Third quarter blog

End of third quarter, Georgia trails 29-24

The third quarter ends on a good note for Georgia, as Orson Charles hauls in a 28-yard pass into Colorado territory. Georgia is at the 35 as the final 15 minutes begin.

Perhaps even better news: During the break between quarters, A.J. Green ran out of the tunnel, eliciting big cheers from the red-clad fans who have surrounded that corner of the stadium.

Sit tight folks, we're in for an interesting final quarter.

4:39 left in third quarter, Colorado now leads 29-24

Well, this game's momentum turned back rather quickly.

With A.J. Green in the locker room, Georgia's defense has given up its second consecutive touchdown, and Colorado has the lead again.

Georgia says Green is suffering from cramps. I haven't seen him come out of the locker room yet.

The Georgia special teams deserves some blame there too. Colorado should only have a one-point lead, but Vance Cuff was called for roughing-the-kicker, and Colorado elected to take points off the board. One play later, it got the touchdown.

That drive started for Colorado with a 46-yard pass play down to the Georgia 21. Once again a play-action pass got the Bulldog defense - but on the bright spot, in the past few games that probably would've been a 77-yard touchdown. Cuff, a step behind, was at least there to make the tackle.

7:44 left in third quarter, Georgia lead down to 24-22

In answer to a previous question of how the Georgia defense would play with a multi-possession lead, the answer is ... badly.

Colorado struck right back, the big damage coming on a 65-yard run by Rodney Stewart, who caught a pitch and ran down the left sideline.

Shawn Williams had a touchdown-saving tackle, catching up to Stewart after not giving up on the play. But it only saved the touchdown briefly.

Three plays later, Colorado QB Tyler Hansen appeared to be bottled up, but he escaped the pocket, faked a pass and dove into the end zone.

Then came a strange decision, although not too strange when you think about it. Colorado went for two and got it, a dangerous decision considering had it failed, it would've been down more than a field goal.

But Colorado has been running extra points out of this strange formation all day, apparently with the plan to catch Georgia off guard at one point. This time it did, and now Georgia has the lead, but isn't in control anymore. The onus is back on the offense and Mr. Green.

10:40 left in third quarter, Georgia takes 24-14 lead

Dare I say, Georgia is in control now? There's a lot of game to play, but right now things are going very smoothly.

Marlon Brown has a touchdown catch called off because of a penalty? Two plays later, Brown gets open in the end zone and Aaron Murray hits him again.

Interestingly, AJ Green was NOT on the field for the touchdown play, despite it being a three-receiver set. It looked like Green cramped up or something, as they're now working on his left leg on the sideline.

Green did his damage on that drive, hauling in a 50-yard catch, which pushes him up to 119 for the night.

Now we're going to find out how a Todd Grantham defense plays with a multi-possession lead. Still aggressive, or a little bit more zone coverage to avoid the big plays?

Apparently that unit will play without Branden Smith. The sophomore cornerback has his pads off, and looks to be done for the night.