Rebels Fall To No. 23 Georgia 35-15

Nov 17, 2001

Final Statistics in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

By RALPH D. RUSSO
AP Sports Writer

OXFORD, Miss. - Verron Haynes conjured up memories of the good ol' days at Georgia, when Vince Dooley was calling plays and the Bulldogs were running wild.

Haynes rushed for a career-high 192 yards and two touchdowns in his first start at tailback as No. 23 Georgia grounded its pass-happy offense and defeated Mississippi 35-15 on Saturday.

"I would not have believed it coming in," said Haynes, who has been starting at fullback. "It was like the old Herschel Walker days."

The Bulldogs (6-3, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) beat the Rebels (6-3, 3-3) for the fifth straight time. The anticipated shootout between quarterbacks David Greene of Georgia and Eli Manning of Ole Miss never developed.

Manning was 35-for-47 for 233 yards and two touchdowns, but was relegated to mostly short tosses.

"We were able to complete the ball, but we couldn't really get downfield like we wanted to," Manning said.

His third interception of the season was run back 82 yards for a touchdown by Jermaine Phillips early in the fourth quarter.

Greene was 8-for-14 for 93 yards and a touchdown and didn't mind having a light work day.

""I can't tell you how great it is to have the pressure off, when you can just turn around and hand it off," he said.

Georgia, without injured leading rusher Musa Smith, ran for a season-high 268 yards. The Bulldogs have been airing it out this season for over 300 yards a game with a mediocre running game that ranks in the lower half of the SEC.

Haynes, a senior, entered the game with 170 yards rushing this season and just 216 in two seasons at Georgia.

But he said he approached coach Mark Richt on Monday an offered his services at tailback.

"He's the most reliable guy we have and he can play any formation, so we made the decision to go with him," Richt said.

Haynes is the seventh player to rush for over 100 yards in a game this season against Ole Miss. The Rebels allowed three players to gain over 100 rushing in its last game, a 58-56 seven-overtime loss to Arkansas.

"I expect every team to run the ball against us," Rebels linebacker Eddie Strong said. "We're small. Until we stop it, they're going to keep running it."

After trailing 9-7 at halftime, Georgia scored on its first four possessions of the second half to take a 35-9 edge midway through the fourth quarter.

Georgia had two possessions in the third quarter and both resulted in 80-yard touchdown drives.

On the first, the Bulldogs marched down field in nine plays without throwing a pass. Jasper Sanks, who was stuffed on the final play of last week's loss to Auburn from the 1, leaped into the end zone from a yard out to give Georgia a 14-9 lead.

Richt said that was the first time he could remember calling that many running plays in a row.

"I've got to admit, it was really nice to be able to call running plays," he said. "And no, coach Dooley didn't tell me to do that at halftime."

Dooley, now the Bulldogs' athletic director, won a national championship and became the winningest coach in school history from 1964-88 with backs such as Walker, Lars Tate and Rodney Hampton carrying the offense.

Greene finally got into the act on the next drive.

The left-handed redshirt freshman hit Damien Gary for 44 yards and four plays later Greene lofted a 9-yard fade into the corner of the end zone to Terrence Edwards to make it 21-9.

After Phillips' touchdown sent Ole Miss fans to the exits, Haynes capped the best day for a Georgia running back in nine years by bursting through the middle for a 26-yard touchdown with 7:36 left in the game.

Garrison Hearst ran for 246 against Vanderbilt in 1992.

Two of the top passing teams in the SEC managed just 135 yards through the air in the first half. Greene was 5-for-11 for 30 yards with two interceptions in the first 30 minutes, then threw just three passes in the second half.

Haynes scored the game's first touchdown on a 13-yard run in the first quarter.

Manning extended his school-record streak of games with a touchdown pass to 10 later the first by hitting Jason Armstead for a 9-yard score to make it 7-6. The extra-point kick failed.

Ole Miss took a 9-7 lead with 1:22 left in the first half on a 37-yard field goal by Lee Rogers that was set up by Von Hutchins' interception in Bulldogs' territory.

RebelsCalendar

Next Event

Team Stats

The University of Mississippi Athletics