Georgia's Black Team (second-team offense, first-team defense) defeated the Red Team (first-team offense, second-team defense), 23-17, in front of more than 45,000 onlookers on Saturday afternoon. Aaron Murray threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half to give Red a 17-7 edge at halftime, but Black picked up the defensive effort over the final two quarters and rallied for the win.
2013 Georgia spring game results: Aaron Murray sharp; Gurley, Marshall play sparingly
In Athens on Saturday, the first-team defense recovered from a slow start to lead the Black Team to a come-from-behind win.
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Murray finished the afternoon 12-of-18 for 200 yards and two scores, leading all passers. Hutson Mason had a solid afternoon as well, throwing for 191 yards and a touchdown, though he also threw an interception. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Christian LeMay, who is fighting for the third-string quarterback position, was 0-6 with an INT.
Kyle Karempelis finished the day with a game-high 89 yards rushing, as Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall didn't see a lot of time on the field -- they combined for 10 carries and 31 yards. The Telegraph's Seth Emerson thought run blocking in general was an issue for the Bulldogs:
The concern, in my mind, is the offensive line. The run-blocking was pretty nonexistent, and there were too many holes in the pass-blocking. There’s still time to straighten it out, but the run-blocking in particular is a worry. Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall weren’t really in the game.
Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo was not happy with the performance of the first-team offense, but he did not have a problem with his offensive line's pass protection and noted that Xzavier Ward is UGA's best tackle right now. Bobo faulted his quarterbacks for holding the ball too long in some cases. Via the Athens Banner-Herald:
“I thought they protected well,” Bobo said “I thought we did a poor job at quarterback of getting rid of the ball or throwing the ball away. One time we missed a hot [route] that was a sack on the quarterback. A lot of times we were holding the ball too long. I thought the offensive line protected well and the quarterbacks did a bad job.”
Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, on the other hand, was pleased with the way the first-team defense performed. The Bulldogs are replacing a lot of talent on that side of the ball, but Grantham was encouraged by their progress and the energy with which they played on Saturday. Linebacker Ramik Wilson led the first-team defense with eight tackles, while linebackers James DeLoach and Amarlo Herrera finished with six tackles each.
Some players on both sides of the ball were held out of the game because of injury: Malcolm Mitchell, Chris Burnette, Sheldon Dawson, Ryne Rankin, Tramel Terry and Michael Bennett.
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