A.J. Green caught what looked to be the game-winning touchdown Saturday at Sanford Stadium.

Not so.

“It got wild at the end,” said head coach Mark Richt. “They got their chance to take the lead and it looked like maybe we had time for one more shot. Then we scored so fast and then they scored so fast and we still had some time. It was a little fast and furious there at the end. The bottom line is we didn’t do enough to win it. We always believe we can win, even to the bitter end, but it just didn’t happen.”

After Green’s 16-yard touchdown catch gave Georgia the 13-12 advantage over No. 4 LSU with 1:09 remaining in the game, the sophomore receiver was flagged for excessive celebration.

The penalty was assessed on the ensuing kickoff, giving the Tigers a short field to work with. They made the most of it.

On the second play of their drive, the Tigers’ Charles Scott broke free and scored the game-deciding touchdown on a 33-yard run.

Escaping defeat, LSU won Saturday, 20-13.

“It was pretty bad,” said Georgia quarterback Joe Cox, who went 18-of-34 passing for 229 yards and a pair of touchdowns. “You think for a minute that you’re about to beat a top-five team at home in front of your home fans, which hasn’t happened in I think 25 years. You think you do it with a minute something left, and then it just kind of slips away. It’s tough. It\’s really tough to go from feeling like you just accomplished a lot to just getting everything stripped from you.”

Georgia was held scoreless through the first three quarters, trailing 6-0 at halftime.

While the offense struggled, the Georgia defense excelled, sacking LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson six times, recording an interception (Brandon Boykin), and holding the Tigers to just over 200 yards offense through the first three stanzas.

Linebacker Rennie Curran also charted a career-high 16 tackles.

But in the end, it was plays that Georgia’s defense didn’t make that pushed the Bulldogs to 3-2 on the season, and a debatable penalty that set the stage for the Tiger comeback.

A release issued after the game said this: “According to the officiating crew, following a brief team celebration, Green made a gesture to the crowd calling attention to himself.”

So does Green think he was truly celebrating “excessively”?

“Nah, I don’t think so,” he said.