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Dogs and Gators open season with dominant wins

Whether you bleed orange and blue or red and black, fans of SEC football had to be pleased with their teams performances during the opening weekend of the college season.

The top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs team delighted their home crowd with a 45-21 victory over Georgia Southern in their season opener at Sanford Stadium.

The Bulldogs offense racked up 535 total yards while holding the Eagles to 290. The preseason number one ranked Dawgs were led by quarterback Matthew Stafford’s career-high 275 passing yards and three touchdown runs from tailback Knowshon Moreno.

Georgia built a 38-0 lead before Georgia Southern managed to get on the scoreboard.

Moreno gained 59 yards on eight carries, which included scoring runs of 2, 3 and 23 yards. His strong performance also included two receptions for 53 yards. Tailback Caleb King led the Bulldogs running stats with 95 yards in his first game for Georgia. Senior QB Stafford went 13-of-21 for 275 yards and two touchdowns

Georgia's kicker Blair Walsh kicked the longest field goal by a Georgia freshman when he drilled a 52-yarder. Walsh booted six extra points.

The Bulldogs defense was led by the tandem of Tackle Corvey Irvin and Linebacker Darryl Gamble with six tackles each. Linebacker Dannell Ellerbe grabbed an interception in the end zone to slam the door on a Georgia Southern scoring drive. He added five tackles to Georgia’s defensive effort.

The Gator’s defense showed their fans how much they had improved over last season with a

smothering 56 to 10 victory over visiting Hawaii in front of 90,575 at Florida Field. The preseason fifth-ranked Gators forced six turnovers by the Warriors and capitalized on Hawaii’s mistakes by converting four into touchdowns. They penetrated the Warriors backfield and didn't allow Hawaii to move the ball past their 40 yard line until the fourth quarter, while notching four quarterback sacks.

The Gators allowed the Warriors just 89 yards and nine first downs in the final three quarters, after giving up 72 yards and seven first downs in the first quarter.

Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Tim Tebow's performance was overshadowed by his supporting cast as Florida routed the Warriors at the Swamp. Tebow was limited to 46 passing yards as Hawaii kept the Gators off the scoreboard early in the game.

Junior Brandon James put Florida’s first points on the scoreboard in the second quarter with his first career rushing touchdown. James added to his stats after an interception returned for a touchdown by safety Major Wright. He put the Gators ahead 21-0 with a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Late in the first half, the Gators red shirt freshman running back Chris Rainey padded his teams lead with a 33-yard scoring run.

Florida first possession of the second half was sustained when special teams kept a scoring drive alive. On fourth-and-16, Florida punter Chas Henry took the snap and scampered for 17 yards for a first down. Freshman running back Jeffrey Demps capitalized on the fourth down conversion with a 62-yard touchdown run to make it 35-0.

Tebow finally got his highlight moment with a 48-yard pass completion to senior wide receiver Louis Murphy, for his first throwing touchdown of the season . Tebow’s stats for the game were 9 of 14 for 137 yards and one touchdown. He added 37 yards on nine carries. Despite Hawaii’s blitzing efforts, the fleet footed Tebow was only sacked one time during the game.