No. 3 Georgia holds off Arizona State

TEMPE—Knowshon Moreno rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns, A.J. Green caught eight passes for 159 yards and a score, and No. 3 Georgia scored a decisive 27-10 victory over Arizona State on Saturday night.

Making a rare regular-season trip out of the Southeast, the Bulldogs (4-0) came to the desert with an attitude. They had opened the season atop The Associated Press Top 25 but twice slipped a spot after victories.

On a 99-degree night in the desert, they hoped to make a statement in a nationally televised game against the defending Pac-10 co-champions.

The statement: these Dawgs can defend.

Georgia had allowed 15.0 points per game, tied for 27th nationally. The Bulldogs were even better against the Sun Devils.

The Sun Devils finished with 4 yards rushing on 19 carries. It was Arizona State's lowest rushing total since they netted minus-2 against California on Nov. 9, 2002.

For the Sun Devils, who lost to UNLV one week earlier, it was another crushing loss in the national spotlight. They fell to 2-11 against ranked teams in Sun Devil Stadium since 2000, and 3-23 overall against the Top 25 during the same span.

Georgia sacked Rudy Carpenter four times and harried him on countless other plays. He finished 23 of 36 for 208 yards and a touchdown.

Georgia's suffocating defense helped it overcome 104 yards in penalty yards.

Trailing 21-3 at halftime, the Sun Devils took the second-half kickoff and marched 71 yards in nine plays, scoring on a 6-yard pass from Carpenter to Andrew Pettes.

The Bulldogs answered with a 29-yard field goal by Blair Walsh to push their lead back to 24-10 heading into the final quarter. Walsh made it 27-10 with a 22-yarder midway through the fourth quarter.