Georgia did its part. And everything else went the Bulldogs way, sending them back to the Southeastern Conference championship game.
Freshman center Nick Jones fell on a fumble in the end zone, Bryan McClendon blocked a punt to set up another touchdown and No. 5 Georgia defeated Georgia Tech for the third year in a row, 34-17 Saturday.
The Bulldogs (10-2) came into the day needing two things to happen. They had to beat Georgia Tech, which they did convincingly, and Tennessee had to knock off Kentucky to force a three-way tie for the SEC East title with Georgia and Florida.
Tennessee won 20-7 and when Florida lost 38-34 to Florida State that wrapped up the title for the Bulldogs. The matchup against LSU will be made official today.
Georgia Tech (6-6) trailed 20-3 at halftime, their hopes of a comeback essentially snuffed out when freshman quarterback Reggie Ball trotted to the locker room with a possible concussion.
No. 7 Tennessee 20, Kentucky 7
In Lexington, Kentucky, Cedric Houston ran for 87 yards and a touchdown, and Tennessee (10-2, 6-2) used a dominating defense to hold Kentucky to 187 yards and clinch a share of the SEC East division title with Georgia and Florida.
Kentucky (4-8, 1-7) led 7-3 at halftime but recorded only five first downs in the second half in the final game of its first season under coach Rich Brooks. Four of Tennessee's last five opponents have scored seven points or fewer.
Tennessee finished with 270 yards of offense in cold, windy conditions. But the offense turned in a 13-play, 66-yard touchdown drive in the final minutes to seal the win on Houston's 10-yard run with 1:27 left.
No. 9 Florida St. 38,
No. 11 Florida 34
In Gainesville, Florida, P.K. Sam ran a twisting, whirling, falling-down pass route for a 52-yard touchdown that lifted Florida State over Florida, a spectacular game that was marred by a brawl at midfield after the game ended.
Sam's catch with 55 seconds remaining pushed No. 9 Florida State (10-2) to the 10-win plateau for the first time since 2000. No. 11 Florida (8-4) had its five-game winning streak halted, along with any hopes of sneaking into the SEC title game.
The last touchdown, the third TD throw of the day for Chris Rix, was a thrilling climax to a game that had it all -- great plays, terrible officiating and back-and-forth scoring.
The emotion, however, caught up with the teams: When the Seminoles went to midfield to celebrate, they were greeted by the Gators, who didn't want them jumping up and down on their "F" at midfield. Punches were thrown, helmets went flying.
No. 10 Miami 28,
No. 20 Pittsburgh 14
In Pittsburgh, Tyrone Moss and Jarrett Payton became the latest running backs to exploit Pitt's weak rush defense, running for more than 100 yards each, and Miami locked up a share of its eighth Big East title and a BCS bowl.
Miami (10-2, 6-1) exited the Big East for the ACC the same dominating way it entered in 1992 -- on top, with everybody else playing catchup. The Hurricanes officially share the conference title with West Virginia (8-4, 6-1), but it's Miami that's heading to a big bowl -- almost certainly the hometown Orange Bowl, where they last played during the 1994 season.
Moss ran for touchdowns of 30 and 6 yards and Payton had a 1-yard touchdown run as Miami scored on three consecutive first-half possessions to turn a 7-0 deficit into a 21-7 lead.
Larry Fitzgerald was limited to three catches for 26 yards for Pittsburgh (8-4, 5-2).
No. 19 TCU 20, SMU 13
In Dallas, Robert Merrill ran for 98 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown with 7:18 left, and TCU rebounded from its BCS dream-shattering loss by beating SMU.
The Horned Frogs (11-1) have their most wins since 1938, but won't get to play in a Bowl Championship Series game.
Merrill's game-clinching run came on the last of his 15 carries when he took a handoff to the right, sidestepped into an opening and ran untouched into the end zone. His 1,081 rushing yards are a TCU freshman record.
Virginia 35, Virginia Tech 21
In Charlottesville, Virginia, Wali Lundy ran for three touchdowns and caught a pass for another, helping Virginia end its four-year losing streak against Virginia Tech.
The Cavaliers (7-5) scored 21 straight points in the second half, twice converting on fourth down from the 1. Lundy caught a 1-yard pass for the tying touchdown, and ran for a score to make it 28-14.
Virginia Tech (8-4) got two touchdown runs from Kevin Jones and a 43-yard scoring pass from Bryan Randall to Mike Imoh.
Bowling Green 31, Toledo 23
In Bowling Green, Ohio, Josh Harris threw for three touchdowns and caught another one, leading Bowling Green to a spot in the Mid-American Conference title game.
The Falcons scored on their first four possessions in the second half after trailing 14-7 after two quarters. Harris did it all, accounting for 379 of Bowling Green's 433 offensive yards against Toledo (8-4, 6-2 MAC).
Bowling Green (10-2, 7-1) will host No. 15 Miami of Ohio on Thursday for the conference title.
West Virginia 45, Temple 28
In Morgantown, West Virginia, Jason Colson rushed for two touchdowns in his first career start and West Virginia clinched a share of its first Big East title since 1993.
Lance Frazier returned a punt for a touchdown and set up another score with an interception for West Virginia (8-4, 6-1 Big East), which won its seventh straight game and is expected to head to the Gator Bowl to play Maryland. Quarterback Walter Washington ran for 117 yards and four scores for Temple (1-11, 0-7).
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set