Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images

LSU's Charles Scott celebrates his game-winning touchdown.

Georgia responded quickly. Tavarres King got loose behind the secondary and hauled in a 46-yard pass from Cox. One play later, the senior quarterback threw it up for grabs in the end zone and Green reached over cornerback Chris Hawkins to snatch the ball before tumbling into Sanford Stadium’s famous hedge.

But with the crowd going nuts, Georgia was flagged for its second excessive celebration penalty of the game. Green said he was just “celebrating with my team,” but the SEC released a statement from the officiating crew that said, “Following a brief team celebration, Green made a gesture to the crowd calling attention to himself.”

The Bulldogs missed their 2-point try, then had to kick off from their 15. Trindon Holliday returned it to the Georgia 43, and a 5-yard penalty for an illegal formation pushed LSU even closer.

Two plays later, Scott won it for the Tigers. He somehow got away even with Jeff Owens grabbing at his ankle and two linebackers, Rennie Curran and Marcus Dowtin, taking a shot at him.

LSU won a close one for the second week in a row. Last Saturday, the Tigers needed a goal-line stand to hold off Mississippi State 30-26.

“It’s tough,” said Cox, who completed 18 of 34 for 229 yards, including five passes for 99 yards to Green. “It’s not something I’d want anybody to feel. We worked a long time for this game and talked about this game a lot. It just slipped away. It’s not a good feeling.”

Georgia coach Mark Richt sidestepped questions about the excessive celebration call, though it was clear he thought the officials could have been a little more lenient.

“To me, if you’re losing late in the game and it looks like all hope is lost, then you get a spark and get a TD, that was probably the right amount of celebrating for the moment,” he said. “I don’t know how to define what’s excessive and what’s not.”

LSU also got an excessive celebration penalty after Scott’s long TD run, but it didn’t matter. Perry Riley sealed the victory with an interception along the sideline.

“I thought,” Richt said, “they were also well within their celebratory rights.”

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