With 11 minutes remaining in regulation during Georgia’s eventual 44-41 overtime win at Tennessee on Sept. 13, Joey Aguilar connected with Braylon Staley on a 32-yard scoring strike to provide the Volunteers a 35-30 lead.
Folks, that would be the only fourth-quarter touchdown that Georgia’s first-team defense allowed all season in Southeastern Conference play.
Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs wrapped up a 7-1 league season — they are 9-1 overall — in emphatic fashion Saturday night, pounding Texas 35-10 inside Sanford Stadium. The Longhorns were within 14-10 through three quarters, but Georgia was again overwhelming in the final 15 minutes.
Georgia wound up outscoring league foes 66-27 in the fourth quarter, with Kentucky and Mississippi State each scoring a touchdown against Bulldogs reserves.
“We get after it,” Smart said late Saturday night in a news conference. “We believe in what we do. I don’t know that we’re doing anything differently from anybody else, and other people say that their practices are similar to ours. Our kids believe in it, and they believe in down and dirty. They believe in the (Navy) SEAL mantra of taking them to the water, see who can survive in the water, and who is going to tap out first and ring the bell.