Georgia wrapped up a perfect 12-0 regular season with a 37-14 win Saturday over Georgia Tech at Sanford Stadium.
The Bulldogs face LSU next Saturday in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the SEC Championship. Georgia will be playing in its fifth SEC championship in six seasons, but it is looking for its first conference title since 2017.
Click below for a complete recap of Saturday’s Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate victory.
Five takeaways:Georgia completes unbeaten regular season, downs Georgia Tech
Honoring a legend:The meaning behind Kirby Smart’s Georgia football tie during his postgame press conference
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Running back Kendall Milton goes 44 yards for Georgia’s third touchdown of the second half. The Bulldogs extend their lead to 37-7 with 11:13 to play. Reminder, Georgia is a 35.5 favorite in this one. And it fell behind 7-0 after Georgia Tech opened the game with a touchdown drive.
Senior running back Kenny McIntosh scores on a 2-yard touchdown, one play after an 83-yard reception. The two plays capped the longest scoring drive, 99 yards on f, in the Kirby Smart era.
The Bulldogs lead 23-7 as the fourth quarter begins. Georgia has the ball at its 5-yard line when play resumes.
After Stetson Bennett was ruled down at the 1/2 yard line, and the play stood after further review, Georgia soon faced a 4th-and-1. The Bulldog QB tossed a low ball to tight end Brock Bowers who got his hands under the ball before it could hit the ground. UGA extends lead to 20-7 midway through the third quarter.
A deep pass to Arian Smith was ruled to be bobbled as he went out of bounds in the end zone. After review, the call on the field stood and Georgia’s Jack Podlesny nailed a 50-yard field goal to give Georgia a 13-7 lead.
Not a great first half for Georgia which leads 10-7 over Georgia Tech.
The Yellow Jackets are outgaining Georgia 187-153. Stetson Bennett is 5 of 10 for 28 yards.
Georgia with 125 rushing yards on 16 carries led by 59 rushing yards on 3 carries by Kenny McIntosh.
Georgia got a 45-yard run from Kenny McIntosh to get its offense going on an 80-yard drive. Stetson Bennett hit Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint on a 5-yard touchdown pass with 7:59 to go in the first half. Georgia goes ahead 10-7.
Georgia again couldn’t punch it in when it got in the red zone. This time, the Bulldogs settle for a 30-yard Jack Podlesny field goal. An offensive pass interference penalty on third down came the snap before the field goal. Georgia Tech up 7-3 with 18 seconds to go in the first.
How about that? Georgia Tech just marched down the field to grab a 7-0 lead on a 7-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Taisun Phommachanh. Georgia Tech hit a 4th-and-9 34-yard completion to keep the drive alive. Yellow Jackets lead 7-0 10:43 to go in the first quarter.
Tate Ratledge warmed up with the starting unit at right guard after missing last week’s game due to a subluxed shoulder. Smart said Ratledge had practiced last week. Devin Willock started in his place last week at Kentucky.
Besides Smart, Georgia’s staff includes several with a history of playing and coaching in this game back to their student days.
Wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon, co-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. and offensive analyst Mike Bobo played in this game. So did support staffer Jonas Jennings. Tight ends coach Todd. Hartley is a UGA graduate who was a student assistant.
“We’ve got a lot of coaches that used to play in this rivalry and it means a lot to them,” safety Chris Smith said.
Smart told the team what it means to him,
“It’s like a legacy to him that keeps going because he played in it and now he’s able to coach it,” offensive tackle Broderick Jones said. “That takes a big step for him and it takes it to the field for us just to play for him.”
Georgia’s tight ends are warming up. There’s five with position coach Todd Hartley, but no sign of Arik Gilbert.
Gilbert hasn’t played since the Oct. 15 game against Vanderbilt after dealing with personal issues during the last year.
“He’s doing well,” Smart said this week. “He continues to grow. We’re just trying to help Arik as a person and a student right now.”
Georgia wide receiver AD Mitchell is going through early warmups with the wide receivers, something he hasn’t done in recent weeks. Mitchell hasn’t played since the Oct. 8 game against Auburn due to a high ankle sprain that’s limited him to three games this season.
The receivers aren’t going full speed running at this stage of warmups, but he’s wearing his game pants and looks like he could be available today.
“He’s been out there to take some reps and things,” Smart said after practice Tuesday. “He took a few today, I wouldn’t say that he’s 100%, I wouldn’t even day that he’s close to playing, but he’s done more this week than he has any other week. He’s closer than he’s ever been, so I’m hopeful.”
Mitchell just made a spinning one-handed catch. He was swaying back and forth earlier to the music on the P.A. system.
Georgia Tech has gone 4-3 under interim coach Brent Key who started 44 games at right guard for the Yellow Jackets from 1997-2000.
“It’s easy to say this is the next game on the schedule, but it’s Georgia and we’re Georgia Tech,” Key said. “That’s why you come to school here to play in this football game.”
It’s a head coaching battle pairing Georgia grad Smart against Georgia Tech grad Key.
That makes this the first head coaching matchup of alumni in this series since Georgia Tech’s William Alexander and Georgia’s George Woodruff in 1927.
Lee Hedrick is the referee for today’s game with an SEC crew working this nonconference game. He was the referee for UAB and Missouri games last year on Georgia’s schedule.
Today’s Georgia game captains: quarterback Stetson Bennett, running back Kenny McIntosh, safety Chris Smith and offensive tackle Warren McClendon.
This could be the last home game for several underclassmen.
Junior defensive tackle Jalen Carter is a projected top 10 picks and redshirt sophomore cornerback Kelee Ringo a possible first round pick. Tight end Darnell Washington could also be an early round pick. Others who could have decisions to make offensive tackle Broderick Jones and center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger and offensive tackle Warren McClendon.
“I really don’t know,” Jones said. “Hopefully make a decision at the end of the year.”
Georgia will honor 22 players in pregame ceremonies today on Senior Day.
There are 14 seniors: quarterback Stetson Bennett, outside linebackers Robert Beal and Nolan Smith, safety Chris Smith, offensive guard Warren Ericson, wide receiver Kearis Jackson, running back Kenny McIntosh, kicker Jack Podlesny, defensive lineman Tramel Walthour, walk-on wide receiver Randon Jernigan, walk-on snapper Payne Walker, walk-on kicker Matthew Sumlin, walk-on defensive back Joseph Daniels and walk-on wide receiver Nathan Priestley.
Seven redshirt juniors also will be recognized: wide receiver Dominick Blaylock, defensive lineman Bill Norton, offensive linemen Warren McClendon and Xavier Truss, tight ends Brett Seither and Ryland Goede, and snapper William Mote.
Walk-on defensive back Payton Bowles, listed as a redshirt sophomore, also will take part.
“There’s not a huge star-studded cast,” Smart said. “There won’t be 15 draft picks out there. But there’s some guys that really care about UGA and have sacrificed a lot to this program
We’re trying to ramp it up a little bit to make sure we send them off the right way,” offensive tackle Broderick Jones said.
