No. 3 Georgia too much for ASU

In its longest road trip in more than four decades, the Georgia football team traveled 1,900 miles to play at Arizona State on Saturday.

The distance ASU must cover to reach elite status is not nearly as far. But it is substantial, as the Bulldogs showed the largest crowd at Sun Devil Stadium in 17 years and a national television audience.

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In a contest where the third-ranked Bulldogs’ execution and smarts were not exceptional, their athleticism and talent was enough to control ASU in a 27-10 victory that sent the Sun Devils into a bye week with the spectre of a four-game losing streak hovering over them.

“We’ve got to find ourselves,” safety Troy Nolan said. “We don’t have an identity right now. We’ve got to take this all in, find out what’s going wrong and put it behind us.”

ASU (2-2) has an inability to run the ball, issues on the offensive line, a starting cornerback who is getting picked on and a defense that is not forcing turnovers. That is a lengthy fix-it list with road games at California and top-ranked Southern California up next.

“It’s going to be an interesting week for us,” coach Dennis Erickson said. “We’ve got to get better as a team. It’s a bye week, but not really a bye week. We have to find out who wants to play and who doesn’t.”

Using a defensive tactic that Nevada-Las Vegas employed successfully a week ago — and one that Erickson’s team will keep seeing — Georgia’s defense played a cover-2 zone and dared ASU to beat it with the run.

That was trouble against the nation’s No. 12 rush defense, which held the Sun Devils to 4 yards on the ground, the lowest total since a minus-2 effort at California in 2002.

“They dropped eight guys, and when they didn’t bring eight, they brought pressure,” quarterback Rudy Carpenter said. “We have to do a better job of making plays in the passing game.”

Carpenter completed 23 of 36 passes for 208 yards and a touchdown. His finest moment was at the start of the third quarter, when he connected on all five throws on a drive, the last to tight end Andrew Pettes for a 6-yard touchdown that made the score 21-10.

But that was the last glimmer of hope for the Sun Devils, who allowed four sacks.

“When you’re not running the ball, there’s no way you can win,” receiver Michael Jones said. “We can’t put 10 wideouts on the field.”

On offense, Georgia (4-0) gave the ball to its skill players in the open field, daring the ASU defenders to make one-on-one plays.

The Sun Devils’ front seven managed to limit the between-tackles space for star running back Knowshon Moreno, but when he got around the corners, the yards came much easier. Freshman flanker A.J. Green has eight catches for 159 yards and a touchdown, doing most of the damage against ASU cornerback Omar Bolden, who had a second straight tough game.

“A.J. had a nice game,” Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said. “He benefitted from some of the coverages they were playing. (ASU tends) to play a soft form of coverage to the wide side of the field. It’s just something that they have done for years. We were able to take advantage of it.”

After Green beat Bolden for a 30-yard gain on third-and-10 in the first quarter, Georgia began to establish its will. Seven plays later, Moreno dove majestically over linebacker Morris Wooten on the right sideline for a 9-yard touchdown, the first of his two scores in the first half.

Moreno had 149 yards on 23 carries.

The Sun Devils cut the score to 14-3 with 2:38 remaining in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs answered with a demoralizing five-play, 70-yard march. That drive ended when, from a bunched formation, Green was isolated against Nolan, whose coverage arrived too late to prevent a 14-yard scoring reception.

“I took my eyes off of him for a second,” Nolan said. “He was on a corner route, and he got a great pass.”

Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford was 16-of-28 for 285 yards and a TD.

ASU fell to 4-25 against ranked opposition since 2000.

“We have another week to get better for California, and hopefully, we’ll figure things out,” linebacker Mike Nixon said. “The bye week comes at a good time. We have to stay positive and know that we’re still undefeated in the Pac-10.”

Did you see that? After taking a pitch from the 9-yard line, Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno leaped from the 4, sailing over ASU defensive back Rodney Cox, and landed in the end zone for the Bulldogs’ first score.

Thumbs up: In his first game back from a suspension for an undisclosed team rules violation, backup linebacker Morris Wooten had a team-high eight tackles.

Thumbs down: On third-and-1 from the Georgia 8 in the second quarter, ASU (trailing 14-0 at the time) went outside on a pitch to Dimitri Nance. He was bottled up for a short gain, and the Sun Devils failed yet again to score a touchdown in the red zone.
Injury report: Running back Keegan Herring missed a second straight contest, and third of the season, with a sore hamstring. ASU reported no significant ailments from the game.

Quotable: “We’ve got to put some positions up for grabs. We’ll look at some guys on the offensive front and some other guys on both sides of the ball. … We’ll (practice) in full pads on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of (this) week. We’re not going to worry about California until next week.” — ASU coach Dennis Erickson

Dan Zeiger, Tribune