Georgia Finds Way to Beat Kentucky

At first glance, most of the numbers seemed to be in Kentucky’s favor.

The Wildcats dominated in yardage, 436-275. They had the most first downs, 28-11. They controlled the clock, holding the ball for nearly 37 minutes. Their quarterback set a Southeastern Conference record with 41 completions. They didn’t punt the entire game.

But No. 16 Georgia had the upper hand in the only statistic that mattered, the final score.

Robert Edwards rushed for a career-high 186 yards in 19 carries, Ronald Bailey scored a defensive touchdown for the second week in a row as the Bulldogs defeated Kentucky, 23-13, Saturday at Athens, Ga.

Georgia, 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the SEC, was on the defensive much of the day as the Wildcats ran 90 plays to only 45 for the Bulldogs.

Georgia struck with lightning quickness against Kentucky (4-4, 1-4) on all three of its touchdowns. Edwards scored on runs of 80 and 44 yards and Bailey returned an interception 37 yards for a touchdown.

Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch, who passed for 29 touchdowns in his first seven games, was 41 for 55 for 324 yards, eclipsing the SEC completion record of 39 that he had tied earlier in the season. But the sophomore had three passes intercepted and his only touchdown pass came with less than three minutes remaining.

Bailey, who scored on a fumble recovery a week earlier, intercepted a tipped pass and scored from the 37 late in the first half to give Georgia a 14-7 lead.

No. 11 Auburn 26, Arkansas 21--The Tigers’ Dameyune Craig completed only five passes in the final 45 minutes at Fayetteville, Ark, but one was good a touchdown and the last one was worth precious minutes.

Craig, a 60% passer averaging more than 20 completions a game, missed on nine of his last 14 attempts. But he burned Arkansas on a blitz to hook up with Marcus Campbell for a 70-yard touchdown pass play that helped build a 19-point lead and then completed a 10-yard pass to Tyrone Goodson on third and six after the Razorbacks scored twice in the fourth quarter.

The completion to Goodson helped the Tigers (7-1, 4-1) consume six minutes and preserve the SEC victory.

Clint Stoerner completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Eubanks on fourth down and then connected with Anthony Lucas for a 43-yard scoring pass moments later as Arkansas (3-4, 1-3) got within 26-21 with 7:03 to play.

Alabama 29, No. 25 Mississippi 20--The Rebels’ first ranking in five years won’t last long as Curtis Alexander rushed for 141 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown in the third quarter, to help the Crimson Tide come from behind in an SEC game at Oxford, Miss.

Mississippi, still rebuilding after two years of NCAA sanctions, stumbled a week after an upset against then-No. 8 LSU gave the Rebels their first Associated Press ranking since 1992.

Ole Miss, 4-3 overall and 2-3 in the SEC, built a 14-0 lead in the first half, but the Crimson Tide (4-3, 2-3) responded with 29 straight points to avoid four consecutive SEC losses in the same season for the first time since 1955.

Mississippi State 35, Central Florida 28--J.J. Johnson rushed for a career-best 146 yards and scored four touchdowns at Starkville, Miss., as the Bulldogs (5-2) held off the Golden Knights (4-4) despite giving up 359 yards passing to their vaunted quarterback, Daunte Culpepper.

Mississippi State turned up the defensive pressure on Culpepper late in the game with the score 28-28. The Bulldogs held Culpepper to just two completions on Central Florida’s final three possessions.

South Carolina 35, Vanderbilt 3--The Gamecocks scored in a variety of ways against the SEC’s leading defense at Columbia, S.C.

Boo Williams had a 100-yard kickoff return, Victor Penn ran in a fake field-goal attempt, Steve Mixon had a one-yard run for a score and Jermale Kelly caught two touchdown passes for the Gamecocks (5-3, 3-3).

South Carolina managed only 259 yards against Vanderbilt (3-5, 0-5) but came up with three fumbles and two interceptions.