Final
Arizona St.-Georgia Preview
Sep 22, 2009 - 6:50 PM By DAN PIERINGER STATS EditorArizona State (2-0) at No. 15 Georgia (2-1), 7:00 p.m. EDT
After getting shut down in a disheartening season-opening defeat, Georgia's offense has bounced back with big performances to carry the team to wins the last two weeks.
The Bulldogs may need another big outing from that unit to keep up with Arizona State on Saturday night.
The No. 21 Bulldogs look to extend their offensive surge when they host the Sun Devils, who will try to continue their own high-scoring ways in their first big test of the season.
Ranked 13th in the preseason AP poll, Georgia suffered a major letdown in its opener, managing 257 yards in a 24-10 loss at then-No. 9 Oklahoma State.
Since then, the Bulldogs (2-1) have more than worked out the kinks on the offensive side of the ball. They won a 41-37 shootout against South Carolina on Sept. 12 before piling up 530 total yards in a wild 52-41 victory at Arkansas last Saturday.
Richard Samuel ran for 104 yards and a touchdown, but Georgia did most of its damage through the air against the Razorbacks. Joe Cox completed 18 of 25 passes for 375 yards and became the third Georgia quarterback to throw five touchdown passes.
"It's pretty cool," said Cox, a first-year starter who had thrown eight TDs in 14 career games before last week. "It's definitely not something I expected to happen. We didn't know it was going to be a shootout like that, but if a team wants to make it a shootout, we've got to find a way to answer."
The Bulldogs have been able to do so over the last two weeks, and Cox thinks that will help them as the season continues.
"These kinds of games are good for you," he said. "I think it's great to get a win any way you can, but when you do it like this it says something about the team as a whole. This was an important win for us against a good team."
Coach Mark Richt was similarly encouraged after his team continued to distance itself from the opening-week disappointment.
"We certainly know how to keep things exciting," he said. "It was a spirited victory tonight. I still don't feel like we've reached our full potential, but we're getting there."
Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson doesn't have quite as good a feel for his team yet, but he expects that to change in this matchup.
The Sun Devils (2-0) have cruised to easy wins against overmatched opponents in their first two games, beating Idaho State 50-3 on Sept. 5 and Louisiana-Monroe 38-14 last Saturday.
Danny Sullivan was 19 for 31 for 220 yards and a touchdown, while Dimitri Nance ran for 82 yards and two TDs against the Warhawks. Omar Bolden had an interception and scored on an 89-yard kickoff return.
Though the early results have been good, Erickson is eager to see how his squad stands up to stiffer competition.
"We're (asking) right now, 'Where are we at as a football team?'" he said. "That's my biggest concern. It will be interesting to find out exactly where we're at when we go down there and play.
"Every part of our football team, we're going to find out more about us when we play this week."
Since the start of the 2000 season, Arizona State is 3-27 against Top 25 opponents, with the losses coming by an average of 16.9 points. The Sun Devils are 0-4 all-time against the SEC.
In these teams' first meeting last season, then-No. 3 Georgia beat Arizona State 27-10 at Tempe, outgaining the Sun Devils 461-212 overall and 176-4 on the ground. Erickson joked that he "probably should have burnt the tape."
"They pretty much dominated us," he said.
The Bulldogs' top performers in that game - quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Knowshon Moreno - were first-round picks in the NFL draft, so Georgia will be counting on Cox and Samuel to continue their outstanding play Saturday.
The Bulldogs will also need to take better care of the football. They rank 116th in the nation in turnover margin with two turnovers forced and nine lost.
The Sun Devils, by contrast, are first in the country, having forced eight turnovers and committed none.
"We've got to do a lot of things better," Richt said. "We really need to stop turning the ball over and putting our defense in a bad spot."
- NCAAF FINAL
1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
ARIZONAST 3 0 14 0 17
GEORGIA 14 0 0 6 20 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: GEORGIA - TD, A.J. GREEN 56 YD PASS FROM
JOE COX (BLAIR WALSH KICK),
8:15. GEORGIA 7-0
ARIZONA ST - FG, BOBBY WENZIG 43 YD, 11:37.
GEORGIA 7-3
GEORGIA - TD, FRED MUNZENMAIER 2 YD RUN
Sep 26 9:32 PM - NCAAF
ARIZONAST 17
GEORGIA 20 0:00 LEFT, 4TH QTR
Arizona State 17, Georgia(21) 20 End of Reg.Sep 26 9:31 PM - 130
rootsRUWTbot Added 19 roots (Close Finish, Upset)
Arizona State 17, Georgia(21) 17 4th - 4:32Sep 26 9:23 PM
TD ARIZONA ST JARRELL HOLMAN 50 YD INTERCEPTION RETURN (BOBBY WENZIG KICK)
Arizona State 17, Georgia(21) 14 3rd - 5:25Sep 26 9:22 PM
TD ARIZONA ST JARRELL HOLMAN 50 YD INTERCEPTION RETURN (BOBBY WENZIG KICK)
Arizona State 17, Georgia(21) 14 3rd - 5:25Sep 26 9:22 PM
TD ARIZONA ST DIMITRI NANCE 6 YD PASS FROM DANNY SULLIVAN (BOBBY WENZIG KICK)
Arizona State 10, Georgia(21) 14 3rd - 6:39Sep 26 9:16 PM
TD ARIZONA ST DIMITRI NANCE 6 YD PASS FROM DANNY SULLIVAN (BOBBY WENZIG KICK)
Arizona State 10, Georgia(21) 14 3rd - 6:39Sep 26 9:16 PM
TD ARIZONA ST DIMITRI NANCE 6 YD PASS FROM DANNY SULLIVAN (BOBBY WENZIG KICK)
Arizona State 10, Georgia(21) 14 3rd - 6:39Sep 26 9:16 PM- 111
rootsRUWTbot Added 17 roots (Close Finish, Upset)
Arizona State 17, Georgia(21) 17 4th - 6:40Sep 26 9:12 PM - 94
rootsRUWTbot Added 59 roots (Close Finish, Upset)
Arizona State 17, Georgia(21) 17 4th - 8:04Sep 26 9:05 PM - NCAAF
ARIZONAST 17
GEORGIA 17 14:53 LEFT, 4TH QTR
Arizona State 17, Georgia(21) 17 4th - 14:53Sep 26 8:38 PM - NCAAF
ARIZONAST 17
GEORGIA 14 0:00 LEFT, 3RD QTR
Sep 26 8:32 PM - NCAAF
ARIZONAST 17
GEORGIA 14 5:25 LEFT, 3RD QTR
Arizona State 17, Georgia(21) 14 3rd - 5:25Sep 26 8:22 PM - NCAAF
ARIZONAST 16
GEORGIA 14 5:25 LEFT, 3RD QTR
Arizona State 16, Georgia(21) 14 3rd - 5:25Sep 26 8:22 PM - NCAAF
ARIZONAST 10
GEORGIA 14 6:39 LEFT, 3RD QTR
Arizona State 10, Georgia(21) 14 3rd - 6:39Sep 26 8:16 PM
TD GEORGIA FRED MUNZENMAIER 2 YD RUN (BLAIR WALSH KICK)
Arizona State 3, Georgia(21) 14 1st - 0:40Sep 26 7:45 PM
TD GEORGIA FRED MUNZENMAIER 2 YD RUN (BLAIR WALSH KICK)
Arizona State 3, Georgia(21) 14 1st - 0:40Sep 26 7:45 PM- NCAAF
ARIZONAST 3
GEORGIA 14 0:00 LEFT, 2ND QTR
Sep 26 7:35 PM
TD GEORGIA A.J. GREEN 56 YD PASS FROM JOE COX (BLAIR WALSH KICK)
Arizona State 0, Georgia(21) 7 1st - 6:06Sep 26 7:24 PM
TD GEORGIA A.J. GREEN 56 YD PASS FROM JOE COX (BLAIR WALSH KICK)
Arizona State 0, Georgia(21) 7 1st - 6:06Sep 26 7:24 PM
TD GEORGIA A.J. GREEN 56 YD PASS FROM JOE COX (BLAIR WALSH KICK)
Arizona State 0, Georgia(21) 7 1st - 6:06Sep 26 7:24 PM- NCAAF
ARIZONAST 3
GEORGIA 14 0:00 LEFT, 1ST QTR
Sep 26 6:48 PM - NCAAF
ARIZONAST 3
GEORGIA 14 0:40 LEFT, 1ST QTR
Arizona State 3, Georgia(21) 14 1st - 0:40Sep 26 6:45 PM
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