UGA Football: Bulldogs Go Deep To Rally Past Vols

In a season that felt like it was one more loss from slipping away, and in a game that started poorly and looked like it was about to get much worse, the Georgia football team needed somebody to make a big play. Enter punter Brett Thorson, naturally.

With the No. 12-ranked Bulldogs trailing No. 7 Tennessee 7-0 late in the first quarter at Sanford Stadium on Saturday night — Georgia’s offense having gained 22 yards on 13 plays so far — Thorson booted a 51-yard punt from near the UGA goal line. The Volunteers’ Boo Carter fielded the punt and headed upfield and to the right, with a lot of unoccupied Dooley Field grass between him and the end zone.

Carter had one man to beat to get there and put the Vols up 14-0. Enter Thorson, the 6-foot-2 and 235-pound Melbourne native who grew up playing Australian rules football. Displaying the form and aggression of a linebacker, Thorson brought down the 5-11, 195-pound Carter after a 26-yard return. Tennessee still had the ball at the Georgia 37-yard line, but the Vols weren’t celebrating a touchdown.

In fact, it was the Bulldogs (8-2, 6-2 SEC) that did most of the celebrating the rest of the night, going on to win 31-7.

After Thorson’s stop, Georgia’s defense then rose up and stayed up the rest of the night. The Bulldogs held Tennessee (8-2, 5-2) to a 52-yard field goal after a sack by Chaz Chambliss, one of two in the game for the outside linebacker, and a tackle-for-loss by defensive lineman Warren Brinson.

Thorson’s tackle was a huge play in what became a huge win for the Bulldogs, who stayed well in the hunt for a College Football Playoff spot by beating the seventh-ranked team in last week’s CFP Top 25 and avoiding a third loss. After getting behind 10-0 in the first quarter, Georgia outscored the Vols 31-7 the rest of the way.

And the Bulldogs did it while shorthanded at numerous positions on offense. Already without starting tailback Trevor Etienne due to injury, the offense’s thin receiving numbers got even thinner after one of quarterback Carson Beck’s top targets, Dillon Bell, left the game with an injury in the second quarter, when Georgia trailed 10-7.

With 6:36 to play in the first half, Beck found tight end Oscar Delp in the back of the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown — on what looked like the exact same play as Delp’s 19-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone earlier in the quarter. At halftime, the game was tied 17-17.

The second half was all Georgia, with key offensive contributions coming from veterans like Beck, who threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a 10-yard score in the third, as well as a bunch of players who hadn’t filled up the box score this season. Georgia’s leading receiver Saturday was tight end Ben Yurosek, a graduate transfer from Stanford who had four receptions for 75 yards coming into the game.

Against Tennessee, Yurosek had five catches for 51 yards, including receptions of 21, 5 and 16 yards on Georgia’s game-sealing 12-play, 92-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter. Yurosek’s 16-yard catch got the Bulldogs to the 2-yard line and freshman tailback Nate Frazier scored on the next play to make it 31-17. Frazier had 19 carries for 68 yards, and freshman tailback Chauncey Bowens, who had six carries all season before Saturday, had five rushes.

Georgia’s second-leading receiver was Delp, who caught four passes for 56 yards and the two TDs. Vanderbilt transfer London Humphreys (eight catches for 151 yards all season) had three receptions for 63 yards, while freshman Nitro Tuggle, who had one catch all season coming in, caught two passes for 25 yards. Veteran receivers Dominic Lovett and Arian Smith also had three catches.

After giving up a quick touchdown on UT’s first drive, the Bulldog defense had a strong performance against a Tennessee squad that came in averaging 471.6 yards of offense and 37.6 points per game. The Vols were held to just 313 yards — 235 after their opening drive — and were shut out in the second half.

Veteran linebackers Jalon Walker and Smael Mondon, Jr. and freshman defensive back KJ Bolden all had eight tackles to lead the defense. But the biggest tackle of the game belonged to the former “footy” player from Melbourne.

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He’s also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.