SHREVEPORT — Brandon Boykin’s teammates were giving him all kinds of kudos after his school record-setting kickoff return for a touchdown sparked Georgia’s victory over Texas A&M in the Independence Bowl.
Boykin wanted none of it,though. To hear him tell it, all he did was run.
“The kick return that I had I really couldn’t take credit for that,” Boykin said. “The kick was short and my blocking, I felt like it parted just like the Red Sea.”
His third kickoff return for a score of the season - an 81-yarder late in the second quarter - hardly qualified asa miracle, but it was just what the Bulldogs needed to fuel a 44-20 victory on Monday.
Fifty-six seconds later, Georgia blocked a punt, setting up another touchdown, and a game that was supposed to be an offensive showdown turned into yet another game decided by special teams.
“The bottom line is you’ve got offense, defense and special teams and you hope to win two out of the three phases,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said.
“We could’ve been down 14-0 if it weren’t for the special teams and who knows what would’ve happened after that.”
Boykin set the school record and tied the SEC mark with his kick return touchdown, Georgia blocked two kicks and Joe Cox threw his first touchdown pass after a snap sailed over the Texas A&M punter’s head in the third quarter.
In all, special teams play led to 24 points for the Georgia, which also got a 49-yard field goal from Blair Walsh. Add in an unexpectedly strong defensive effort and the Bulldogs managed to salvage a smile after a disappointing season.
Boykin deflected the credit, but everyone else called his return the “spark” that kicked the moribund Bulldogs to life.
“If you’re not 100 percent against Boykin he’s going to hurt you and he did,” Texas A&M Coach Mike Sherman said.
Instead of trailing going into halftime, Georgia was up 14-7. Joe Cox hit offensive MVP Aron White on touchdown passes of 24 and 2 yards in the second half and the Bulldogs (8-5) scored a bowl record 30 points in the final two quarters for their fourth consecutive postseason victory.
It was the fourth consecutive postseason loss for the Aggies (6-7), who have not won a bowl since 2001.
The Bulldogs sealed the victory by intercepting Jerrod Johnson twice in the third quarter, an unexpected outcome for a defense that was playing with just one full-time assistant after the firing of defensive coordinator Willie Martinez and two others.
“I think we probably need to start out by saying what a fantastic job our defensive coaches did,” Richt said.
All the offense expected from two teams with porous defenses and stars on offense such as Johnson and Georgia receiver A.J. Green never really developed. The teams had more punts than first downs in the first 25 minutes of the game.
Texas A&M .........0 7 7 6 - 20 Georgia..............0 14 10 20 - 44 Second Quarter TAM-J.McCoy 15 pass from J.Johnson (Bullock kick), 2:33.
Geo-Boykin 81 kickoff return (Walsh kick), 2:22.
Geo-C.King 2 run (Walsh kick), 1:22.
Third Quarter TAM-Michael 14 run (Bullock kick), 12:36.
Geo-FG Walsh 49, 9:25.
Geo-A.White 24 pass from Cox (Walsh kick), 7:49.
Fourth Quarter Geo-A.White 2 pass from Cox (Walsh kick), 13:19.
Geo-C.King 1 run (Walsh kick), 9:47.
Geo-Chapas 5 run (kick failed), 4:29.
TAM-Morrow 5 pass from J.Johnson (pass failed), 1:13.
Sports, Pages 19 on 12/29/2009