Georgia football wins high-scoring battle of Bulldogs

ATHENS, Ga. — The fifth-ranked Georgia football team piled up the offensive yards Saturday at Sanford Stadium, amassing 605 in a 41-31 win over Mississippi State. Quarterback Carson Beck threw for a career-high 459 yards and three touchdowns, completing passes to 11 different receivers.

With the win, Georgia (5-1, 3-1 SEC) extended its school-record winning streak on Dooley Field to 28 games. The Bulldogs haven’t lost between the hedges since 2019. Georgia’s senior class, which has never lost a home game, improved its overall record to 47-3, the best mark in the FBS. The 2024 seniors are only three wins away from tying the 2023 class’ program-best win total of 50.

Beck spread the ball around plenty, with five different Bulldogs catching four or more passes. Wideout Arian Smith had five catches for a career-high 134 yards and a touchdown.

Mississippi State (1-5, 0-3) produced the game’s first turnover and turned it into three points. On Georgia’s second offensive play, a Beck pass was tipped and intercepted by cornerback Brice Pollock at the UGA 26-yard line. Georgia’s defense then moved State backward thanks to defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins’ stop for a five-yard loss, and State’s Kyle Ferrie kicked a 47-yard field goal to put MSU ahead 3-0.

Georgia answered with a 10-play drive that ended with a 45-yard Peyton Woodring field goal to tie the game, 3-3, with 7:09 remaining in the first quarter.

After the defense got another quick stop — State had a total of seven yards after three possessions — Georgia’s offense went to work and drove 81 yards for the game’s first touchdown. A 26-yard completion from Beck to Smith moved the ball down to the MSU 29. On third-and-long, Beck hit London Humphreys for 21 yards, down to the 5. Branson Robinson put Georgia up 10-3 with a 5-yard touchdown run with 2:13 left in the quarter. Woodring pushed the Georgia lead to 13-3 with a 32-yard field goal early in the second quarter.

Mississippi State cut the lead to 13-10 with a pair of big pass plays, First, quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. hit Mario Craver for a 72-yard gain up the right side, down to the Georgia 5. After back-to-back penalties on State moved the ball back to the 24, Van Buren connected with Kelly Akharaiyi for a 24-yard touchdown with 8:46 left until halftime.

Georgia produced some big plays of its own on the ensuing possession. On the first play of the drive, Beck connected with Dillon Bell across the middle for a 23-yard gain. On the final play, Beck hit Bell in the back of the end zone for a 31-yard score and a 20-10 lead with 6:32 to go in the second.

On first down at the UGA 20 after another State punt, Beck hit Smith down the left hash for a 55-yard gain to the MSU 25. Later in the drive, running back Cash Jones caught a direct snap in the backfield, handed the ball off to Beck, and the quarterback then lofted a pass to tight end Oscar Delp on the right side for a 17-yard gain to the 1.

After the two-minute timeout, Beck found tight end Lawson Luckie in the back of the end zone for the score and a 27-10 lead. Safety KJ Bolden picked off the first pass of his career on State’s final drive of the half, giving the offense the ball at the UGA 19 with 27 seconds left. Beck drove the Bulldogs down to the State 37 and Woodring attempted a 55-yard field goal as time expired. The kick, which would have tied the kicker’s career-long, was wide left.

Georgia outgained State 369-130 in the first half, with 96 of MSU’s yards coming on two plays. State gained just four first downs in the first two quarters. Beck had 317 passing yards at the half, completing passes to 10 different receivers, and Georgia averaged 8.0 yards per play.

That Georgia average went up on the Bulldogs’ first drive of the third quarter. Beck hit tight end Ben Yurosek up the left side for a 29-yard gain on the second play of the possession, the Stanford transfer’s first catch for UGA, and on the next play, Beck found Smith for a 42-yard touchdown and a 34-10 lead.

State answered with a 75-yard scoring drive that ended with a 19-yard rushing touchdown by Johnnie Daniels, cutting Georgia’s lead to 34-17 with 8:27 remaining in the third. On the first play of the ensuing UGA drive, wideout Anthony Evans ran 52 yards to the State 23. Two plays later, Beck was picked off at the goal line by cornerback DeAgo Brumfield.

Mississippi State turned that takeaway into points with a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Van Buren to running back Davon on fourth-and-goal from the 2. That cut Georgia’s lead to 34-24 with 2:40 to play in the third quarter.

Georgia had more than 500 yards of offense heading into the fourth quarter, but State was still in the game. Georgia’s defense got a key stop and forced a punt with 10:59 to play, and the Bulldog offense sealed the victory with a long, clock-chewing drive.

At the end of the 16-play, 81-yard drive that took 7:26 off the clock, running back Trevor Etienne plowed into the end zone from the 1 to give Georgia a 41-24 lead with 3:33 to play. Beck’s 36th completion of the game, a 21-yarder to Bell on the left side to the MSU 4, gave the quarterback a new career-high in passing yardage and tied the school single-game record for completions.

Mississippi State, after getting just four first downs in the first half, had 13 in the second, finishing with 385 total yards. Freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr., who had 36 career passing attempts coming into the game, was 20 of 37 for 306 yards and three touchdowns Saturday. The last was a 35-yarder to Akharaiyi with 1:47 remaining that made it a 41-31 game.

The Bulldogs hit the road next week to face Texas in Austin, in the first SEC meeting between the programs. The top-ranked Longhorns routed No. 18 Oklahoma 34-3 on Saturday.

POST-GAME NOTES

*Another Win: With today’s 41-31 victory, the No. 5 Bulldogs extended their home winning streak to 28 games dating to 2019, which leads all of FBS.

*Georgia now leads the series with MSU 21-6 including 4-0 under Kirby Smart.

*Georgia has now won 44 of its past 45 games including 30 of its past 31 SEC regular season games. The Bulldogs are 51-3 in their last 54 games.

*With the latest victory, Georgia’s 2024 senior class improves to 47-3 overall and 41-1 in the regular season.

*Summary Of The Offense: The Bulldogs posted a season-high 605 yards of total offense on 77 plays including 459 yards through the air.

*Senior QB Carson Beck finished 36-for-48 for a career-high 459 yards with 3 TDs and 2 INTs.

*Beck’s career-high 36 completions ties a school record, joining Cory Phillips (vs. Ga. Tech 2000) and Eric Zeier (vs. UF in 1993 and vs. UK in 1994).

*The 459 passing yards is the third most in a game in Georgia history and the most since Eric Zeier had 485 vs. South Carolina in 1994, going 31-for-51. Zeier holds the mark with 544 against Southern Miss in 1993 when he was 30-for-47.

*After falling behind 3-0, Georgia went 38 yards on 10 plays in 4:56 before settling for a game-tying 45-yard field goal with 7:09 left in the 1st quarter.

*Georgia took a 10-3 lead on its next possession, going 81 yards on eight plays, capped by a five-yard rush by Branson Robinson, his third this year.

*Up 13-3, Georgia went 75 yards on five plays in 2:14 that ended with a 31-yard TD catch by Dillon Bell, his team-best fourth of the year, for a 20-10 lead.

*The Bulldogs went 80 yards on six plays in 2:54 to extend their lead to 27-10 following a one-yard TD pass from Beck to Lawson Luckie.

*Georgia went 81 yards on a season-high 16 plays in a season-long 7:26 to go up 41-24 as Trevor Etienne scored on a 4th-and-1.

*The Bulldogs had 146 rushing yards on 29 attempts. Freshman Nate Frazier had 10 carries for 43 yards. Anthony Evans had a career-long 52-yard rush.

*In the first half, Georgia built a 27-10 edge with 369 yards of total offense on 46 plays. The Bulldogs did not punt.

*State converted two Bulldog miscues into 10 points.

*4th Down Success: Georgia converted two more 4th Downs and is now 10-for-11 on the year including making their last nine attempts. Coming in today, Georgia ranked fourth nationally in 4th Down Conversions at 89%.

*Catching Up With The Receivers: Eleven different Bulldogs had a catch today as the Bulldogs threw for a season-high 459 yards.

*The leading receiver was senior Arian Smith with a career-high 134 yards on five catches including a 55-yarder in the first half and a 42-yarder for a TD in the 3rd quarter. Junior tailback Trevor Etienne had a team-high six catches for 35 yards. Bell tallied five catches for 82 yards and a score.

*Defensive Review: State tallied 31 points on 385 yards of total offense on 63 plays. In the first half, State had 10 points on 130 yards on 28 plays.

*State’s second possession of the game came at the UGA 26 following a tipped pass/interception by Brice Pollock. State had to settle for a 47-yard field goal by Kyle Ferrie after running four plays and losing three yards for a 3-0 edge.

*MSU had 10 yards on its first 13 plays today before hitting a 72-yard completion to Mario Craver from Michael Van Buren. The drive ended with a 24-yard TD strike from Van Buren to Kelly Akharaiyi that converted a 2nd-and-goal to pull State to within three at 13-10 with 8:46 left in the first half.

*Following an INT in the endzone, State drove 80 yards in 8 plays, converting a 4th-and-goal from the two to cut it to 34-24 with 2:40 left in the 3rd quarter.

*Georgia’s leading tacklers today were junior Malaki Starks with seven while senior Dan Jackson had five.

*Freshman KJ Bolden notched his first career interception. It came at the UGA 19 with 27 seconds left in the first half. It did not lead to any points.

*Special Teams In Action: Sophomore PK Peyton Woodring tallied 11 points on 5 PATs and field goals of 45 and 32 yards plus handled kickoffs too. He made his first nine field goals of the year before missing a 55-yarder at the end of the first half.

*Junior Brett Thorson’s first and only punt came with 48 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. It covered 36 yards and was fair caught.

*Sophomore Anthony Evans had one punt return for six yards and no KOR.

*Captains, Coin Toss And Helmet Decals: Georgia’s captains were Cash Jones, Arian Smith, Chaz Chambliss and Nazir Stackhouse.

Georgia won the toss and deferred the ball until the second half. The Bulldogs wore green ribbon decals on their helmets today to raise awareness that Mental Health Matters in conjunction with Hilinski’s Hope.

*Up Next: The No. 5 Bulldogs (5-1, 3-1 SEC) visit top-ranked Texas (6-0, 2-0 SEC) Saturday, Oct. 19th at 7:30 pm (ABC). The Longhorns posted a 34-3 win over No. 18 Oklahoma in Dallas earlier today.