Georgia's 2009 Homecoming game proved to be a good one, as the Dawgs shut out the Division I-AA Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles for a 38-0 win. This is Georgia's first dominating win of the season.
The Dawgs' defense performed very well, holding the Golden Eagles to only 55 yards of total offense and -13 yards rushing. The D also held TTU to zero points, something I never thought a Willie Martinez-led defense could do. However, the defense failed to force a single turnover in the game (its only bad thing).
The offense also did really good, racking up 469 total yards (304 of them rushing). Washaun Ealey, Branden Smith, and Caleb King led the rushing attack. Ealey carried for 89 yards, Smith for 72, and King for 71. Six other Bulldogs added to the rushing attack. Joe Cox also had a brilliant day, completing 10 out of 13 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns. The offense's dark spot was Logan Gray, as he completed four out of five passes, but threw for only 25 yards and tossed one interception.
Now, on to the scoring: the Dawg defense got an early three-and-out and the offense quickly marched down the field, with Washaun Ealey punching it in for an early score. Georgia never slowed down during the first half, as Orson Charles caught a 23-yard TD pass, Branden Smith carried it in from 52 yards out, Washaun Ealey carried it in from 44 yards out, and Blair Walsh added a 24-yard field goal. Joe Cox added a score in the second half by completing a six-yard TD pass to Michael Moore. That made it 38-0 (the final score).
However, some of our old problems did resurface during this game. The Dawgs lost the turnover battle (how do you do that against Tennessee Tech?), as Logan Gray threw an interception and the defense failed to force a turnover. We were also penalized 11 times for 86 yards (compared to TTU's four times for 22 yards). Also, any running back whose name is not Ealey, Smith, or King did not do that great.
The Dawgs will next face the Auburn Tigers in Athens. Auburn is coming off a blowout win over Furman, and are also having a pretty good year (compared to some previous years). Auburn's spread offense will be another test for the Georgia defense (we'll have to see how our defense does against that). Auburn's defense, however, is terrible.
Also, Mark Fox started his basketball coaching career at Georgia with an 87-53 blowout of North Georgia. The Hoop Dawgs showed some great improvements from last year in this scrimmage game. Their regular season opener is Friday, November 13 at 7:00 PM against New Orleans.
