First quarter blog

End of first quarter, Georgia now leads 12-0

Georgia has now had two defensive touchdowns overturned on replay reviews. The first one could've gone either way, but the second call seemed an obvious one to change.

After a muffed Vanderbilt snap, Akeem Dent tried to corral the fumble as he slid out of the back of the end zone. It looked like he was out of bounds, but the referee, right on top of the play, signaled touchdown.

But the replay review lasted barely a minute, and was overturned. The Bulldogs at least got a safety out of it, unlike the previous one.

Still, no shame for the Georgia defense, which other than a few long pass plays is playing great. (Sort of like last week.)

Georgia, with good field position after the free kick, also has a chance to break this one open as the second half begins. (Again, sort of like last week.)

The first quarter was bumpy, but Georgia won't complain about the results.


0:28 left in first quarter, Georgia ups lead to 10-0

Now there's the Georgia rushing attack everyone expected to see before the season starter.

Washaun Ealey's 58-yard run - and a pretty one it was - was followed one play later by Carlton Thomas scoring from 15 yards out.

Ealey's run was the longest for Georgia this season, and it could have been a five-yard loss. The tailback went right, there was nothing there, then reversed direction to a wide-open left side of the field. Aaron Murray laid out a nice block along the way.

Thomas' touchdown was the first of his career. Those two runs have to give both tailbacks a huge lift.

3:27 left in first quarter, Georgia still leads 3-0

For a few minutes Georgia looked to have a defensive touchdown: Christian Robinson picked up what was thought to be a Vanderbilt fumble and ran 36 yards into the end zone.

But upon review, the play was changed to an incomplete pass. The Vandy receiver was ruled to have never completed possession of the ball, while transferring the ball from one hand to another.

I was a bit surprised by the overturn, but they could have ruled it incomplete on the field. It was that close a call.

It's holding up to be a critical reversal: While Vandy still had to punt, Georgia didn't do anything on the drive. Drew Butler then got a great bounce on his punt, as it was downed inside the 5 - but a personal foul call against Georgia moved it out to the 19.

And on first down, Vanderbilt got a pass up to the 40.

There's a bit of grumbling among the patrons at Sanford Stadium right now.

7:41 left in first quarter, Georgia takes 3-0 lead

Georgia is off to a 3-0 lead, as Blair Walsh hits yet another field goal. The Bulldogs' opening drive began in spectacular fashion, then sputtered a bit at the end.

It was set up by a 55-yard pass from Aaron Murray to Kris Durham on the opening play. Murray play-faked, then pump faked, and by that time Durham was behind the defense. He would have gone all the way had one safety not trailed the play.

Durham could have finished it up on the next play, as he was wide open on the other side of the field. But Murray underthrew him, one of the rare mistakes he's made this season.

Then things went awry in the red zone.

Georgia used its third timeout with 9:44 still left in the first quarter. The Bulldogs had sent the field goal unit out on fourth-and-inches, drawing boos from the crowd, then called timeout after reconsidering.

Surely the staff wasn't affected by the boo-ing, right? Well this is the same head coach who's now running out of the tunnel with his team at the suggestion of a radio show caller, so who knows.

Murray converted on fourth down, but three plays later the Bulldogs still had to trot Walsh out to kick the field goal.

Well, I guess if you're going to burn all three timeouts that quickly, it's better to do so in the first half then the second. But still.

11:34 left in first quarter, no score

Georgia's defense forced an opening-drive punt for the second straight week. But not after a shaky start.

Mike Gilliard had a nice tackle on the opening kickoff, to start Vanderbilt at its own 17. Gilliard hasn't had his name mentioned much this year, so it had to be a nice moment for the sophomore from Valdosta.

Georgia's defense had a rough few plays. First Warren Norman gained eight on an option. Then the Bulldogs had to call timeout, as they only had 10 men on the field and Abry Jones was running on late.

The subsequent play saw a 29-yard pass down to the Georgia 45. Maybe it's just me, but there have been a times this year that a Georgia timeout has been followed by a big play by the opposing team.

The defense ended up holding, and Vanderbilt elected to punt on fourth-and-2 from the Georgia 38. The punt then took a bad bounce (for Vandy) and into the end zone, so Vanderbilt netted all of 18 yards on the punt.