NCAA Football Recap (Wisconsin-Georgia)
Posted: Thur January 1, 1998 at 5:43 p.m. EST
Mike Bobo completed 26-of-28 passes for 267 yards and Robert
Edwards rushed for three touchdowns to lead Georgia
to its biggest bowl win, a 33-6 victory over Wisconsin in the
Outback Bowl at Tampa, Florida.
Bobo, who also threw for a touchdown, was named the Outback Bowl
Most Valuable Player. He established Outback and Georgia
records by completing his final 19 attempts and finishing with a
93 percent completion rate.
"I didn't really know about it (percentage record) until Coach
Donnan's son came up and told me I was 19-of-21 on that final
drive," said Bobo. "Our offense did a great job. They talked
about (Wisconsin's) Ron Dayne all week, but we've got one of the
best backs in the country in Robert Edwards."
Edwards, who rushed 22 times for 110 yards, had scoring runs of
two, 40 and 13 yards. He set a Georgia record for most rushing
touchdowns in a bowl game, previously accomplished six other
times, and tied the Outback mark, set by Michigan's Jamie Morris
in 1988.
"We made the right calls and we tried to catch them off guard,"
said Edwards. "The offensive line did a great job and allowed me
to get into the hole and I used my speed and power. You can't
ask for a better quarterback to come out and play that well. He
deserves it (MVP)."
The Bulldogs (10-2) improved to 16-14-3 all-time in bowl games,
including a 27-24 loss to Boston College in the inaugural Hall
of Fame Bowl in 1986, which became the Outback Bowl in 1995.
Georgia recorded its largest margin of victory in a bowl game,
eclipsing the 24-9 triumph over Southern Methodist in the 1966
Cotton Bowl.
"It's tremendous to win this game," said Georgia coach Jim
Donnan. "Our defense really did a terrific job and then, of
course, Mike (Bobo) was on fire. This means a lot to me and our
team to come down here and play like this."
Wisconsin (8-5) had a three-game bowl winning streak halted,
falling to 4-6 all-time in postseason play. The Badgers were
attempting to post just their second season with more than eight
wins in the modern era.
"The thing that disappointed me the most is that we couldn't
stop the run," said Badgers coach Barry Alvarez. "We've always
played the run very well, but we were so concerned with the pass
and we gave up big plays in the running game."
Edwards' two-yard scoring run 6:41 into the game gave Georgia an
early lead, but the extra point was blocked. Olandis Gary set
up the Bulldogs' next TD with a 44-yard run to the Badgers 49
before Edwards raced 40 yards around left end for a score with
4:21 to go in the quarter. The two-point conversion also
failed.
Gary, who rushed four times for 61 yards, extended the lead to
19-0 with 29 seconds left in the half when he dove in from three
yards out. The 14-play drive was set up by Antonio Cochran's
diving interception at the Georgia 41.
Edwards' 13-yard TD run 5:45 into the third period made it 26-0
before Bobo capped the Bulldogs' scoring with a seven-yard TD
strike to Corey Allen 6:15 into the final quarter.
Although not involved in the scoring, Georgia's Hines Ward also
set Outback Bowl records with 12 receptions for 154 yards. The
12 catches broke the record of 11 set by Duke's Bill Khyat in
1995. The previous yardage mark of 113 was accomplished twice,
the last time by Michigan's Clarence Williams last year.
The Badgers, who averaged 199 yards on the ground this year,
rushed for just 74, including 36 yards on 14 carries by Ron
Dayne. Wisconsin was outgained, 474-234.
"Ron (Dayne) can't run if there's no place to run," added
Alvarez. "They (Georgia) were doing some line slanting, but they
really didn't do anything we didn't anticipate. We didn't create
many holes for Ron, that was the problem."
Starting quarterback Mike Samuel completed 8-of-27 passes for 84
yards with two interceptions and was sacked four times. Backup
Scott Kavanagh came in midway through the fourth quarter and led
Wisconsin to its lone score, a 12-yard TD pass to Dague Retzlaff
with 4:04 to play.
This was the first meeting between the schools.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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