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Georgia pulls away in second half to rout Ole Miss

Sep 29, 2007 - 10:00 PM ATHENS, Georgia (Ticker) -- Thomas Brown showed that he is back to full strength.

Brown rushed for a career-high 180 yards and three touchdowns on just 16 carries Saturday as 15th-ranked Georgia pulled away in the second half to rout Mississippi, 45-17, in a Southeastern Conference contest.

The senior running back missed the final five games of last season with an ACL injury suffered on a kickoff return against Vanderbilt.

"(Brown) played big," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "He finally broke out into space and made some big runs. He made safeties miss, which we've been harping on everybody."

Brown, who scored on TD runs of 50, 4 and 41 yards, surpassed his previous career high of 140 yards set against South Carolina in 2005.

Brown's total was the highest for a Georgia running back since Vernon Hayes rushed for 207 yards against Georgia Tech in 2001.

"The big guys up front opened up some holes for me," Brown said. "I was able to get into the secondary and when I got there, I used my God-given ability."

Coming off an emotional 26-23 overtime victory at Alabama, the Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1 SEC East) found themselves in a 17-17 tie when BenJarvus Green-Ellis scored on a two-yard run for Ole Miss with 5:53 left in the third quarter.

But the Bulldogs needed less than 2 1/2 minutes to regain the lead on Brown's four-yard TD run, then tacked on 21 points in the fourth quarter to win going away.

Brown's 41-yard TD run made it 31-17 just over a minute into the final period and provided some cushion for the Bulldogs.

Matthew Stafford completed 13-of-21 passes for 144 yards for Georgia, including a five-yard TD pass to Mohamed Massaquoi that gave the Bulldogs a 14-7 lead with 4:31 left in the first half.

The Bulldogs downed the Rebels by rushing for 328 yards. Knowshon Moreno fell just short of the century mark with 90 yards on 14 carries.

"When everyone plays together, it makes it hard to stop us," Stafford said. "You don't know who to shut down. If you key on Thomas or Knowshon or the receivers, we have other options."

"Obviously, in the second half our defense did not play well," Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron said. "Their running backs run over us in the second half. I'm very disappointed with our defense against the run in the second half."

But the game was closer than the score might have indicated.

Seth Adams, who completed 24-of-35 passes for 228 yards and a TD for the Rebels (1-4, 0-3 SEC West), stunned the Bulldogs early. He tossed a 45-yard TD strike to Mike Wallace to give the Rebels a 7-0 lead 4 1/2 minutes into the contest.

Ole Miss was poised to go up 14-0, but Adams fumbled on the 1-yard line later in the first quarter after a long drive by the Rebels.

"We were outplayed in the first half," Richt said. "We were very fortunate they fumbled on the 1-yard line."

"They didn't beat us," Adams added. "We beat ourselves. They have a good team, but we didn't play well in the second half."

After being blanked in the first quarter, the Bulldogs got their offense untracked with 17 points in the second period.

Georgia tied the contest, 7-7, on Brown's 50-yard TD just under two minutes into the second quarter.

"This is a good win," Stafford said. "It gives us some momentum going into Tennessee (next week)."