Georgia Backup Has Starring Role in Win Over Kentucky

Cory Phillips threw for 400 yards and tied a school record with four touchdown passes in his first career start as No. 12-ranked Georgia rallied to beat Kentucky, 34-30, at Lexington, Ky., on Saturday.

Phillips, subbing for the injured Quincy Carter, completed 20 of 38 passes and his touchdowns came on plays of 85, 40, 27 and 15 yards.

Georgia, 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the Southeastern Conference, overcame a 13-0 second-quarter deficit in the game in which the teams combined for 1,058 total yards. Kentucky (2-6, 0-5) had 620 yards against a Georgia defense had been ranked eighth in the nation.

Kentucky’s freshman quarterback Jared Lorenzen completed 39 of 58 passes for a school-record 528 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a 10-yard touchdown.

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In other SEC games: LaBrandon Toefield scored on a 13-yard run on the first possession of overtime to give Louisiana State (5-3, 3-2) a 45-38 victory over No. 13 Mississippi State (4-2, 2-2) at Baton Rouge, La. . . . No. 18 South Carolina (7-1, 5-1) got two touchdowns from Andrew Pinnock and another from Derek Watson in a 30-14 win over Vanderbilt (2-6, 0-5) at Nashville, Tenn. . . . Casey Clausen, a freshman making his first start for Tennessee (3-3, 1-3), threw two touchdown passes to Cedrick Wilson and the Volunteers stopped a fourth-quarter drive by Alabama (3-4, 3-3) to preserve a 20-10 victory at Knoxville, Tenn. . . . Rudi Johnson rushed 33 times for 249 yards and four touchdowns as Auburn (6-2) overcame a record-setting day BY freshman Luke McCown for a 38-28 victory over visiting Louisiana Tech (2-6).

In games involving Conference USA teams: Army (1-6, 1-4) snapped the nation’s longest losing streak at 10 games in beating Tulane (3-4, 1-3), 21-17, on Joe Gerena’s 18-yard touchdown pass to Clint Dodson with 40 seconds left at West Point, N.Y. . . . Jason McKinley connected with Brian Robinson on an 18-yard touchdown pass in the third overtime to give Houston (3-4, 2-1) a 33-30 victory at Memphis (4-4, 2-3). . . . Jeff Aaron and T.J. Simmons connected on key passes on each of Alabama Birmingham’s scoring drives as the Blazers (5-2) defeated Middle Tennessee (3-4), 14-9, at Birmingham, Ala.

SOUTHWEST

In Western Athletic Conference games: LaDainian Tomlinson struggled on a rainy night but No. 11 Texas Christian (6-0, 3-0) got big plays from its defense and quarterback Casey Printers for a 17-3 victory at Tulsa (3-5, 2-2). Tomlinson, leading the nation with 194.8 yards rushing per game, had 119 in 27 carries. TCU has won 11 in a row and is 6-0 for the first time since 1938. . . . Corey Evans ran for two touchdowns and threw for another and linebacker Dan Dawson tied a school record with three interceptions to lead Rice (2-5, 1-3) to a 38-13 victory over Hawaii (1-5, 1-4) at Houston. . . . Rocky Perez threw for one touchdown and rushed for another to lead Texas El Paso (6-2, 5-0) to a 23-13 victory against visiting Fresno State (3-3, 2-1). Perez, who had 212 yards passing, has thrown for more than 200 yards in seven consecutive games.

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In Mountain West Conference games: Rudy Caamano threw for 170 yards and a touchdown and Holmon Wiggins ran for 99 yards and another score as New Mexico (4-4, 2-1) beat Air Force (5-2, 3-2) 29-23 at Air Force Academy, Colo. . . . San Diego State’s Nate Tandberg kicked a 36-yard field goal with five seconds left to give San Diego State (2-5, 2-1) a 16-15 victory over Brigham Young (3-5, 1-2) at Provo, Utah. BYU kicker Owen Pochman thought he had won the game 45 seconds earlier when he kicked a career-high 50-yard field goal. . . . Matt Newton threw two long touchdown passes in the fourth quarter as Colorado State (6-1, 3-0) rallied for a 24-17 victory over Utah (2-5, 1-2) at Salt Lake City. . . . Jason Thomas, who didn’t start because of a sprained right foot, ran for one touchdown and passed for another to lead Nevada Las Vegas (4-3, 2-1) to a 42-23 victory over visiting Wyoming (1-7, 0-4).

In a Western Athletic Conference game: Jamar Julien tied a school record with four rushing touchdowns to lead San Jose State (5-3, 3-1) to a 49-30 victory over Nevada (1-6, 0-3) at Reno.

SOUTHLAND

In a Big Sky Conference game: Marcus Brady passed for 210 yards and three touchdowns to Drew Amerson as Cal State Northridge (2-5, 1-5) snapped a four-game losing streak with a 24-12 victory over winless Montana State (0-7, 0-4) at Bozeman, Mont.