[SLIDESHOW] UK upsets Georgia 34-27

ATHENS, Ga. — The noise was deafening.

It came through concrete walls and steel doors, a beat on a metal locker loud enough to march armies and chants so earsplitting they could have woken the dead. Hearing the UK football team celebrate in the locker room after its 34-27 upset win over the Georgia Bulldogs, a nervous police officer gripped the doorknob, as though he had to physically keep the chaos inside from escaping into the outside world.

UK head coach Rich Brooks heard the noise and grinned.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am and how proud I am of the young men in that room,” he said, pointing toward the heard but unseen pandemonium.

The Cats (7-4, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) played nearly flawlessly in the second half of the win, their first at Georgia (6-5, 4-4 SEC) since 1977. The game also marked the first time UK won three consecutive SEC road games since 1977.

After a first half that saw UK muster just 63 yards of offense and surrender 20 consecutive points to the Bulldogs, Brooks roused his team with a fiery talk during the break. UK forced four second-half turnovers and scored the final 21 points of the game to complete the comeback.

“I probably shouldn’t even repeat it,” senior defensive tackle Corey Peters said of Brooks’ halftime speech. “He got into us pretty good.”

The first Bulldog turnover — a fumble on the opening kickoff return of the second half — set up a UK touchdown that brought the Cats back into the game.

The Cats rolled up 197 yards of offense in the second half, led by freshman quarterback Morgan Newton, who threw a career-high three touchdown passes. He finished with just 137 yards passing but as in UK’s 21-14 win at Auburn on Oct. 17 — his first game as starting quarterback — Newton made sure the UK offense didn’t turn the ball over all night.

“One thing I want to do when I grow up is coach,” Peters said. “And I’ve never seen a player improve as much from game to game as (Newton) has. Today I think he was great.”

As excited as the players were, the UK coaching staff found its own special meaning in the win. UK head coach of the offense Joker Phillips had 81 text messages waiting for him after the win, which came in some of his favorite recruiting grounds with several prospects watching from the stands.

Brooks was able to extract some revenge from a loss long ago — his first as a head coach. In his first season as head coach at Oregon, in 1977, Brooks traveled to Athens in his first game and was dealt a loss by legendary Georgia coach Vince Dooley. Brooks has now beaten the Bulldogs twice in the last four years.

The final score was set up when junior defensive tackle Shane McCord made an interception — the second turnover — and returned it deep into the red zone.

“The ball just came straight to me,” McCord said. “I was just surprised I caught it.”

Sophomore Randall Cobb fought his way over the final yard of the field and into the endzone, writing another chapter in a career already filled with fourth quarter heroics.

“Any true competitor, as the game goes they get more hungry and want the ball more and want to make plays,” Cobb said.

Georgia drove down the field in the closing minutes and was poised to tie the game, but fumbled the ball on the one yard line to give the Cats the ball back. Senior quarterback Joe Cox had another chance in the final minutes of the game, but threw an interception to senior linebacker Sam Maxwell to seal the Dawgs’ fate.

As the locker room celebration appeared to reach decibel levels rivaling the crowd of 92,746 that had packed Sanford Stadium, Brooks tried to keep his eyes from wandering to the door that held his team from unleashing itself on the outside world.

It wasn’t hard for Brooks to avoid fixing his gaze there. He was already looking ahead.

“Hey, South Carolina and Mississippi State, coulda woulda shoulda,” Brooks said. “All I know is that right now, we’re 7-4  and we’re playing Tennessee, and we’ll see what happens and if we can shake something out and get to 8-4.”

GAME NOTES

Junior tailback Derrick Locke finished with 252 all-purpose yards and had two receiving touchdowns on two catches. He did tweak an MCL in his non-surgically repaired knee, but was able to finish the game … Maxwell’s game-clinching interception was his fifth of the season and his sixth career. “He’s always in the right place at the right time,” Peters said of the fellow senior … LaRod King’s 21-yard touchdown reception from Newton was the first touchdown reception of the freshman’s career … Senior cornerback Trevard Lindley had three pass breakups. That moved him into fourth place all-time on the SEC career list.