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41 Friday, November, 30 20011 The Red & Black
The Red & Black | Friday, November, 30 2001 | 5
0
The NUMBER OF GAMES the dis
mal Houston Cougars have won
this
season.
14
CONSECUTIVE LOSSES by
Houston, second most in the
nation.
399
YARDS OF RUSHING by Bulldog
senior running back Verron
Haynes in his last two games.
39.7
Average points allowed per
game by the Cougars.
45
POINTS SCORED by the Bulldogs
against Arkansas State, the most
this season.
17
CAREER SACKS by senior defen
sive end Josh Mallard, fifth on the
all-time list.
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“It’s probably going to hit
me Saturday when I’m
going through the Dog
Walk, It might even hit
me until next week that
I’ve played my last game
at Sanford Stadium. ”
CURT McGILL
Senior Center
bowl wins, the most in school
history.
Highlights include breaking
Tennessee’s nine-game win streak
against Georgia in 2000 and
posting a win in Knoxville
this season for the first time in
19 years
Low points of their career will
be losing records to Florida (0-4),
Auburn (1-3) and Georgia
Tech (1-3), although this year’s
31-17 win at Tech went a long way
toward rectifying the previous
three years of Yellow Jacket
woes.
“These guys were determined
to make their senior season a suc
cessful one,” Richt said. “They
were determined to lead in a posi
tive way. Most lead very well, and
some were outstanding.”
Running back Verron Haynes
said he wished he had more
time with the new coaching
staff.
Regardless, the prospective
NFL draft pick said he sees the
program taking off in years to
come.
“The sky is the limit for
Georgia,” Haynes said.
BROOKE MORRIS | The Red a Black
A Receiver LaBrone Mitchell is one of many seniors who will
be playing their final game between the hedges Saturday.
Rushing: Verron Haynes
102 for 587 yards, 6 TDs
Passing: David Greene
307-183-2,579, 14 TDs, 8 INTs
Receiving: Fred Gibson
31 for 754 yards, 5 TDs
Punting: Jonathan Kilgo
43.7 avg., long of 63,10 inside 20
Kicking: Billy Bennett
17 for 25 FG, long of 55
ffUIL
Rushing: Joffrey Reynolds
167 for 768 yards, 7 TDs
Passing: Kelly Robertson
248-137-1,628, 9 TDs, 6 INTs
Receiving: Orlando Iglesias
57 for 662 yards, 4 TDs
Punting: Jimmy McClary
37.1 avg., long of 59, 8 inside 20
Kicking: Jeff Patterson
2 of 4 FG, long of 37
By GRAHAM GARRISON
ggarrison@randb.com
Finish the drill.
It’s been the motto of Georgia
coach Mark Richt’s staff for their
first year in Athens.
Through grueling mat drills in
February, to spring practice, to a
fourth quarter comeback against
Tennessee, Bulldog players have
been clinging to that slogan as
this year’s theme.
Saturday, however, marks an
end to the Bulldog seniors’
careers at Sanford Stadium, with
only one bowl game remaining as
their final reward.
“It’s probably going to hit me
Saturday when I’m going through
the Dog Walk,” senior center Curt
McGill said. “It might not even hit
me until next week that I’ve
played my last game at Sanford
Stadium.”
For the first time since 1952,
Georgia will play a regular season
game after facing in-state rival
Georgia Tech.
A make-up game against
Houston (0-10) could be difficult
after the Bulldogs’ emotional 31-
17 win against the Yellow Jackets.
However, McGill said the
Bulldogs won’t have a letdown.
“We’ll get ready for them just
like everybody else,” he said.
This year’s group of seniors will
leave as one of the most
successful classes in school
history.
Odd, considering the Bulldogs
haven’t won an SEC champi
onship since 1982. But from 1997
to 2001, Georgia has gone 34-14,
including four-consecutive
Bennett
scores big
By GRAHAM GARRISON
ggarrison@randb.com
He doesn’t point his finger to the
sky, or wear some kind of memoir on
his wristband or jersey.
Georgia sophomore kicker Billy
Bennett wasn’t going to do that.
Why should the game he plays be a
measurement of how much he loves
and misses his mother, Kay Bennett,
who died this summer of cancer?
His dedication, he said, is how he
lives his life.
“My Mom and my Dad were proud
of me no matter what I did,” Bennett
said. “I was always their son and it
didn’t matter whether or not I played
football. I just don’t think it was right
in my situation (to make a dedica
tion), and my mother would have
thought it was ridiculous.”
In March, Kay went to the doctor
to check on complications with her
broken leg. After running some tests,
she was diagnosed with cancer.
Four months later, she lost her
brief battle to the disease.
Bennett said he uses her memory
neither for motivation nor excuses.
After Bennett’s record-setting six
field goals in a 31-17 win at Georgia
Tech last Saturday, the sophomore
wasn’t as emotional as he was relieved
to be out of a funk.
A few weeks earlier, he had been
just 11 of 19 field goals for the season.
Bennett’s “feel,” how he sizes up
the ball before a kick, and where he
hits it on his foot, was off. An odd way
to judge kicking, he admitted, but it’s
a carry over from his soccer days at
Athens Academy.
The style worked his freshman
year. As a walk-on, Bennett surprised
many with a sensational season, mak
ing 13 of 14 field goal attempts, and
receiving a preseason spot in 2001 on
the Lou Groza watch list, an award
given to the’nation’s best field goal
kicker.
He’s shown flashes of that this
season. Most recently against the
Yellow Jackets.
However, against Arkansas,
Bennett nailed a 55-yarder, a career
mark and the second-longest kick in
school history,
Bennett said Arkansas was both a
highlight and lowlight of his season.
After his 55-yarder, Bennett missed
two field goals.
One game earlier, he shanked a
crucial field goal against South
Carolina. He had another blocked in
the 14-9 loss.
By November he was just 10 of 16, a
far cry from his freshman season.
“It’s good to have a low point, to
have a point of reference to go from,”
Bennett said. “You can say that
you’ve been through this before, and
you can make it through again.”
What might have been missing for
Bennett was competition. In 2000, he
earned his spot in a duel with Brett
Kirouac.
For most of this season, Bennett
retained field goal duties with
Kirouac getting work on kickoffs.
However, after Georgia’s 24-17 loss
to Auburn, the coaching staff put the
two in competition for the field goal
job. Coaches now chart the two kick
ers in everything — range, kicking
speed, trajectory and accuracy.
Bennett, still first on the depth
chart, said the competition has paid
off.
“It’s helped a lot having Brett out
there,” Bennett said. “It’s a little more
structured.”
Georgia coach Mark Richt said
he’s never worried about Bennett’s
ability.
Not even after the Auburn loss,
where Georgia had two kicks blocked
for the first time since 1995.
The blocks were due, in part, to a
line lapse that allowed Tiger defend
ers to get enough penetration to
deflect the ball.
Bennett blamed himself for low
kicks on some of the other miscues.
Against the Yellow Jackets, every
thing finally clicked for Georgia’s kick
ing unit. The line pushed Jacket
defenders back and Bennett blasted
his kicks higher and straighter than
he has all season.
At one point, Bennett’s holder,
junior Jonathan Kilgo, had to juggle a
bad snap into place.
Bennett, unfazed, reared back and
A Sophomore kicker Billy Bennett leaps for joy following one of
his six field goals during Georgia’s victory last Saturday.
nailed the kick — his sixth.
Pre-game to Tech, Georgia coach
Mark Richt had read from a book
detailing the role of each position as a
means of focus and inspiration for the
players.
Last Saturday’s chapter was on
kickers.
“I don’t know if it inspired Billy or
not,” Richt said. “I guess it’s a little
ironic that we used that as the
example and that was the day he set a
school record.”
Bennett, however, doesn’t rely on
ironies or superstitions. He said the
only thing on his mind when he
runs out onto the field is just that one
kick.
“It’s best to say I’m going to hit one;
kick in a row,” he said. “Whatever hap
pened before and whatever is going to
happen, that doesn’t matter.” •
MEGAN LOVETT | The Red & Black
-
to the
me
last UGA
December 1st the University of Georgia plays
Houston in the last home game of the season and
you could be there. Register to win by showing your
valid UGA Student ID at Customer Service anytime
before November 30th.
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W PREVIEW
Site: Sanford Stadium
Capacity: 86,520
Kickoff: Noon
TV/Radio: No TVfWNGC-FM
(106.1)
Tickets: About 200 remain
History: Houston leads all-time
series 2-0-1
Last Meeting: Nov. 2,1974.
Houston won 31-24 in Athens.
WOi HEADERS
Re&Biack FOOTBALL PREVIEW
Seniors hope to end the season on a
high note against Houston Saturday