Georgia helmets are raised in celebration at the end of the game. JOHNATHAN ERNST/STAFF

Web posted January 2, 1998

 Dogs bag limit of Badger
 Bulldogs notebook
 Mike Berardino
 `Great Dayne'

By Marc Lancaster
Morris News Service

TAMPA, Fla. -Few teams are lucky enough to have their key offensive skill position players stay consistent for an entire season, but Georgia has proven to be an exception to that rule.

So in the final game of their careers, it was appropriate that the Bulldogs' three offensive cornerstones - quarterback Mike Bobo, tailback Robert Edwards and split end Hines Ward - put together an overwhelming display in the team's 33-6 demolition of Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl.

Every time you looked, one of them had the ball. Not counting Georgia's last possession, in which second- and third-string players were on the field, 59 of the 64 offensive plays Georgia ran featured Ward or Edwards touching the ball or Bobo throwing a pass. According to Ward, that was head coach Jim Donnan's game plan going in.

``Coach Donnan wanted me to go out touching the ball,'' said Ward. ``He wanted all the seniors to really go out on top.''

Bobo was the top dog Thursday afternoon, though his two favorite targets certainly didn't embarrass themselves. Bobo completed 26 of

Georgia Robert Edwards is sent flying by Wisconsin #8 Jason Doering and #38 LaMar Campbell.. JONAHTAN ERNST/STAFF

28 passes (93 percent), mostly underneath the Badgers' soft zone coverage, for 235 yards and a touchdown. His 19 consecutive completions from the second quarter on set an Outback Bowl and Georgia record and helped the Thomasville native earn MVP honors.

``Mike was on fire. I'm still trying to figure out the two that he missed there, I couldn't believe it,'' joked Donnan. ``Nineteen straight? That's hard to do against the air, just to go out there when nobody's in the stadium.''

Nearly half of Bobo's completions went to Ward, who finally had the type of game Donnan had hoped for all year by getting his hands on the ball at every opportunity. He had 20 offensive touches, the most in his post-quarterback career, and his reception total of 12 was a bowl record and the second-highest single-game tally in Georgia history. His 152 yards receiving was a season high for the team this year.

But it was Edwards' early work that opened things up for his classmates' aerial attack. Georgia's offensive line formed huge holes for Edwards in the first half and the back took advantage of Wisconsin's soft defensive scheme to run right by the Badgers on several occasions.

Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez said he was surprised at Georgia's ability to run the ball on his team, which faced a number of great running attacks in the Big Ten this season. Edwards' 74 first-half yards caught the Badgers off guard and allowed the rest of the offense to work, said Bobo.

``They were on their heels and they were confused a little bit,'' he said. ``I don't think they thought we were going to run it as well as we did, and when you do that, and you're balanced like that, it's hard for a defense to stop.''

The Badgers never did derail Edwards, who finished with 110 yards and three scores, his fifth multiple-touchdown game this year. All in all, it was a study in teamwork.