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ATHENS, Georgia (Ticker) -- Linebacker Will Witherspoon needed every inch of his 6-1 frame to save the day for Georgia. Witherspoon, a sophomore middle linebacker, batted away Josh Booty's two-point conversion pass with 18 seconds left as the 11th-ranked Bulldogs capped an emotional week with their second straight one-point win, 23-22 over Louisiana State. The Southeastern Conference battle came down to the conversion after threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Robinson on 4th-and-10 that stunned the Sanford Stadium crowd. Embattled Tigers coach Gerry DiNardo decided to go for the win rather than a tying extra point. Booty faked a pitch to Rondell Mealey -- who easily would have found the end zone -- and rolled right. Booty avoided defensive tackle Richard Seymour and then threw across the field, where two receivers were open, including running back Joey Ventrella. But Witherspoon leaped to smack away the ball. "That was a great play by Will Witherspoon on the two-point conversion," Georgia coach Jim Donnan said. "We were fortunate to win. We should have put it away, but we were our own worst enemy." DiNardo defended his decision. "I thought we struggled moving the ball in the second half," he explained. "We did not want to get into an extended game with them. They had offensive momentum and no timeouts left to call on defense." "Coach made the right call for us to go for two," LSU cornerback Fred Booker said. "It was the right call because we struggled for offense all day. We had to go for the jugular." The ensuing onside kick went out of bounds and the Bulldogs melted the final seconds, giving Georgia the first back-to-back one-point wins in school history. The Bulldogs went 4-0 on their season-opening homestand and have started the season with four straight wins for the third straight year. "We've got a lot of good young players and our older players are playing hard, but we're struggling to get over the hump," Donnan said. "Maybe we can. We will definitely get our players' attention this week." "I don't think we can take this every week, but we have to take them any way we can," Georgia quarterback Quincy Carter said. "Today we hung in there and kept fighting until the end." Following last weekend's 24-23 win over Central Florida, Georgia offensive line coach Pat Watson died of a heart attack. His memory was honored with a moment of silence before the game and the Bulldogs are wearing his initials in a decal on their helmets, with the coaches placing the sticker on their caps. After coming out sluggish against LSU, the Bulldogs got the boost they needed late in the third quarter from freshman Charles Grant, who blocked Corey Gibbs' punt, leaving the ball at the Tigers 28. A couple of powerful runs by Jasper Sanks set up Carter's 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Randy McMichael that gave Georgia a 20-16 lead with 13:33 left. Hap Hines tacked on a 33-yard field goal with 3:59 to go to push the lead to seven points. "We played with Georgia today, but there were two things that we could not overcome -- the blocked punt and the penalty (that eliminated a 35-yard reception)," DiNardo said. "You can't commit those kind of mistakes and expect to win in this league." Sanks carried 27 times for 156 yards, establishing a career high for the third straight week for Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC East), which rallied for a thrilling 28-27 win at Baton Rogue last season. He is the first Bulldog to rush for more than 100 yards in a game since Garrison Hearst in 1992. "I felt like I wasn't running very hard in the first half," said Sanks. "In the second half, I took the initiative and ran as hard as I could." Carter completed 12-of-28 passes for 110 yards and one touchdown. "The passing game wasn't clicking on all cylinders today, but we'll correct those mistakes," Carter said. "With Jasper running the way he was today, we can go a long way." "Quincy is going to have some bad games," Sanks said. "There is so much pressure on him being the player that he is. We need someone to step up and so I knew I had to go out and play hard." Georgia was wearing white pants instead of its normal "silver britches" for the first time since 1979. Booty was making his first career start for LSU (2-2, 0-2 West), which has lost three straight to the Bulldogs but still holds a 12-9-1 lead in the all-time series. He completed 19-of-45 passes for 280 yards and three interceptions. Booty's arm picked up the slack for a ground game that managed just 11 yards, the best effort by Georgia's defense since it limited Tulane to nine in 1985. "The way the defense played in the second half was encouraging, particularly the defensive line," Donnan said. "They continue to play well against the run." Mealey was limited to 25 yards on 18 carries and added 43 yards on five catches. He also backed the decision to try for the win. "We had to go for two at the end," he said. "We were inconsistent on offense for most of the day. We tried to do different things with different people, but it just didn't work today." Hines started the scoring with a 31-yard field goal midway through the first quarter but John Corbello converted from 37 yards and Mealey scored on a nine-yard run before the end of the quarter as LSU grabbed a 10-3 lead. Georgia tied it 1:55 into the second quarter when Patrick Pass raced a career-high 58 yards for a touchdown. The Bulldogs took the lead just over five minutes later on a 20-yard field goal by Hines. But Corbello helped the Tigers grab the lead by intermission with field goals of 31 and 40 yards.
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