Athens, GA  - Knowshon Moreno rushed for three touchdowns and Matthew Stafford passed for two scores, as top-ranked Georgia opened its season with a 45-21 triumph over Georgia Southern.

Starting the season No. 1 for the first time in school history, the Bulldogs (1-0) showed plenty of firepower continuing from a spectacular finish to the 2007 campaign. Georgia went 11-2, including a 41-10 thrashing of Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl last season.

Stafford completed 13-of-21 passes for a career-high 275 yards, and Moreno, coming off a season in which he scored 14 times on 1,334 rushing yards, ran for 59 yards on Saturday.

"I thought we played pretty well, but we had penalties and turned the ball over," said Stafford. "We weren't perfect with our execution, and I missed a couple of reads. Other than that, I thought we played well. It was good to finally get out here and play in front of our fans. It got loud when they called out that we were No. 1."

Antonio Henton connected on 10-of-18 passes for 102 yards with a TD and an interception for Georgia Southern (0-1). Lee Chapple went 9-of-18 for 86 yards through the air, and also ran for a score.

Moreno scored on a two-yard run just 2:40 into the game, and a 53-yard field goal by Blair Walsh extended the lead to 10-0 less than four minutes later.

Jesse Hartley missed a 56-yard field goal for the Eagles later in the first, and Georgia Southern squandered another scoring opportunity early in the second. The Eagles took over in Georgia territory after a fumble, but Dannell Ellerbe intercepted Henton in the end zone in the opening minute of the second.

Stafford then found Kris Durham over the middle for a 61-yard TD pass with 12:38 left before the half. Moreno punched in a three-yard run for a 24-0 margin, just 24 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

It took Georgia just two plays to score to open the third with Moreno rumbling 24 yards to the end zone. Stafford hit Demiko Goodman with a five-yard TD pass later in the quarter, before Chapple broke the shutout with a one-yard scoring run with 4:27 left in the same stanza.

"Once in the red zone, we have to put the ball into the end zone for touchdowns," said Chapple. "We were happy how we played against the No. 1 team, but a loss is a loss. It was a thrill to score a touchdown. Growing up in Georgia, it was a dream of mine to score a touchdown in this stadium."

Samair Baker scored on a two-yard run for Georgia Southern early in the fourth before Georgia's Joe Cox passed three yards to A.J. Green for a score with 7:56 left.

Henton's 34-yard TD connection to Leander Barney with 1:45 left capped the scoring.

Game Notes

Freshman tailback Caleb King led Georgia with 12 carries for 95 yards...Georgia's new mascot, Uga VII, made his debut for the Bulldogs...Uga VI posted the most wins of any bulldog in school history with a record of 87-27 from 1999-2007...The Bulldogs own an all-time Sanford Stadium record of 302-103-1 including 64-15-1 in home openers. Georgia has won its home opener 12 consecutive years...Under head coach Mark Richt, the Bulldogs are 31-2 against non-conference foes including 21-0 in Sanford Stadium. The last time Georgia lost a non-conference game at home was during the 2000 season to Georgia Tech...Georgia is 4-0 all-time against the Eagles...Georgia hosts Central Michigan next Saturday, while Georgia Southern is at home versus Austin Peay...Georgia defensive tackle Jeff Owens left the game in the opening quarter with a right knee injury...Georgia has now won its last 12 season openers.

Final	1	2	3	4	Score
Ga Southern	0	0	7	14	21
(1) Georgia	10	14	14	7	45

1st Quarter

Georgia Touchdown - 2-yard run by Knowshon Moreno. (Blair Walsh kick). 12:20 Remaining.

Georgia Field Goal - 52-yarder by Blair Walsh. 8:25 Remaining.

2nd Quarter

Georgia Touchdown - 61-yard pass from Matthew Stafford to Kris Durham. (Blair Walsh kick). 12:38 Remaining.

Georgia Touchdown - 3-yard run by Knowshon Moreno. (Blair Walsh kick). 0:24 Remaining.

3rd Quarter

Georgia Touchdown - 24-yard run by Knowshown Moreno. (Blair Walsh kick). 14:14 Remaining.

Georgia Touchdown - 5-yard pass from Matthew Stafford to Demiko Goodman. (Blair Walsh kick). 6:07 Remaining.

Ga Southern Touchdown - 1-yard run by Lee Chapple. (Jesse Hartley kick). 4:27 Remaining.

4th Quarter

Ga Southern Touchdown - 2-yard run by Samair Baker. (Jesse Hartley kick). 11:33 Remaining.

Georgia Touchdown - 4-yard pass from Joe Cox to A.J. Green. (Blair Walsh kick). 7:46 Remaining.

Ga Southern Touchdown - 34-yard pass from Antonio Henton to Leander Barney. (Jesse Hartley kick). 1:45 Remaining.

Final Team Statistics
	Ga Southern	Georgia
First Downs	18	20
Rushes - Yards	35-102	32-212
Passing Yards	188	323
Return Yards	14	86
Passing (Att-Comp-Int)	36-19-1	27-17-0
Punts - Average	7-44	4-37.5
Fumbles - Lost	0-0	2-1
Penalties - Yards	3-15	11-70
Time of Possession	33:08	26:52

Individual Statistics

Passing
Ga Southern	Att	Comp	Yards	Int	TD
Lee Chapple	18	9	86	0	0
Antonio Henton	18	10	102	1	1
Georgia	Att	Comp	Yards	Int	TD
Matthew Stafford	21	13	275	0	2
Joe Cox	6	4	48	0	1

Rushing
Ga Southern	Att	Yards	Average	TD
Darell Norman	12	60	5.0	0
Adam Urbano	5	20	4.0	0
Samair Baker	3	8	2.7	1
Antonio Henton	9	7	0.8	0
Lee Chapple	4	6	1.5	1
Jarrell Crawford	2	1	0.5	0
Georgia	Att	Yards	Average	TD
Caleb King	12	95	7.9	0
Knowshon Moreno	8	59	7.4	3
Richard Samuel	6	34	5.7	0
Logan Gray	2	21	10.5	0
Joe Cox	1	3	3.0	0
Matthew Stafford	3	0	0.0	0

Receiving
Ga Southern	Rec	Yards	Average	TD
Marcus Russ	4	59	14.8	0
Terence Hall	3	1	0.3	0
Tim Camp	3	48	16.0	0
Samair Baker	2	15	7.5	0
Leander Barney	2	39	19.5	1
Darell Norman	2	-1	-0.5	0
Adam Urbano	2	13	6.5	0
Jarrell Crawford	1	14	14.0	0
Georgia	Rec	Yards	Average	TD
Mohamed Massaquoi	3	55	18.3	0
Kris Durham	3	74	24.7	1
Knowshon Moreno	2	53	26.5	0
A.J. Green	2	40	20.0	1
Michael Moore	2	48	24.0	0
Demiko Goodman	2	22	11.0	1
Kenneth Harris	1	9	9.0	0
Tripp Chandler	1	26	26.0	0
Shaun Chapas	1	-4	-4.0	0

Kicking
Ga Southern	FGMade	FGAtt	Long	EPMade	EPAtt
Jesse Hartley	0	1	0	3	3
Georgia	FGMade	FGAtt	Long	EPMade	EPAtt
Blair Walsh	1	1	52	6	6