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Stafford, Georgia hold off Kentucky

Nov 8, 2008 - 10:59 PM LEXINGTON, Kentucky (Ticker) -- Matthew Stafford passed for a career-high 376 yards with three touchdowns as 13th-ranked Georgia narrowly escaped an upset with a wild 42-38 victory over Kentucky on Saturday.

Stafford lofted an 11-yard TD pass to freshman A.J. Green at the back of the end zone with 1:54 left in the contest to give the Bulldogs (7-2, 5-2 SEC East) the lead.

The Wildcats (6-4, 2-4) drove down to the Georgia 13-yard-line, but linebacker Demarcus Dobbs made a spectacular one-handed interception on freshman Randall Cobb's attempted screen pass.

"I say the word of the day is 'thankfulness,'" Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said. "A lot of excitement, two great teams battling like mad. I know it had to be tough for Kentucky just as it would have been heartbreaking for us if we wouldn't have come out with a win."

"Obviously, this is a very, very tough loss," Kentucky coach Rich Brooks said. "One of the toughest losses we've had since I've been here."

Trailing, 38-35, with less than four minutes to play, Stafford started the 85-yard, game-winning drive in spectacular fashion. He completed a 76-yard pass to Mohamed Massaquoi, who had lost a fumble on the Bulldogs' previous possession.

"You just have to have a short memory after (the fumbles)," Massaquoi said. "It was very unfortunate to fumble those two times, but we just tried to execute things the best that we could."

Three plays later, Stafford avoided a sack, rolled out of the pocket and threw a desperation pass into triple coverage.

"A career day for (Stafford)," Richt said. "He just battled the whole time through. That last play, you know you're down by three, you know a field goal at least keeps the game going and you try to coach him up to try to make the play if you can.

"And if anything breaks down, get rid of the ball and go for the field goal. The protection broke down and he started scrambling late and I wasn't real happy there initially, but when I saw the results, I was thinking the kid's a genius."

Green made a sensational leaping catch in the back right corner of the end zone, easily getting a foot down before absorbing a hit from a defender.

"I knew that (Green) had been open early on too and I just couldn't see, so I had to scramble out," Stafford said. "(Green) is a lanky dude that can catch it. I just threw it high to him and he made the play."

The game was far from over, though. Cobb, who rushed for three touchdowns, completed a 29-yard pass to Maurice Grinter on the first play of Kentucky's ensuing drive.

Four plays later, Kentucky's chances appeared to be over when the Wildcats failed to convert on a fourth-and-2. But the drive was prolonged when Georgia was whistled for a facemask penalty that moved the ball to the Bulldogs 13.

However, Georgia was not deterred.

Dobbs fought off a block and managed to intercept Cobb's pass on the next play to seal the victory for the Bulldogs.

"I just couldn't believe I made that pass," Cobb said. "I saw it was covered and I should have thrown it away, but I have to live with that mistake now. I thought I played pretty well up until I made that pass and (the interception) just canceled out everything."

It was an up-and-down day from Georgia's defense, which surrendered 331 yards from scrimmage.

"What I'm going to say about the defense is that they were good enough to win the game," Richt said. "They got three key stops at the end of the game and I'm proud of them."

"It wasn't a perfect game," Dobbs added. "It's never going to be perfect playing in the Southeastern Conference. It was a great win, though, and we are excited about it. We're just ready to move on from here."

Before the critical interception, Cobb played extremely well. He passed for 105 yards and added 82 rushing yards, keeping Kentucky in the contest with TD runs of 2, 9 and 1 yards.

Knowshon Moreno rushed for 123 yards and three scores for the Bulldogs, who racked up 520 total yards.