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Battle of Georgia goes to No. 13 Bulldogs

Nov 26, 2011 - 10:23 PM Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Aaron Murray completed 19-of-29 passes for 252 yards, four touchdowns and an interception, as the 13th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs rolled to a 31-17 victory over the 25th-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Orson Charles caught five passes for 95 yards for the Bulldogs (10-2), who beat Kentucky last weekend to clinch the SEC East title.

Tavarres King, Chris Conley, Michael Bennett and Aron White all caught TD passes for Georgia, which takes a 10-game winning streak into next weekend's SEC title game against top-ranked LSU.

"Winning 10 in a row is nice," Georgia head coach Mark Richt said. "When we were 0-2, people in the Butts-Mehre building we're wanting to say, hey, we can go 10 in a row. You can't go 10 in a row unless you get one in a row. That kind of became our war cry. Let's win one in a row, once a week. The goal also was to try and improve every singles week. I thought the guys bought into that pretty good."

Tevin Washington connected on just 3-of-10 passes for 34 yards and two interceptions for the Yellow Jackets (8-4), who have lost two of three. He also carried the ball 13 times for 41 yards.

Orwin Smith carried the ball seven times for 46 yards and a score. Roddy Jones rushed for 72 yards on 11 carries in defeat.

"Anytime you lose it is certainly disappointing," Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson said. "I give Georgia a lot of credit, they have a good football team and they showed up and played very well. For us the margin of error was small and we didn't take advantage of a couple of opportunities that we had early. When we did that we got behind and we could never claw ourselves back into the game."

On Georgia's first possession of the game, Murray was intercepted by Louis Young at the Georgia Tech 27. The Yellow Jackets moved the ball to their 47 before punting.

Charles and Brandon Boykin caught passes of 18 and 28 yards, respectively, before Malcolm Mitchell ripped off a 20-yard run. Faced with a 2nd-and-goal from the 15, Bennett caught a pass over the middle of the field and ran into the end zone.

Georgia Tech's ensuing possession carried over into the second quarter. The home team moved the ball to the two-yard line, but had to settle for a 22-yard Justin Moore field goal.

But the Bulldogs quickly extended their margin. Charles caught three passes on an eight-play drive to move the ball to the 14. Murray then found Conley wide open in the right side of the end zone for a 14-3 edge with 8 1/2 minutes left.

The Yellow Jackets used 14 rushing plays on the ensuing possession to find the end zone. A successful quarterback sneak by Washington on 4th-and-1 kept the march alive. After David Sims converted a 3rd-and-1, he broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and dove into the end zone for a five-yard score.

Blair Walsh's 41-yard field goal with three seconds remaining made it a 17-10 Georgia lead at the half.

Boykin's 60-yard kickoff return to start the second half gave Georgia the ball at the 36. Charles caught a 28-yard pass and recovered his own fumble at the three before King hauled in a three-yard TD pass from Murray to make it 24-10.

Washington threw his second interception of the third quarter with 6 1/2 minutes left, and the Bulldogs took over at the Georgia Tech 38. Alexander Ogletree's 21-yard run on third down put the ball inside the 10-yard line. Three plays later, Murray found White in the left corner of the end zone for a three-yard score and 31-10 lead.

Walsh missed a 52-yard field goal with nine minutes remaining in the fourth, and Smith's 16-yard rushing TD with 6 1/2 minutes left accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

Georgia leads the all-time series with Georgia Tech, 62-39-5. The Bulldogs have won the last three and 10 out of the last 11 meetings...Georgia Tech had 243 rushing yards, compared to 128 for the Bulldogs...Walsh has made at least one field goal in 43 games in his career, tying the NCAA mark held by former Georgia kicker Billy Bennett (2000-03).