ORLANDO, Fla. — Matthew Stafford gave the type of performance in the Capital One Bowl that’d make a fitting finale to his excellent Georgia career.
Whether this was his last game with the Bulldogs, the junior quarterback hasn’t decided.
Stafford threw three touchdown passes in the final 18 minutes against No. 19 Michigan State, hitting Knowshon Moreno for the clinching score in the 16th-ranked Bulldogs’ 24-12 victory Thursday.
“It’s going to be an extremely hard decision,” Stafford said of his decision to enter the NFL draft. “My time at Georgia has been great, and the allure of coming back is something I’m considering. I’m 50-50 right now and I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to take these next few days and figure it out.”
Ranked No. 1 to start the season, the Bulldogs (10-3) gave coach Mark Richt his sixth bowl win in eight tries and put a happy ending on a season that didn’t live up to expectations.
The first half was ugly for Stafford, projected to be an early first-round NFL draft pick, and Georgia.
He was just 6-for-14 and an interception in the first half and Michigan State (9-4) led 6-3. In the second half, he looked more like the quarterback NFL teams covet. He completed 14 of his final 17 throws, including three TD passes.
Figuring out Stafford proved to be a tough task for the Spartans in the second half.
Stafford started the comeback by directing a 10-play, 96-yard drive midway through the third quarter. He went 6-for-6 for 92 yards and capped it with 35-yard touchdown toss to Michael Moore.
“The biggest thing was eliminating mistakes,” Stafford said. “The whole first half, first drive of the second half, we were making foolish mistakes — me not hitting guys, us not picking up blitzes, not finishing off drives.”
Georgia 3 0 14 7 — 24
Michigan State 3 3 0 6 — 12
First quarter: Geo — FG Walsh 32, 9:26. MSU — FG Swenson 20, 4:50. Second quarter: MSU — FG Swenson 32, 2:14. Third quarter: Geo — Moore 35 pass from Stafford (Walsh kick), 3:31. Geo — A.White 21 pass from Stafford (Walsh kick), :09. Fourth quarter: MSU — Ringer 1 run (pass failed), 8:50. Geo — Moreno 21 pass from Stafford (Walsh kick), 3:43. A — 59,681. Geo MSU
First downs 19 16
Rushes-yards 33-81 34-31
Passing 250 205
Comp-att-int 20-31-1 22-39-1
Return yards 67 39
Punts-avg. 5-47.4 5-38.0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 7-53 5-50
Time of possession 30:00 30:00
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Georgia, Moreno 23-62, Stafford 6-9, Mimbs 1-8, Green 1-6.
Team 2-(minus 4). Michigan State, Ringer 20-47, Hoyer 8-3, Holmes 1-2. K.Martin 2-(minus 3), Team 2-(minus 8), Cousins 1-(minus 10).
PASSING — Georgia, Stafford 20-31-1-250. Michigan State. Hoyer 18-34-1-169, Cousins 4-5-0-36.
RECEIVING — Georgia, Moore 6-97, Moreno 6-63, Durham 3-32. A.White 1-21, Green 1-12, C.King 1-11, Massaquoi 1-10, Goodman 1-4. Michigan State, Cunningham 6-52, Dell 5-61, B.White 4-31, Ringer 3-30. Hawken 1-14, Celek 1-8, Rouse 1-5, McPherson 1-4.
