Richt gets 100th win, Georgia tops Tennessee 20-12

(AP)—Isaiah Crowell ran for two touchdowns as Georgia beat Tennessee 20-12 on Saturday night to give coach Mark Richt his 100th career victory. The win keeps the Bulldogs (4-2, 3-1) in a two-way tie with South Carolina for first in the Southeastern Conference East Division. The teams played to a draw in the first half. Each had a pair of field goals, and Tennessee had just 30 more yards of offense and held the ball just 18 seconds longer than the Bulldogs The Vols (3-2, 0-2) started the second half with the ball but came out cold and never seemed to recover, while Georgia took advantage. James Stone snapped the ball over Tyler Bray’s head for a 15-yard loss, and Matt Darr’s 31-yard punt gave Georgia a short field with the ball at the Vols 38. Tennessee appeared to have the Bulldogs stopped at the 9-yard line when Aaron Murray missed Orson Charles on a pass near the end zone, but the Vols’ Daryl Vereen was called for pass interference, giving Georgia a fresh set of downs at the 2-yard line. Crowell ran the ball three straight times and punched the ball in the end zone on a 1-yard run that gave the Bulldogs a 13-6 lead with 8:19 left in the third quarter. The Vols appeared to have an answer on the next drive with a 66-yard touchdown on a pass from Bray to Marlin Lane on third down, a play that saw Lane roll over the back of Michael Gilliard. A review of the play showed Lane’s knee touched the ground 3 yards shy of the first-down line. Georgia started the subsequent drive on its own 7-yard line, but it didn’t matter. Murray launched a pass to Malcolm Mitchell, and Mitchell was 71 yards downfield by the time Marsalis Teague caught up to him. Two plays later, Crowell ran 17 yards for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 20-6 lead with 4:51 to go in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Vols continued to be one-dimensional. Bray was 18 of 33 for 251 yards and no interceptions but neglected to get a passing touchdown for the first time since taking over the offense on Oct. 30, 2010, in a loss at South Carolina. The running game has been an emphasis during practice since Tennessee lost 9 yards on the ground in a 33-23 loss at Florida on Sept. 17. The Vols looked even more miserable against the SEC’s second-best defense after losing starting tailback Tauren Poole to a hamstring and finished with minus-20 yards rushing.

Bray left the game late in the fourth quarter after his right hand hit a defender’s helmet on a passing play. Trainers wrapped his hand as Matt Simms took over and scored on a 1-yard run with 2:45 left in the game. But it was too little, too late.