshinski in a 14-10 loss to Florida in 2005. The last Georgia receiver to throw a touchdown pass was Michael Greer, who connected with tight end Larry Brown for 68 yards in a 1998 loss to Georgia Tech.
"Terry did a great job selling it, and he did a great job of laying the thing out there," play-caller John Lilly said.
Settling for third
Georgia senior kicker Marshall Morgan entered Saturday needing 10 points to supplant former Bulldogs kicker Blair Walsh as the SEC's all-time leading scorer.
Morgan got off to a good start with a field goal in the first quarter and an extra point midway through the second, but he injured his right ankle on the ensuing kickoff and did not play the rest of the game. He finished with 407 career points, ranking behind Walsh (412) and another former Georgia kicker, Billy Bennett (409).
"They taped it up and they wanted me to try and kick a ball," Morgan said. "I kicked a towel, and it hurt way too much. I am happy to finish in the top three."
Punter Collin Barber and backup kicker Patrick Beless split Morgan's duties the rest of the game.
Tailback tandem
With Nick Chubb, Brendan Douglas and Quayvon Hicks out for Saturday's game, the Bulldogs used just Sony Michel and Keith Marshall at tailback. Michel rushed 20 times for 85 yards, giving him 1,161 for the season, while Marshall had 14 carries for 62 yards in his final college game.
"I am really proud of those two guys being able to shoulder the load versus a defense like this and be as effective as they were," McClendon said.
Odds and ends
Sophomore safety Dominick Sanders collected his sixth interception this season to snuff out Penn State's first possession, and he wound up with half of Georgia's 12 pickoffs for the season. The Bulldogs held Lombardi Award winner Carl Nassib without a sack or a tackle, but the Nittany Lions did have two sacks among their nine tackles for loss. Interim defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer on why former Ridgeland High cornerback Devin Bowman did not play the last half of the season: "He had some things off the field that he had to take care of." Brice Ramsey averaged 40 yards on five punts and completed 1 of 2 passes for 2 yards.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.