PEACH BOWL : Syracuse Saves Its Best for Last, Beats Georgia

ATLANTA —  John Biskup kicked the field goal that won the Peach Bowl for Syracuse, but to Coach Dick MacPherson, backup quarterback Mark McDonald was the star.

McDonald hit Michael Owens for 29 yards on fourth-and-five with 2:09 remaining Saturday, setting up Biskup’s 26-yard kick with 25 seconds left as the Orangemen rallied to beat Georgia, 19-18.

“I think it was just magnificent what he did on that fourth-down play,” MacPherson said. “It was just very special. He really had to lay that one up there.”

McDonald lofted the ball over linebacker Demetrius Douglas and Owens, who also had 116 yards rushing, caught it along the sideline and raced to the Georgia 28 before being knocked out of bounds.

“This is one of the games that all of us will remember,” said McDonald, who relieved starter Bill Scharr early in the third quarter and rallied Syracuse from an 18-7 deficit by completing 10 of 13 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown.

“This was our best performance of the year and my best performance as well,” said Owens, who had five catches for 62 yards and was voted Syracuse’s top offensive performer.

Syracuse (8-4) moved 64 yards in 11 plays to set up Biskup’s game-winning kick.

“Out defense played well and gave us opportunities to win the football game,” Georgia Coach Ray Goff said. “We didn’t take advantage of those opportunities, though.”

The Bulldogs managed just 202 yards on offense, with tailback Rodney Hampton, who had 1,059 yards during the regular season, held to only 32 yards in 15 carries. He did manage to catch seven passes for 62 yards and was named Georgia’s top offensive performer.

Syracuse gained 478 yards but had four turnovers, although Georgia managed to turn only one into a score, a 20-yard field goal by John Kasay.

“I didn’t think they could turn it around with one play,” said Georgia defensive tackle Bill Goldberg. “I thought it would take a series of plays. But then they were like a freight train to stop.”

Georgia’s Greg Talley threw two touchdown passes to help the Bulldogs to the 18-7 advantage.

Georgia (6-6), playing in its 10th consecutive bowl, saw its lead cut on a 32-yard field goal by Biskup with 1:44 left in the third quarter.

The Orangemen, making their third consecutive bowl appearance, made it 18-16 when Rob Moore caught a 19-yard scoring pass from McDonald 4:52 into the final quarter. But McDonald overthrew Andrew Dees in the end zone in a bid for the two-point conversion.

Talley connected on a five-yard touchdown pass to Kirk Warner to cap a 66-yard drive on Georgia’s first possession, then threw a four-yard touchdown to Hampton midway in the third quarter to put the Bulldogs ahead, 18-7. Georgia’s bid for a two-point conversion failed.