Georgia gets revenge

Published 10:39 am Friday, December 9, 2005

ATHENS — So much for Georgia’s struggling offense.

In fact, following Saturday’s SEC showdown with LSU, the Tigers might be Greene with envy.

Georgia’s David Greene passed for 172 yards and a school record five touchdowns, leading the Bulldogs to the 45-16 blowout victory.

“I’m proud of everybody and thankful for what happened,” said Georgia head coach Mark Richt.

The much maligned Bulldogs attack that had managed just 33 points in its last two games exploded for 38 in the first three quarters Saturday against the LSU Tigers’ vaunted defense.

Greene, however, was not fazed by the Tigers’ array of blitzes, completing 10-of-19 passes.

“We knew LSU was going to blitz,” said Georgia quarterbacks coach and former Thomasville High School quarterback Mike Bobo. “We had to make the plays on the outside.”

The victory also avenged a pair of losses the Bulldogs suffered at the hands of the Tigers a year ago, which included a 34-13 thrashing in the SEC Championship game.

“We had two weeks to prepare for LSU, we had two weeks to think about LSU,” said Georgia linebacker Thomas Davis. “We did nothing but focus on LSU.”

“They beat us twice last year, and we can’t stand to be beaten once, so we knew what we had to do,” said Georgia defensive end David Pollack.

The Bulldogs scored on four of their first five possessions to open up a 24-10 lead.

“I thought we had a good week of practice,” said LSU head coach Nick Saban. “We started (today’s game) very sluggish and Georgia came out fast and furious. We never made a lot of plays on offense in the first half.”

Greene had six completions at halftime, three for touchdowns. The Tigers’ attempt at a comeback in the second half was done in by the relentless pressure the Bulldogs applied on LSU’s two quarterbacks, Jamarcus Russel and Marcus Randall. Georgia finished with five sacks, an interception and held LSU to 2-of-11 on third down conversions. Davis also forced a pair of fumbles in the first half and remembers the beating LSU dealt Georgia last year.

“It left a bitter taste in our mouth,” Davis said.

Saturday night, however, belonged to Greene, who entered the night with just three touchdown passes, but improved to 36-8 as a starter.

“The five touchdowns, he’s not about that,” said Bobo. “He’s about winning. He’s been doing that for four years now. He does what we ask him to do.”

Greene was also aided by the return of freshman running back Danny Ware. Ware was injured in the Bulldogs’ game against South Carolina with a bruised lung. He finished Saturday’s game with 109 yards on 22 carries.

“I loved it, man,” Ware said. “I couldn’t stand being away. It was killing me inside.”

“Danny’s a great back,” said Greene. “He ran over guys, he made the big third-down runs.”

His biggest attribute may have been just his presence. With the Tigers having to focus more on stopping the run, it opened up the downfield passing game for Greene and his two receivers Fred Gibson and Reggie Brown.

Gibson had three catches for 56 yards and two touchdowns, while Brown found the end zone twice, while snagging five balls for 110 yards. LSU tried to play man-for-man with its two corners but was consistently burned by Georgia’s speed and athletiscm.

“They believe in their corners,” said Gibson. “We just took care of business.”