2014 Belk Bowl Georgia vs. Louisville
Post-game Notes:
- Georgia made its 50th appearance in a bowl game tonight at the Belk Bowl, extending its school record of consecutive appearances to 18.
- Tonight was the first ever matchup between the Bulldogs and Louisville. The Bulldogs are now 28-19-3 in bowl games. The 50 appearances and 28 wins rank fourth nationally.
- Nick Chubb earns Belk Bowl MVP with UGA and SEC Bowl record and career-high 266 rushing yards.
- In his final collegiate game, Senior wide-out DeVante Parker earned his 10th career 100 yd receiving performance finishing with 120 yds on 8 catches.
- The 23-point margin equaled the largest margin of defeat in a bowl game for Louisville (matching the 38-15 loss to Marshall in the 2002 GMAC Bowl).
The 2014 Belk Bowl played host to a long-awaited SEC-ACC match between the 13th ranked Georgia Bulldogs and the 20th ranked Louisville Cardinals. It was loud, it was cold, but it was a great night for football. Bank of America Stadium turned red tonight between the band, cheerleaders, and all the fans of both teams. It was a long-awaited date for the Bulldogs, who were looking for revenge after their loss to Georgia Tech in Athens.
The 1st Quarter was fairly sloppy between both teams but the Bulldogs finally found their stride around the 8:30 mark. Quarterback Hutson Mason hit Chris Conley for a 44 yd. touchdown pass to top off an 8 play, 90 yd drive. The players and fans were looking forward to great things out of Mason for his last game. Unfortunately, the QB was unable to finish the 1st Half as he left with complaints of dizziness.
Louisville wasted no time responding with a touchdown of their own. Quarterback Kyle Bolin connected with Gerald Christian for an 11 yd touchdown to tie the game at 7 points. Bolin finished the game throwing 20 of 40 completions for 300 yds, 1 TD, and 2 INT’s. He was sacked 3 times thanks to the pressure of Georgia’s defense. Louisville’s DeVante Parker had a monster game for the Cards, racking up 120 yds in the air off of 8 key receptions. He wasn’t able to convert these numbers to points but he came up with multiple key plays to keep his team in the mix.
As posted above, Nick Chubb broke multiple records and made a serious statement about his athletic ability. Chubb ran the ball 33 times for 268 yds and 2 TD’s, with an 82 yd run being his longest rush and a Belk Bowl record.
Ramik Wilson and Lorenzo Carter led the Georgia defense with 8 tackles respectively while Tramel Terrry had 2 INT’s.
By halftime the score was UGA 20, Louisville 7. Altogether the Cards only scored in the 1st and 3rd Quarter and each time it was a single touchdown. Georgia on the other hand left their offense in the hands of their Running Backs. Sony Michel had a 2 yd touchdown run in the 3rd Quarter while Chubb finished off the Cards in the 4th with an 8 yd touchdown. Kicker Marshall Morgan made 3 field goals tonight to contribute 9 points, which made the score 37-14. Chubb’s final touchdown blow came with 2:02 left in the game. Michel ran the ball 11 times and gained 34 yds and his 2 yd touchdown was his only one for the match.
After the game Georgia Center David Andrews had this to say about their running attack:
“It was an edgy game and a physical game at that too. We knew it was going to be tough to get those yards at first. We were 3, 4 yards. Negative 1 yard one time but we knew if we kept pounding it we were going to bust some yards and we did.”
Quarterback Brice Ramsey, who came in for Mason at the drop of a dime, commented on his substitution: “It was short notice alright. I didn’t warm up at all or anything. I played real cold, but there are no excuses.” (Ramsey came in after Mason’s injury).
We also had a chance to hear Coach Petrino’s thoughts on Nick Chubb:
“He’s just a really good running back. He’s hard to tackle and he’s got great vision. There were a number of times where we had guys there to make the play and he just made them miss or ran over them. It was a tremendous performance by him; they also have a great offensive front. They know what they are doing and they do a good job of sustaining their blocks.”
-Jon J.
Photo: Hakim Wright