Practice report: Georgia rallies to defeat ‘Boise State’ 38-34
ATHENS – Down 31-0 at halftime, Georgia rallied in the second half and scored a touchdown with 11 seconds remaining for a dramatic 38-34 win over Boise State Wednesday in Sanford Stadium.
OK, so it wasn’t the real Boise State. It was the Bulldogs’ scout team posing as the No. 5-ranked Broncos and going against Georgia’s varsity offense and defense in a practice game at Sanford Stadium.
Georgia coach Mark Richt said he spotted “Boise” the 31 points — they only played one half – to “create some drama.” And it did.
The Bulldogs were trailing by three inside the Boise 5-yard line late in the fourth quarter when Quantavious Harrow, playing the role of a Broncos’ defensive back, flew in and forced a turnover. But Boise was unable to run out the clock and had to punt the ball back.
Georgia won when Hutson Mason hooked up with Tavarres King on a fade route on third-and-goal.
“We had a great second half and just rolled right through them,” quarterback Aaron Murray quipped.
Richt was happy with the final result and the overall play of the defense but otherwise wasn’t particular thrilled.
“We would not have been ready today,” Richt said. “Even our pregame warmup left a little to be desired.”
Georgia’s defense was particularly resourceful, creating six turnovers and “at least” four interceptions, Richt said. Two of those picks were returned for touchdowns by cornerback Brandon Boykin.
“It was interception mania there for a minute,” Richt said. “But their offensive line didn’t protect very well and that’s the main reason why.”
UGA kept “unofficial official” stats for the scrimmage. Tailback Isaiah Crowell had six carries for 54 yards and a touchdown, Ken Malcome added 11 for 61 and a TD and Brandon Harton had five for 26 and a score for the Georgia offense.
Murray was 5-of-9 passing for 79 yards and Mason 7-of-9 for 98 and a TD. Tight end Orson Charles had three catches for 31 yards, King added three for 21, tight end Aron White had two for 46 and Harton ripped off 49 yards on one reception.
“I actually think it was the best we’ve done in one of these kinds of games” Murray said. “The offense was pretty sharp.”
Defensive end Abry Jones was the defensive star with three tackles and two sacks, cornerback Jordan Love had three stops, a sack and forced a fumble and safety Shawn Williams had an interception and pass break-up.
“As a defense, we took it as our first chance to attack what Boise does,” Abry Jones said. “I think we did a good job. Now we’ve got to go back and look at the film and see what we can do better.”
Also, place-kicker Blair Walsh nailed a 56-yard field goal in his only attempt.
Captains named
Georgia coaches appointed captains for the Boise State game before Wednesday’s scrimmage. They are center Ben Jones, defensive end DeAngelo Tyson, punter Drew Butler and Boykin.
Boykin said he was particularly proud of the honor.
“It means a lot,” he said. “Playing in the Dome in my hometown in the first game of my last year, I really appreciate it.”
Missing in action
Most of the players who have been out the last few days remained sidelined with injuries. Among them was TB Richard Samuel (quadriceps), FB Bruce Figgins (hamstring), TB Carlton Thomas (ankle) WR Malcolm Mitchell (leg muscle) and WR Marlon Brown (ankle).
Etc. . . .
Afterward, Richt said the tailback’s depth chart going into the final week is Samuel first, then Crowell, Harton and Malcome. . . . Georgia will hold a special teams practice today, then a closed situational scrimmage on Friday.
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411 comments Add your comment
ugab
August 25th, 2011
9:55 am
Kellin Moore is going to have time to throw the ball, also. DBs better be ready to cover.
Scrimp Daddy-O
August 25th, 2011
9:55 am
I had some jelly on my finger. Sorry bout them typo’z
Scrimp Daddy-O
August 25th, 2011
9:57 am
Samuels hasn’t even been practicing either. He ain’t cured his fumblitis disease either. I smell a 45-10 beatdown by Boise State. Kellen Moore will throw for 350 yards and 5 tds.
Bluenorange51
August 25th, 2011
9:58 am
BSU likes to play with an underdog ‘chip on the shoulder’ attitude. That is not happening much anymore with the conference foes. But some of you sec fans seem to believe that because UGA is stocked with highly recruited athletes and play in the SEC that you are entitled to win. If your team believes that ’showing up’ with a team full of 4/5 star recruits is all it takes – they will get hammered. UGA had better come to play – BSU will be ready and they are not a finesse team. They WANT to beat you in the trenches.
ugab
August 25th, 2011
10:00 am
Samuel will be fine!! Which back didn’t fumble the last few years? Samuel better be sleeping with a ball in his hands. Coaching technique has alot to do with fumbling. Do we need an actual, proven RBS coach to teach these players ball protection.
um, ah, does anyone recall .............
August 25th, 2011
10:17 am
Does anyone here recall that QB from Hawaii? He vs UGA in the Sugar Bowl looked like Quincy Carter did a few years ago vs SC when he stepped up to the line of scrimmage ……………100% confused. Hawaii was small but slow. U of H QB was vastly over rated. Way over rated that QB was. Where is he now? Surfing?? Yeah, probably.
Hawaii was also highly regarded by primarily west coast media and coaches. Boise State is a good team but they would not win 4 games in the SEC. Frankly, UGA has been lucky to win 4 SEC games lately and I am a UGA grad ……………………..twice! This must change this year. Period. Game over for CMR if we do not win 9 or 10.
No, UGA must manage the clock vs BS and run the ball and not go after those ill conceived Mike Bobo home runs shots on first down and waste a series. No, he must grind them down with running plays and sweeps. Then, only after etablishing a solid running game, would I allow Murray to loft the ball for deep routes.
Murray needs to throw dump offs to his tight ends and running backs in order to sustain long drives and control that clock. If we end up 3rd and 12 all night long, it will be a very long night.
UGA 34-20 BS
Go Dogs.
WDE
August 25th, 2011
10:20 am
@GT Joe never said a word about how hard our schedule. What I did ask and you being the Bug you are didn’t answer was how was prep going for your opener and if you had a sell out yet..then I pointed out that it might be easier to get the sell out this year as Dragon Con would not start until Friday and not be going full bore like it was last year and that prevented your student body from supporting your team as they were too busy dressing up in cod pieces and waving their light sabers at Dragon Con and not the Joke by Coke…that’s all I was asking.
BradW
August 25th, 2011
10:23 am
Boise St fans like me, cant wait to see how we match up with a great team like Georgia. Your guys are huge up front. Larger than most NFL teams I would say. Not worried about our DLine as we have good depth but concerned about the OLine and protection. We will have to play great to match the size/speed of the SEC (which is the best conference without question, again). Game day can not come soon enough!
how2fish
August 25th, 2011
10:25 am
@Bluenorange51 agree 100% UGA will have to come to play and I believe they will…if we don’t give 100% we will get beat by a very well coached team that is used to winning.I also firmly believe that if we do that we will win…Sept 3rd we will find out. Best of luck to the Bronco’s starting Sept 4th.
Silver britches
August 25th, 2011
10:25 am
Welcome to the make believe word that is Uga football! We won the pre-season National Championship also.
Troll Power Ratings
August 25th, 2011
10:29 am
@ GT Joe: “If you can’t hack it, come to the ACC”.
We agree; teams that can’t hack it play in the ACC.
And if your team is uninteresting and can’t hack it, spend lots of time on your rivals blog. Thanks for caring. Troll along now.
GTBob
August 25th, 2011
10:32 am
How can you possibly have 6 turnovers and 4 interceptions against your scout team?
Buster
August 25th, 2011
10:33 am
Please go easy on us Dawgs. We aint nothin but a little school who only plays cupcakes. We havent been around since 1800 like you and so we are not entitled to winning against such a program. Our players are all small and slow and our coaches have to use trickery gimmicks to score even just one touchdown. Please, we are just lowly pathetic potato farmers.
Theres no more delusional fan in the country…
GT Joe
August 25th, 2011
10:35 am
WDE: I’m glad to see the Dome sold out for the game. I guess since there is no Monster Truck event at the dome, so the ignorant trailer trash figured UGA was the next best thing. But help me with this question: if the monster truck AND NASCAR AND free dental care were all scheduled for the same day as a UGA game, where would you mutts go?
Decisions, decisions…
BTW, clean up on aisle 4.
61-39-5
August 25th, 2011
10:35 am
@WDE
There will be no sell outs at Bobby Douche Stadium no matter what they do. No one wants to take the risk of being robbed to see a joke offense (that everyone figured out in year 2) struggle, even for a free hotdog, coke, and leftover Nesbitt for Heisman T Shirt.
Downtown Atlanta, and no one goes to the games. Athletic department in the red. Title stripped. Orange Bowl Humiliation on national TV. Recruits running for the hills, as this offense will kill your chances of playing in the NFL and the defense is run by a guy who’s first game is chronicalled in the Old Testament. Nothing to show for CPJ’s time at the joke.
Nice Program Dorks.
61-39-5
August 25th, 2011
10:37 am
I hope CPJ outsmarts us again with more unimpeded TDs this year.
We won’t need it.
The humiliation will continue.
GT Joe
August 25th, 2011
10:41 am
Humiliation was losing to central florida, a team in D1 for 15 measly years.
By the way, before that game, the talk was all the same as before this game: “they haven’t seen size like us”, “they haven’t seen speed like us”, “they play a weak schedule”… HEE HAW
And the talk AFTER the game will be same as well: “fire richt”, “fire bobo”. UGA mutts crack me up.
GT Joe
August 25th, 2011
10:43 am
LOL, Groh from the Old Testament? Well let’s get old Richt to preach on it! A few Hallelujahs and ya’ll should be good to go! (if he doesn’t get fired beforehand).
Let the "BIG" Dawg eat!!
August 25th, 2011
10:45 am
Tampa i love your enthusiasm, but to knock B.S and say they aren’t proven because they haven’t beaten anyone, and Va.Tech was not a good team. What team did UGA beat last year that was as good as Va.Tech? The answer is no one. Until UGA beats a team with a winning record or a ranked team again, i don’t get all the smack that UGA fans are talking about this team and this coaching staff. For the 50th time i would like to remind all UGA fans that this UGA team is not in the same class as the UGA team that destroyed B.S in Athens 4 or 5 years ago. And this B.S. team is not in the same class as the team that UGA destroyed then. So while enthusiasm is wonderful this time of the year, i think history with this staff has taught us not to be too overconfident when UGA plays a ranked team. Hell, lately this staff and team has taught us not to be overconfident no matter who UGA plays.
Joey
August 25th, 2011
10:47 am
BradW, thanks for the compliment, but our Dawgs have been anything but a “great team” for 3 years now. We haven’t beat a ranked opponent but once in the past two seasons, when we were losing 12 games, several in blowout fashion, and a couple to horrible teams. It’s hard to figure if Richt got complacent or just that the coaching got so good in the SEC.
I’m hoping Richt can get us back to competing for the East title, as we were accustomed to for his first 7 seasons, but contrary to what a lot of my fellow Dawgs on here believe, I think Boise will give us all we can handle next Saturday. Weak schedules have nothing to do with that one game, and the last few times we have faced teams from “inferior” conferences, we got beat. And, we got beat by teams no where as good as Boise.
Go Dawgs!
61-39-5
August 25th, 2011
10:51 am
Humiliation is not losing to a nationally ranked team, it’s losing to a community college like Kennesaw State.
Jeremy
August 25th, 2011
10:53 am
So Georgia barely beat their very own third and fourth string players. Congrats!!
Now watch the Boise State themed NASCAR win the race in Georgia as well. http://tinyurl.com/3fzwbkx
61-39-5
August 25th, 2011
10:57 am
I love the trailer trash and clean up on aisle 4 comments. You nerds are delusional. Have you been to Athens. Plenty of Money. Check out our annual donations vs. yours.
You aren’t winning on the field or in life.
gbal
August 25th, 2011
10:58 am
GT JOE- 1 turnover was by the 1st teamers …. the other 5 were by the Scout team.
gbal
August 25th, 2011
11:00 am
Jeremy – The 1st teamers outscored the Second teamers 38 – 3. read the article
gbal
August 25th, 2011
11:00 am
In one half of play time.
deekslater
August 25th, 2011
11:04 am
This is news?!?!?! A bad UGA team beat their scout team pretending to be Boise State? So interesting
how2fish
August 25th, 2011
11:05 am
@Gt Joe by the way how is that probation working out for you and that bunch of cheaters on North Ave? And do you got to Dragon Con as Luke or Princess Leia ?
WDE
August 25th, 2011
11:07 am
@deekslater and yet you read the entire article and then had to comment??
TampaDawg
August 25th, 2011
11:07 am
GT Bob must be kinda slow .. the 6 turnovers were created by the first team defense AGAINST the scout team. As noted by the two Boykin TD returns. .. Hang in there, we’ll help you catch up.
GT Joe
August 25th, 2011
11:17 am
Athens? Plenty of money? LOL, yeah, in the housing projects right next to campus?
Please don’t compare Atlanta money to Athens money. Or GT success to UGA success.
And watch what you say, WDE, you know your employer, walmart? CEO is a TECH GRAD.
Now get back to greeting your trailer trash friends at the front of the store.
DoubleWideDawg
August 25th, 2011
11:19 am
Did someone say grits?
ToothlessDawg
August 25th, 2011
11:20 am
Momma punched out a tooth, where’s the free dental care at boys?
GOOOOOOOO DAWGS! GATA. WOOF.
TampaDawg
August 25th, 2011
11:22 am
@Let the “BIG” Dawg eat! — Obviously we pull for the same allegiance so nothing personal. The point is this. We keep hearing about all these big wins that BSU has had “over the years” .. and yes, it has taken a few years for them to rack up a few big wins. That’s not impressive. Let them play in a conference where a difficult team is part of the routine, week in and week out, and then they can say something about it. The VT win, not impressive .. the Oregon win 2 years ago, not impressive. These are 1st game of the season wins against teams that were ok at best that season. If we use the same logic that BSU fans are using, we can show off big wins “over the years” too:
Beat #7 GT in 09 (@Bobby Dork)
Beat #11 LSU in 08 (@LSU)
Beat #18 Mich ST in 08
Beat #16 Bama in 07(@Bama)
Beat #19 Aub in 07
Beat #10 Hawaii in 07 (Featuring QB Colt Brennan whose stats were unreal, but against who?)
EL RAM
August 25th, 2011
11:22 am
Sound familiar??? “… we in here talkin’ about practice. I mean listen, we talkin bout practice. Not a game, not a game, not a game. We talkin bout practice. I know its important, I do. I honestly do. But we talkin’ bout practice, man. What are we talkin’ bout? Practice? We talkin’ bout practice man. We talk… We talkin’ bout practice. We talkin’ bout practice. We ain’t talkin’ bout the game, we talkin’ bout practice, man. But we talkin’ bout practice right now. We talkin’ bout practice. (crowd laughs) Man look, I hear you, its funny to me too. I mean, its strange, its strange to me too. But we talkin’ bout practice man. We not even talkin’ bout the game, the actual game, when it matters. We talkin’ bout practice.”
DawginLex
August 25th, 2011
11:27 am
GT Joe
You need a lesson in how to be a good TROLL
Here is your list
Trailer parks
Toothless
Inbred
Hillbillies
Lost 18 out of 21 versus Florida
Jan Kemp
Jim Harrick
Damon Evans
Red panties
We Hit and Run This state
12 arrests 6 wins
Fulmer Cup champions 2010
Quincy Carter
GED
Walmart clothing line
McDonald’s fry cooks
31 years and counting
Stewart Mandel
Scooter accidents
Clarke county Correctional
Now, for each one of these, assign a number and just reference the number.
You’re all set.
TampaDawg
August 25th, 2011
11:32 am
Laughing hysterically Lex .. GT Joe knows his blogs have nothing interesting so he hangs out here. He should probably hang out on the NC State blogs instead .. wait, no, maybe not, GT can’t beat them either.
GT Joe
August 25th, 2011
11:38 am
Wow, Lex, you really hit the nail on the head. But you missed a few:
dumb
ignorant
drop outs
never actually went to UGA
Monster truck fans
Grits eatin
skoal bandits
dumb
mutts eat their own doo
preseason #1
Mark “Jesus” Richt
a coach named Bobo?
lynyrd skynyrd
boogety boogety boogety
low IQ
3 teeth, 2 fake
CEO of WalMart
August 25th, 2011
11:42 am
This is your leader speaking; due to lack of productivity, the computers in the walmart electronics department will automatically block access to the UGA blog at ajc.com.
TampaDawg
August 25th, 2011
11:45 am
one more thing BigDawg, the last UGA team that beat up BSU had a first year starter in DJ Shockley, a cast of Sophomore RBs (none proven), one Senior WR in Bryan McClendon (Massaquoi was a Freshman that year), 1 Senior up front on D, and a handful in the defensive backfield. It wasn’t like that was a team that anyone expected anything from having just lost people like David Greene, David Pollack, and Fred Gibson
DawginLex
August 25th, 2011
11:46 am
Want the Tech list?
Do you have the guts to provide it the way i provided the list for you about Georgia?
I bet you don’t.
Blueberry Stomper
August 25th, 2011
11:57 am
CHIP, HOW ABOUT SOME BOISE ST. UPDATES? PLAYERS HURT, THEIR CONCERNS, ETC.
David Granger
August 25th, 2011
12:00 pm
Unless this is another Mark Richt “gimmick”…manipulating the score a little bit, to try and scare the players into working a little harder…it sure sounds like some of the scout team players deserve to be starters, and some of the starters should be on the scout team.
TampaDawg
August 25th, 2011
12:04 pm
Really David? I mean he gives the starters one half of football already down 31-0 (a score CMR set .. not that the starters actually scored 31 points). In that half the scout team scores 3 and the starters post 38.
WDE
August 25th, 2011
12:07 pm
@GT Joe sorry I was away doing a performance review for one of my guys that graduated from Tech. He just graduated 2 years ago and is doing a decent job, it would be better if he could ever get enough sleep, seems living on North Ave he had to sleep in the closet to ensure he was murdered or robbed on a nighty basis. You guys keep cranking out the Techies and we will keep employing them.
DawginLex
August 25th, 2011
12:12 pm
I have read a lot of stuff about Boise.
Here is what I have read.
Solid QB
Solid RB
WR are young and not much experience. Game changers from last year in NFL
OL has a couple of good players but concerns exist about our DL size and speed and size of our LB
They are really concerned about kicking to Boykin
They are REALLY concerned about FG kicker. One guy commented they might go for it on 4th down every time and go for 2 after TD’s
They are concerned about our throwing more than our running because their DL is the strength of the team. Inexperience abounds in the secondary.
That’s about it. I have read a couple of crazy predictions but 99% of the folks are saying nail biter time.
gdawginkalamazoo
August 25th, 2011
12:13 pm
I wish we would have lost this game. There’s no way that we can beat Boise twice in the same season.
Nothing Could Be Finer
August 25th, 2011
12:18 pm
Yall will probly start seeing the Boise fans coming in this weekend.
papadawg
August 25th, 2011
12:25 pm
I really don’t think Boise will score anywhere near 31 points.
Dogs Smell
August 25th, 2011
12:26 pm
Thomas Brown
How can you call Georgia a powerful team when their last game was a loss to UCF, and lost to Colorado and Kentucky with a team that had more talent than the one on the field this season? What BCS team did Ga beat last year? You lost to UCF and your offense couldnt get into the end zone ! The dept of this team is lean !
In 11 days this blog will be full of excuses from Bobo is the worst to Fire CMR. BSU is going to roll all over UGA.