Carson Beck completed 36 of 48 passes for 459 yards and three touchdowns as No. 5 Georgia beat visiting Mississippi State 41-31 in Southeastern Conference play Saturday in Athens, Ga.
Beck, who threw two interceptions, set a career high in passing yards as Georgia (5-1, 3-1) won its second straight game. Arian Smith caught five balls for 134 yards and a touchdown for Georgia.
Michael Van Buren Jr. completed 20 of 37 passes for 306 yards and three touchdowns for Mississippi State (1-5, 0-3), which dropped its fifth straight game. Van Buren also threw an interception in his second career start. Kevin Coleman Jr. caught eight passes for 103 yards.
Leading 27-10, it took Georgia just three plays to score on its opening drive of the second half, as Beck found Smith for a 42-yard touchdown with 13:48 left in the third.
Mississippi State responded with an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive that was stamped with Johnnie Daniels’ 19-yard rushing score at the 8:27 mark. Beck then led Georgia down the field again, but was picked off in the end zone by DeAgo Brumfield.
Mississippi State then strung together an eight-play, 80-yard drive that resulted in Van Buren’s two-yard touchdown pass to Davon Booth with 2:40 remaining in the third, cutting the deficit to 34-24.
Georgia iced the game with a 16-play, 81-yard drive that ate up 7:26, ending with Trevor Etienne’s one-yard rushing score with 3:33 left. Mississippi State added a late score, as Van Buren found Kelly Akharaiyi for a 35-yard score with 1:47 remaining.
After Mississippi State’s Kyle Ferrie and Peyton Woodring traded field goals to begin the scoring, Georgia marched down the field on an eight-play, 81-yard drive that resulted in Branson Robinson’s five-yard rushing touchdown at the 2:13 mark of the first quarter.
Woodring tacked on another field goal, this time from 32 yards with 10:54 remaining in the second quarter.
Van Buren then found Mario Craver for 72 yards to the Georgia five-yard line. Van Buren later connected with Akharaiyi for a 24-yard touchdown pass, trimming the deficit to 13-10 with 8:46 left in the second.
Beck threw touchdown passes to finish the next two Georgia drives, the first ending with a 31-yard score to Dillon Bell, the second on a Lawson Luckie catch for a one-yard score with 1:56 left, giving Georgia a 27-10 halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
