ATHENS, Ga. _ At this point, the Georgia Bulldogs are who they are. Their defense stakes them to a lead, then the offense gets just enough good work done to make it stand up.
That formula worked for the 11th time this season on Saturday as the No. 4 Bulldogs held on for a 19-13 win over a resilient Texas A&M team visiting Sanford Stadium for the first time in four decades.
Beloved senior kicker Rodrigo Blankenship gets credit as well, kicking four field goals in deplorable conditions to become UGA's leading scorer of all time.
In keeping up with the theme of the whole season, it seems, A&M scored on long TD drive in the fourth quarter after what had been to that point a dominant defensive game for the Bulldogs (11-1, 7-1 SEC). Kelly Mond's 19-yard pass to Jhamon Ausbon capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive and made it a one-possession game, 19-13, with 11:16 to play. That drive represented half the yardage the Aggies had gained the entire game through three quarters (149).
It looked like Georgia had provided an offensive answer as Fromm's 20-yard completion to Swift that quickly got the Bulldogs into A&M territory. But they'd regress from there, forced to punt after Fromm was sacked for an 8-yard loss on third down. Georgia had to punt it away.
A&M (7-4, 4-3) was quickly on the move again, and reached the Georgia 45 in just three plays. But a 10-yard sack by Tyler Clark was followed two plays later with a pass-breakup by cornerback Tyrique Stevenson on third-and-11. A&M elected to punt from its 43 and the Bulldogs took over at their own 10 with the game on the line.
The Bulldogs got out of their initial hole as Brian Herrien's second effort resulted in a first down at the 21. But Swift lost two yards on the next play, a zone-read left. Swift, who ran into a brick wall of A&M defenders, yelled at Fromm after the play for not keeping the ball on the play.
The tension was all for naught. Fromm hit Dominick Blaylock on a slant play for 11 yards, then Swift got 11 more on a quick pitch to effectively put the game away.
After the Aggies used their last timeout at the 1:42 mark, Swift would get two more yards for the game-clinching first down, and the Bulldogs' would end the game in victory formation.
Swift finished with the ninth 100-yard game of his career _ 103 on 19 carries _ and Fromm had 163 yards on 11-of-23 passing.
The real story was Georgia's defense, which had 22 players record a tackle and held Texas A&M to 274 yards.
Now all that's left is one more regular-season game against archrival Georgia Tech in Atlanta next week, and the Bulldogs will get to play No. 1 LSU for all the marbles in the SEC Championship on Dec. 7.
As it has the second half this season, Georgia's defense ruled the day.
Most of the day.
Richard LeCounte recovered a fumble for the second straight week. The junior safety stripped the ball on A&M's first possession of the second half. LeCounte recovered at the Aggies' 21.
The Bulldogs' failed to advance the ball from there, but got a 37-yard field goal from Blankenship, his third of the game. That gave UGA a16-3 lead with 11:59 remaining in the third quarter.
It also gave coach Kirby Smart a lot of confidence in his defense. That was reflected when Georgia attempted an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff. It was a good one, too, and Zamir White probably should have recovered it. But the freshman running back overran the ball and A&M retained possession.
Again, the Bulldogs' defense came through for Smart. After A&M reached the Georgia 25-yard line, they held the Aggies on consecutive third-and-one and fourth-and-one plays.
The defense came through again when and interference call against Walter Grant put them at the Bulldogs' 12. A false start and three incompletions later, the Aggies had to settle for a 34-yard field goal, which cut the lead to 16-6.
Fromm answered the challenge with his best throw of the day. On the first play of the ensuing possession, he hit George Pickens in stride down the Bulldogs' sideline for a 41-yard gain. Three plays later, Pickens was flagged for a personal-foul on a blindside block. But Herrien got a lot of that back on a third-down run and the Blankenship's fourth field goal of the night made it 19-6 four seconds into the fourth quarter.
Fittingly, Blankenship became UGA's all-time leading scorer during the game. He has 415 in his career now, with at least three more games remaining.
Georgia got out of the first half with a 13-3 lead. Considering the conditions, it probably felt like 50-0 to Texas A&M.
The teams played in a virtual downpour for most of the first half. The passing numbers reflected that as Fromm started out 1-of-6 throwing the ball in the first quarter. But switching between wearing a glove and not wearing it, Fromm finally got it going late in the half. He completed throws of 27 yards to Tyler Simmons and 22 to Kearis Jackson before hitting George Pickens in stride for a 16-yard down the Georgia sideline for a 10-point margin at the 6:44 mark of the second quarter.
The Aggies had an opportunity to cut into the lead, reaching Georgia's 45. But they'd lose 29 yards in the next three plays and had to punt the ball back. The Bulldogs would run out the half.
The Bulldogs benefited from an advantageous field-position swap on respective punts to record the first score of the game.
Georgia had netted zero yards on the opening possession but got a 54-yard punt from Jake Camarda, plus a minus-6 return from the Aggies, who had to start the game from their own 15. But Blaylock's 18-yard return of a 59-yard punt set them up at the A&M 47 on their second possession.
The Bulldogs ran the ball on four straight downs before facing third-and-5 at the A&M 26. Fromm, wearing a glove on his throwing hand, missed a wide-open Herrien down the A&M sideline. So Georgia settled for a 41-yard Blankenship field and a 3-0 lead with 8:22 remaining in the first quarter.
The teams combined for just 50 yards and those three points the entire first quarter. The Aggies knotted the game at 3-all on Seth Small's 37-yard field goal. Starting the possession at Georgia's 35, A&M reached the 15 before a delay penalty and two incompletions stalled the drive.
Blankenship bailed out the Bulldogs again on their next possession. His 49-yard field in a driving downpour made it 6-3 at the 11:36 mark.
