MEMPHIS – Georgia fans do have one thing to celebrate following Friday’s 10-6 loss to Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl.
Junior kicker Blair Walsh, who accounted for all of Georgia’s scoring against the Knights, announced after the game that he would return for his senior season. The 5-foot-10, 183-pounder from Boca Raton, Fla., submitted paperwork to the NFL draft advisory board but has not heard back.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Walsh said. “I’m not ending like that, I can tell you that.”
When Walsh made a 20-yard field goal to cap Georgia’s opening possession, it marked his 300th career point. He added a 41-yarder in the third quarter to finish the year 20 out of 23 on field-goal tries, nearly matching his 20-for-22 clip last season.
The Bulldogs have at least six other juniors debating whether to leave early – receiver A.J. Green, offensive linemen Cordy Glenn and Trinton Sturdivant, outside linebacker Justin Houston, cornerback Brandon Boykin and punter Drew Butler.
What will A.J. do?
Green had eight catches for 77 yards against UCF, which gave him a single-season high of 57 receptions despite having to sit the first four games due to an NCAA suspension. He was named Georgia’s offensive MVP for the bowl, with Boykin earning defensive honors.
“I’m not going to make a decision right now until I have a clear mind,” Green said. “I’m just going to give it a couple of days and let it pass through and go from there.”
Traveling twosome
Former Georgia coach Vince Dooley and his wife Barbara were in attendance after witnessing Thursday night’s chaotic Music City Bowl in which Tennessee lost 30-27 in double overtime to North Carolina. The Music City Bowl employed Big Ten officials, who declared Derek Dooley’s Vols 20-17 winners in regulation before checking the replay booth and allowing UNC the opportunity to tie the game.
Tennessee celebrated eight times this season but finished 6-7 after bizarre endings at LSU and in the bowl.
“It was very devastating, maybe even more so for me than for Derek,” Dooley said. “It is hard to imagine that something like that can happen twice in one season, so maybe it means percentage-wise that he can go 50 years or longer without it happening again, or maybe he will have some that go his way.”
Dooley and his son talked after Thursday’s game.
“He was pretty philosophical about it, and he has a good perspective on things,” Dooley said. “He felt like there needs to be a study of the rules, because the pros have that rule concerning the final 10 seconds and any kind of offensive penalty. You could have a personal foul or whatever it is, so perhaps this will prompt the rules committee to adopt the pro rule.”
Odds and ends
Georgia was denied its first five-game bowl winning streak and falls to 26-17-3 in postseason games. … Senior offensive lineman Clint Boling wound up with 49 starts, including the last 38 straight, to finish second (former quarterback David Greene made 52 starts from 2001-04) among non-kickers in program history. … Junior Nick Williams, who has shuffled between safety and linebacker during his three seasons in the program, has received permission to discuss transferring. … Uga VIII, who took over as Georgia’s official mascot on Oct. 16, missed Friday’s Liberty Bowl game due to a gastro-intestinal condition and was replaced by Russ, who filled in for the final two games last season and the first six this year following the death of Uga VII.