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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Cory Phillips entered Saturday's game
against Kentucky with two career completions for 62 yards.
He left Commonwealth Stadium with a 400-yard, four-touchdown
passing day as No. 12 Georgia rallied to beat Kentucky 34-30.
|  | | Georgia defenders got tough in the second half Saturday. |
Phillips, subbing for the injured Quincy Carter, completed 20 of
38 passes and tossed touchdown passes of 85, 40, 27 and 15 yards in
his first-ever start as the Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1 Southeastern
Conference) stayed on pace with Florida and South Carolina at the
top of the SEC's Eastern Division.
"We wanted Cory to play not to lose the game, and he won it,"
said Terrence Edwards, who finished with five catches for 61 yards
and a 27-yard touchdown reception
Phillips' four touchdown passes tied the school's single-game
record, held by Mike Bobo, Johnny Rauch and Eric Zeier, and his
85-yard touchdown pass to Damien Gary was the longest at Georgia
since 1989.
"I want to give a lot of credit to Cory and the offensive team
for rallying around him," Georgia coach Jim Donnan said. "It was
obvious at the start of the game they weren't going to let us run
out of a two-back set.
"(Kentucky) committed a lot of people. We just made up our mind
to throw it until they stopped, and they didn't."
As well as Phillips played, he was overshadowed by Kentucky's
Jared Lorenzen -- both literally and figuratively.
The 6-foot-5, 285-pound redshirt freshman, who sprained the
thumb on his throwing hand Thursday and was questionable for
Saturday's game, completed 39 of 58 passes for a school-record 528
yards and two touchdowns and ran for a 10-yard score in the losing
effort.
Lorenzen, who also broke Tim Couch's single-game school record
for total yards in a game, threw touchdown passes of 86 and 75
yards and had an 89-yard completion that set up the Wildcats' first
score.
"Maybe we should sprain his thumb every Thursday," Kentucky
coach Hal Mumme said. "I thought it was a courageous effort on his
part."
Lorenzen also became the SEC's all-time leading freshman passer
with 2,710 yards through eight games -- Carter had 2,484 in 1998 --
and his 528 passing yards were the second-highest single-game total
in conference history.
"I always knew that Tim (Couch) never threw for over 500 yards,
but I didn't know I was even close until the end of the game when
our stat guy told me," Lorenzen said. "It's neat that now I kind
of have something up on Tim."
The Bulldogs overcame a 13-0 second-quarter deficit in the game
that saw the teams combine for 1,058 yards of offense. Kentucky
(2-6, 0-5) gained 620 yards against Georgia's defense, which
entered the game ranked eighth in the nation giving up 268 a game.
"This is disappointing," Kentucky linebacker Marlon McCree
said. "All I asked was that we go out and give our best effort,
and we did that. We didn't win, but we played hard."
The Wildcats came into the game riding a four-game conference
losing streak and hadn't scored in six straight quarters. But they
let the Bulldogs know early that they would be in for a fight.
Following a Georgia punt downed at Kentucky's 1, Lorenzen hit
tight end Derek Smith across the middle for an 89-yard gain to the
Bulldogs' 10. Lorenzen took the ball in on a quarterback draw on
the next play to put the Wildcats up 7-0.
Kentucky got 22-yard field goals from Seth Hanson on each of its
next two possessions to take a 13-0 lead with 9:44 to play in the
half.
Billy Bennett's 32-yard field goal pulled Georgia within 13-3
with 5:19 to play. Phillips then found Gary on a slant across the
middle for a 15-yard score on the Bulldogs' next possession to cut
the margin to 13-10 at halftime.
"We were both happy and a little disappointed," Mumme said.
"I thought we should have been up 21-10, but the guys looked great
out there for the most part."
Lightning struck again to open the second half as Kentucky
scored on its first play from scrimmage on an 86-yard pass from
Lorenzen to Ernest Simms to go up 20-10.
The Bulldogs rebounded with 17 unanswered points on two Phillips
TD passes and a 33-yard field goal by Billy Bennett to take their
first lead, 27-20, with 23 seconds to play in the third quarter.
"It took some time for (Cory) to relax," defensive tackle
Marcus Stroud said. "A lot of people didn't expect Cory to come in
and pass like he did. I wasn't surprised because he does it all the
time in practice."
The Wildcats needed only three plays to tie the game on
Lorenzen's 75-yard touchdown pass to Quentin McCord.
But Phillips drove the Bulldogs 68 yards on their next
possession and hit Terrence Edwards with a 27-yard TD pass for the
game-winning score.
Kentucky's Seth Hanson kicked a 38-yard field goal with 8:43 to
play to cut the margin to 34-30. The Wildcats got the ball one last
time with 2:30 remaining, but Lorenzen's interception with 48
seconds to play ended any chance of a comeback.
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