After one quarter of their Saturday home game against Central Michigan, the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs might have been ready to drop another spot in the rankings as they led Central Michigan 7-0. A week earlier, Georgia lost its No. 1 ranking in both the USA Today coaches’ and AP Polls after “only” beating Georgia Southern by 24 points. The Bulldogs did start out strong, however, as they wasted little time in trying to prove they are the nation’s top team in Saturday’s 56-17 victory over the Chippewas.
Georgia’s offense scored on its first possession of the game for the second week in a row as the passing of Matthew Stafford and running of Knowshon Moreno and Caleb King led to a 3-yard Stafford touchdown pass to Mohamed Massaquoi, helping the Bulldogs the grab an early 7-0 lead. “It is a testament to our coaches of getting our guys ready,” Stafford said about the Bulldogs quick start. “[We realize] every game is a big one and we got to come out here with the right kind of energy and attitude.”
At the start of the second quarter, the offense got rolling again, extending the Dawgs’ seven-point lead to 14 as Caleb King scored on a 1-yard touchdown run. Big gains on the ground by Moreno and Stafford’s ability to avoid the pass rush helped set up the score.
But, for the second week in a row, there was concern about an injury to Moreno. This week the concern was valid, as Moreno had to leave the game because he got a little woozy after he blocked an oncoming pass rusher on Georgia’s first possession of the second quarter. He returned to the lineup on the Bulldogs’ next possession, and on the possession after that, scored on a 1-yard touchdown run of his own with 5:29 left to play in the second quarter. Georgia led 21-0 at that point and Moreno was on his way to an 18-carry, 168-yard performance.
“The offensive line did a great job of just opening up holes for us,” Moreno said. “Also, you could see the wide receivers downfield making blocks for us.”
Before the Chippewas’ offense began to move the ball, the defense also started strong. Playing without defensive tackle Jeff Owens, who is out for the season with a torn ACL, the Bulldogs defenders showed Central Michigan early on that its spread-option attack would have trouble keeping up with the caliber of athlete that Georgia fields. Backup defensive tackle Brandon Wood and starter Geno Atkins combined to corral Chippewa running back Ontario Sneed on a third-and-two at the Georgia 46-yard line to set a tone early in the first quarter. Central Michigan would not get any deeper into Georgia territory until late in the second quarter, when they marched all the way to the Georgia 22-yard line. That is when reserve defensive end Demarcus Dobbs picked off a tipped Dan LeFevour pass and rumbled 78 yards for a touchdown. “Rennie Curran had a key block and I was just determined to get in,” Dobbs said. “I was pretty gassed.”
Central Michigan’s passing game got cranked up and they finally cracked the scoreboard when LeFevour found Joe Bockheim for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 27 seconds remaining in the first half. The Chippewas got great field position because of an unsportsmanlike penalty on Georgia after the Dobbs touchdown, and trailed 28-7 going into halftime.
The Chippewas continued their air attack and scored on their opening possession of the second half as LeFevour connected with Jean Pitts on a 32-yard touchdown pass that cut the Bulldogs lead to 28-14.
“LeFevour was everything that everybody has been talking about,” said Georgia head coach Mark Richt. “If we don’t get [the Dobbs touchdown], it could have been 28-21 after that first drive of the second half.”
But the Bulldogs did get the Dobbs touchdown, and this week Georgia was going to make sure the final score was an impressive one. The Bulldogs pushed the lead back to 21 after Moreno scored on a 52-yard touchdown run. The redshirt sophomore dodged, ran over and even hurdled one Central Michigan defender on his way to rushing for a career-high three touchdowns for the second consecutive week. “We saw him do that once before in practice,” Richt said about the hurdle. “I knew he was pretty good, but I didn’t think he was that good.”
“My instinct just took over,” Moreno said.
Stafford later added a 54-yard touchdown pass to Mohamed Massaquoi, and after Moreno’s third touchdown early in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs led 49-17. Holding a 32-point lead with a little over 11:00 left to play, Stafford and Moreno could finally take a breather. Backup quarterback Joe Cox came in and led Georgia on another touchdown drive that was capped by a 1-yard Richard Samuel touchdown run. Samuel finished the day with 44 yards on eight carries.
“We did a much better job of finishing the game,” Richt said. “Even when we made some substitutions late in the game, the guys still executed well. They still played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and that’s what you’ve got to have.”
Despite the Central Michigan successes, the Georgia defense did not let LeFevour have a monster day, limiting him to 250 yards passing after completing 23 of 43 passes. Most surprising was that he only carried the ball four times. LeFevour averaged 13 carries a game a year ago and carried the ball 11 times in his team’s season opener against Eastern Illinois.
“Our defensive ends did a very good job of staying square and eyeballing that quarterback and making sure he doesn’t pull the ball out and run with it,” Richt said.
LeFevour’s four carries did gain 19 yards, as he had a 16-yard scramble while stepping up to avoid the Georgia pressure. His 19 yards led the Chippewas in rushing. Antonio Brown was Central Michigan’s leading receiver with 67 yards on seven catches. Georgia held Brown to 73 yards on four kickoffs and did not give him a chance to return a single punt. Massaquoi led the Bulldogs in receiving with 79 yards on five catches. Also, Michael Moore added 64 yards on five catches. Georgia out-passed Central Michigan 289 yards to 250 and bested them on the ground 263-59. The touchdowns by King, Dobbs and Samuel were the first in the career for all three.
Butler can be reached at jbutler@scoreatl.com.
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