Aaron Murray threw four touchdown passes to surpass Matthew Stafford’s school record and the No. 14 Bulldogs, with a dominating first-half performance, romped past the defending national champions 45-7 Saturday to move within one win of clinching the SEC East.
The Bulldogs (8-2, 6-1 SEC) won their eighth in a row with a dominating performance in the Deep South’s oldest rivalry. They raced to a 35-7 halftime lead over the stunned Tigers (6-4, 4-3) and finished with their biggest win in the series since a 41-0 triumph in 1946. Georgia will be at home next weekend against Kentucky, looking to clinch its first division title in six years and completely snuff out any talk about Mark Richt’s coaching future. The Bulldogs have bounced back from a losing season in 2010 and an 0-2 start to this year. Murray threw all his scoring passes by halftime, giving him 27 TDs on the season and nine in the past two weeks. He broke the school mark of 25 set by Stafford in 2008 before he was picked No. 1 overall in the NFL draft.
With 92,000-seat Sanford Stadium as loud as it’s been in years, Georgia scored on four of its first five offensive possessions—the only glitch was the first of two fumbles by freshman Isaiah Crowell, Auburn fumbled right back to Georgia.
Murray threw touchdown passes of 8 yards to Tavarres King, 27 yards to Michael Bennett, 15 yards to Bruce Figgins and 25 yards to Malcolm Mitchell. Safety Bacarri Rambo tacked on a defensive TD, picking off a pass by Clint Moseley and returning it 24 yards to the end zone with a brilliant return that featured a soaring leap across the goal line. Fortunately for Georgia, the Tigers did win one game away from Jordan-Hare Stadium—a 16-13 upset of South Carolina back on Oct. 1. That could turn out to be the difference in the SEC East.
The Bulldogs fell behind in the division with a 45-42 loss to the Gamecocks in the second week of the season. Georgia hasn’t lost since, while South Carolina dropped another conference game at Arkansas last week to clear the way for Georgia to take the East.
One more win will do it.
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