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Balanced attack leads Georgia past Georgia Tech

Nov 25, 2007 - 4:10 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Georgia remained the hottest team in the Southeastern Conference. Fortunately for Louisiana State, the Bulldogs will not be participating in next week's conference title game.

Matthew Stafford ran and passed for a touchdown and Thomas Brown rushed for 139 yards and a score Saturday as the sixth-ranked Bulldogs downed Georgia Tech, 31-17, in a non-conference clash.

It was the sixth consecutive victory for Georgia (10-2), which defeated Kentucky last week to go 6-2 in SEC play. But Georgia lost the SEC East Division tiebreaker to Tennessee, which posted a 35-14 triumph over the Bulldogs on October 6.

By virtue of their 52-50 quadruple-overtime win over Kentucky earlier Saturday, the Volunteers clinched the East Division crown by finishing SEC play with a 6-2 mark.

Tennessee will take on West Division champion LSU next week in the SEC title game.

"I wanted to go (to the title game)," Bulldogs safety Kelin Johnson said. "I love playing a (challenging team), especially LSU. It didn't matter what they were ranked. I'd love to get a ring on my finger. Ultimately, it didn't happen that way, but you just have to count your blessings."

With their conference title hopes dashed, the Bulldogs still took care of business against the Yellow Jackets.

Trailing, 7-3, midway through the second quarter, Stafford broke loose on a 31-yard scramble to put Georgia ahead, 10-7.

"I felt so slow on that," Stafford said. "I was running, and I guess I had a decent fake and everybody took off with everybody else, so there was nobody there. It felt like it took me a month to get into the end zone."

After Taylor Bennett threw a TD pass at the two-minute mark of the first half to give the Yellow Jackets a 14-10 advantage, the Bulldogs answered with a six-play, 77-yard drive in less than a minute that resulted in Stafford's lone scoring throw to Mohamed Massaquoi from nine yards out.

The ensuing extra point was missed, giving Georgia a 16-14 lead at halftime.

Stafford finished 14-of-29 for 214 yards for the Bulldogs, who have won all seven meetings with the Yellow Jackets under coach Mark Richt.

The winning streak over the Yellow Jackets is Georgia's longest in the bitter rivalry and just one shy of Georgia Tech's eight-win run from 1949-56, the longest by either team.

"It's kind of hard to take in right now, I'm 4-0 against them," Brown said. "Growing up in the state of Georgia, I knew about the heated rivalry, and I knew how much they despise us and vice versa.

"It's kind of a big statement for us to come out and play the way we played today and finish out the series 7-0 and another senior class coming through here and being 4-0 against Georgia Tech."

Following a 44-yard field goal from Travis Bell that trimmed Georgia Tech's deficit to 23-17 in the fourth quarter, Brown took a toss play to the right side and exploded for a 32-yard TD run.

"I'm really happy for (Brown)," Richt said. "He's been working so hard. He's had such a fine career, then Knowshon (Moreno) comes out of nowhere and took a lot of the thunder from his senior year.

"Never once has (Brown) been resentful of it. It's nice to see that he was able to have a big game in the final regular-season game of his career."

Senior running back Tashard Choice delivered his eighth 100-yard performance of the season, rushing for 134 yards on 25 carries and a TD for Georgia Tech (7-5).