Sun Devils fall to Bulldogs, 27-10

September 20, 2008

Knowshon Moreno rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns, A.J. Green caught eight passes for 159 yards and a score, and No. 3 Georgia scored a decisive 27-10 victory over Arizona State on Saturday night. Making a rare regular-season trip out of the Southeast, the Bulldogs (4-0) came to the desert with an attitude. They had opened the season atop The Associated Press Top 25 but twice slipped a spot after victories.<separator></separator>On a 99-degree night in the desert, they hoped to make a statement in a nationally televised game against the defending Pac-10 co-champions.<separator></separator>The statement: these Dawgs can defend.<separator></separator>Georgia had allowed 15.0 points per game, tied for 27th nationally. The Bulldogs were even better against the Sun Devils.<separator></separator>The Sun Devils finished with 4 yards rushing on 19 carries. It was Arizona State's lowest rushing total since they netted minus-2 against California on Nov. 9, 2002.<separator></separator>For the Sun Devils, who lost to UNLV one week earlier, it was another crushing loss in the national spotlight. They fell to 2-11 against ranked teams in Sun Devil Stadium since 2000, and 3-23 overall against the Top 25 during the same span.<separator></separator>Georgia sacked <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/carpenter_rudy00.html"… Carpenter</a> four times and harried him on countless other plays. He finished 23 of 36 for 208 yards and a touchdown.<separator></separator>Georgia's suffocating defense helped it overcome 104 yards in penalty yards.<separator></separator>Trailing 21-3 at halftime, the Sun Devils took the second-half kickoff and marched 71 yards in nine plays, scoring on a 6-yard pass from Carpenter to <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/pettes_andrew00.html">… Pettes</a>.<separator></separator>The Bulldogs answered with a 29-yard field goal by Blair Walsh to push their lead back to 24-10 heading into the final quarter. Walsh made it 27-10 with a 22-yarder midway through the fourth quarter.<separator></separator>After a scoreless first quarter, the Bulldogs scored three touchdowns in the second quarter.<separator></separator>Georgia's first score was a Youtube-worthy run by tailback Knowshon Moreno on the first play of the second quarter. Moreno took a handoff at Arizona State's 9, sped around right end and catapulted into the end zone from the 4.<separator></separator><img src="http://grfx.cstv.com/graphics/spacer.gif" alt width="5" height="1border=0"> The Bulldogs' next score came after a fumble by Arizona State tailback <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/nance_dimitri00.html">… Nance</a> at the Sun Devils 46. Five plays later, Moreno burst through a gaping hole in the middle of the line for a 3-yard TD to put the Bulldogs ahead 14-0. <separator></separator>Arizona State trimmed the lead to 14-3 on a 25-yard field goal by <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/weber_thomas00.html">T… Weber</a>. The kick capped a 10-play 75-yard drive - and 40 of the yards came on Georgia penalties. That score stirred the home fans. But Georgia responded in a heartbeat. Matthew Stafford hit Green for 23 yards. Then he found Green between two defenders for a 31-yard reception. Three plays later, a wide-open Green caught a 14-yard pass in the end zone for a 21-0 Georgia lead. Stafford completed 16-of-28 passes for 285 yards and a touchdown. He has not thrown an interception this year. The lightning drive took 1:49, covering 70 yards in five plays, and it brought the thousands of Georgia fans out of their seats. Georgia faithful flocked to the team's first regular-season trip to the West since a 1960 visit to Los Angeles to play Southern California. After Georgia quickly sold out its allotment of more than 7,000 tickets, and a request for more was denied, Bulldogs fans began buying ASU season tickets to ensure themselves seats for this game. Red-clad fans dominated the end zone upper deck of the 71,706-seat stadium.