Hearst Makes Run at Heisman Trophy : Rivalry: Georgia running back gains 169 yards, scores three touchdowns in 31-17 victory over Georgia Tech.

Garrison Hearst made the most of his final regular-season opportunity to impress Heisman Trophy voters.

Hearst gained 169 yards and scored three touchdowns Saturday, leading No. 9 Georgia to a 31-17 victory over Georgia Tech.

“I thought I did pretty good today, but I really don’t know if it was Heisman-caliber,” Hearst said. “I hope I performed well enough. But whatever happens, I know I gave the voters something to look at.”

Hearst’s three touchdowns gave him 21 for the season, breaking the Southeastern Conference record of 20 set by former Georgia back Herschel Walker.

“You’re talking about a conference where you’ve had Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker in the last 10 years,” Georgia Coach Ray Goff said. “So he did something that they didn’t do.”

Both Walker and Jackson, a former Auburn star, won the Heisman.

“He’s a great player and if they are going to give the Heisman, he ought to be considered for it,” Goff said.

Georgia (9-2) is awaiting its placement in the bowl coalition, knowing it will either face North Carolina State in the Gator Bowl or Ohio State in the Citrus Bowl.

Georgia Tech ended the year 5-6, failing to extend its streak of winning seasons to four.

The Bulldogs clinched the victory when Hearst scored on a four-yard run with 29 seconds to play and struck a Heisman Trophy pose in the end zone.

Hearst’s other scores came on three-yard runs in the third quarter.

Hearst ended the season with 1,547 yards rushing, 99 fewer than former Georgia running back Herschel Walker had in his Heisman Trophy-winning season in 1982.

Hearst’s two main challengers for the Heisman, Miami’s Gino Torretta and San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk, were scheduled to go head to head Saturday night. But Faulk didn’t play because his sprained knee wasn’t fully healed. Torretta helped his cause by throwing for 310 yards and one touchdown as No. 1 Miami routed San Diego State, 63-17.

Shawn Jones, who became the Atlantic Coast Conference total offense record-holder, passed for two fourth-quarter touchdowns that cut into a 24-3 deficit.

Jones completed 26 of 46 passes for 306 yardsa and netted 287 yards, giving him 9,296 in his career to break the ACC mark of 9,061 by Duke’s Ben Bennett.

“They fought a heck of a fight,” Georgia Tech Coach Bill Lewis said of his players. “They didn’t lose the football game because of lack of effort.”

Tech recovered an onside kick after the second touchdown, but the ball didn’t go 10 yards and Georgia took over at the Yellow Jackets’ 39 with 2:28 to play.

Georgia’s other touchdown came on a one-yard run by Mack Strong four minutes into the game after Tom Wallace recovered Michael Smith’s fumble.

Hearst had run for 15 and six yards to the Georgia Tech one, but he fumbled, and Rodney Wilkerson recovered for the Yellow Jackets three plays before Strong’s touchdown.

Todd Peterson kicked a 32-yard field goal for the Bulldogs in the second quarter, and Georgia Tech cut the halftime lead to 10-3 when Scott Sisson kicked a 37-yard field goal in the final minute.

It was Sisson’s 60th field goal, tying the ACC all-time record shared by Maryland’s Jess Atkinson and Clemson’s Obed Ariri.