CHARLOTTE — The No. 13 Georgia football team earned a 37-14 win over the 20th-ranked Louisville Cardinals in front of a crowd of 45,671 and a nationally-televised ESPN audience in the Belk Bowl at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. The Bulldogs end the 2014 campaign with an overall record of 10-3. The Bulldogs have posted 10 or more wins 21 times, including nine times under Head Coach Mark Richt. Louisville falls to 9-4 on the year.
Despite leaving the game in the second quarter, Hutson Mason led the Bulldogs through the air. He went 10-for-15 for 148 yards and touchdown. Brice Ramsey was 4-for-9 for 51 yards. Chris Conley was the top target, finishing with 81 yards and a touchdown down on four catches. As it was for much of the season, the offense was led by the run game. Nick Chubb wasnamed the Belk Bowl MVP and finished with 269 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries. His 269 yards was a career-high, SEC bowl record, marked his eighth-straight 100-yard rushing game and was the second-highest single game rushing total in Georgia history. Sony Michel finished with 11 carries for 31 yards.
Lorenzo Carter and Ramik Wilson led the defensive effort with eight tackles each. Both recorded one sack, with Carter’s going for a loss of 19 yards on the final play of the game. Aaron Davis and Ray Drew finished with seven tackles each. As a unit, Georgia had three interceptions, with Dominick Sanders getting two. He became the sixth player in Georgia history to record two interceptions in a game.
Georgia struck first, taking a 7-0 lead on a nine-play, 60-yard drive in the first quarter. Chubb got the drive started by breaking off a 20-yard run. With the drive stalling, the Bulldogs got a spark when Louisville was called for a personal foul that gave Georgia a fresh set of downs. On 2nd-and-14, Mason connected with Conley for a 45-yard touchdown that gave the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead after the Marshall Morgan extrapoint.
The Cardinals answered on the next drive, going 84 yards on nine plays to tie the game at 7-7. The touchdown was scored on an 11-yard pass from Kyle Bolin to Gerald Christian.
Both offenses were quiet over the next several possessions. Georgia retook the lead after a nine-play, 43-yard drive led to a 41-yard field goal and gave it a 10-7 lead. The Bulldog defense remained stout on the next Louisville drive, allowing just seven net yards on five plays.
On the next Georgia drive, Mason hit Michel out of thebackfield for 32 yards and a first down. Four plays later, Chubb raced 31 yards into the end zone for a touchdown that put the Bulldogs up 17-7 with just under seven minutes to go in the half.
On the first play of the next drive, Sanders intercepted a pass from Reggie Bonnafon. The interception resulted in three points as Morgan connected on a 22-yard field goal and extended Georgia’s lead to 20-7.
Louisville had a pair of chances late in the half, but the Georgia defense shut the Cardinals down and took a 20-7 lead into halftime.
The Bulldogs added a touchdown with 6:38 left in the third quarter that made it a 27-7 game. Starting at their own three-yard line, Chubb broke off a Georgia bowl record 82-yard run that set the Bulldogs up at the Louisville 15. Michel finished the drive, rushing for the final 15 yards and the score on two carries.
Louisville answered with a touchdown drive of its own, going 70 yards in 10 plays. The drive was capped off by a six-yard touchdown run by Brandon Radcliff that cut the lead to 27-14 with just under two minutes left in thethird quarter.
Georgia worked its way down to the Louisville 36-yard line, but went for it on 4th-and-10. Ramsey’s pass was incomplete, allowing Louisville to take over on downs. Damian Swann intercepted Kyle Bolin on the first play of the next drive. It was the third interception of the game by the Georgia defense.
The run game took over on the ensuing Georgia drive, picking up 23 yards before Ramsey connected with Kenneth Towns for 14 yards and a first down. The Bulldogs put together a 43-yard drive that took 4:13 off the clock and was capped off by a 41-yard field goal by Morgan that gave the Bulldogs a 30-14 lead. With the field goal, the Bulldogs set a single-season record inpoints scored this season. The Bulldogs finished the 2014 campaign with 537points.
The defense remained agressive on Louisville’s next drive, forcing a three-and-out on a drive that amassed just one yard. Nick Chubb carried the load on the final Georgia drive, accounting for all 45 yards and the touchdown that sealed the 37-14 win.
Louisville looked to score on its last possession, working its way down to the Georgia 10, but Carter burst through the line for a sack to end the game.
