CBS SportsLine wire reports
Sept. 5, 1998
ATHENS, Ga. -- Quincy Carter wasted no time showing the near sellout crowd of 86,003 why he's the first freshman to start at quarterback in a season-opener for Georgia in more than 50 years.
Carter,
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"It was all I worked for," Carter said. ``Just to throw that first touchdown pass was a relief."
Carter was 12-of-16, including that first one -- a 40-yard TD throw to Champ Bailey. After the score, Carter raced to the end zone and jumped atop Bailey and hugged him.
Carter added another 40-yard TD pass to Michael Greer in the first half and added a 13-yard score to Thad Parker early in the third quarter. He helped ruin the coaching debut of Dean Pees, whose Golden Flashes were 35-point underdogs.
"This game got my feet wet," Carter said. ``I had some great reads; things clicked. It was a great way to start off."
It wasn't for Pees.
"WE GAVE UP TOO MANY plays on defense and some were very avoidable," he said. "Carter is a heck of a talent. He's bigger than I thought he was. He stood back there and threw the ball well."
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Georgia's Champ Bailey is pushed out of bounds by
Kent defensive back Sam Sharp during the first half. (AP)
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Olandis Gary and Robert Arnaud each added two rushing TDs for the Bulldogs. Gary scored on two 1-yard runs and Arnaud had touchdowns of 3 yards and 78 yards. Nick Callaway closed the Bulldogs scoring with a 9-yard run late in the final period.
"Our running game was solid," said Georgia coach Jim Donnan, who led the Bulldogs to a 10-2 record a year ago in his second season. "We came in and got through the game injury-free. I was glad to see all of our players looking like they were having fun."
Georgia piled up 566 yards -- 277 passing and 289 rushing -- with Arnaud leading the runners with 90 yards on six carries.
Carter, 20, a Parade All-American in 1995 out of Southwest DeKalb High in suburban Atlanta, initially committed to rival Georgia Tech but bypassed football the last two years for a baseball career with the Chicago Cubs, then committed to Georgia in the spring.
HE WASTED NO TIME WINNING over Bulldogs fans. The game was announced as a sellout earlier in the week, but the crowd was 114 fans shy of filling Sanford Stadium (capacity 86,117) despite the 93-degree heat to watch the first freshman starter in a season opener since John Rauch in 1945.
Eric Zeier was the last freshman to start a game at quarterback, but he did it in Game 6 of the 1991 season vs. Mississippi.
Georgia won the toss and 1:43 later had a 7-0 lead as Carter keyed a four-play, 60-yard drive with the 40-yard TD toss to the wide-open Bailey, who caught the ball on the 10. Bailey, an All-Southeastern Conference defensive back last season who will be used about 30 percent of the time as a wide receiver, took it the rest of the way untouched. Carter was 3-for-3 for 59 yards in the drive.
Carter guided the Bulldogs on a 10-play, 64-yard TD drive on the next possession, with Gary ending the drive with a 1-yard run. Carter ran twice for 23 yards and completed an 11-yard pass in the drive.
Carter, who won the job held last year by the SEC's top-rated passer, Mike Bobo, gave way for three series before returning later in the second quarter. He helped Georgia to a 27-3 halftime lead with a 40-yard TD toss to Greer with 5:44 left before intermission.
He left for good after leading Georgia to third-quarter TDs on a 13-yard pass to Parker and Gary's scoring run that made it 42-3 with 7:24 left in the third period.
A bright spot for the Ohio school was senior wide receiver Eugene Baker, who led the nation with 103 receptions last season while averaging more than 140 yards a game. He had 10 catches for 124 yards.