INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Just before the Tennessee Titans came out to warm up for their AFC semifinal with the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, coach Jeff Fisher pulled Eddie George aside.

"He asked me to relive draft day back in 1996," George said. "He told me to remember that he drafted me because he felt I could lead this team to where we are now. He challenged me to live up to expectations."

George did just that, running 68 yards for a touchdown on the third play of the second half to lead the Titans to a 19-16 win over the Indianapolis Colts and a trip to Jacksonville for the AFC title game.

"I told him that when we traded down, then up, to get you in that draft, it was for games like this,"' Fisher said.

"It was kind of special," the 1995 Heisman Trophy winner said of his coach's comment.

George was kind of special, too. Not only did his TD run put the Titans ahead for good, but he finished with 162 yards on 26 carries as Tennessee played the game at its pace, not the run-and-gun pace the Colts would have preferred.

Nor did the Titans need a miracle this week.

The defense, even with star rookie Jevon Kearse producing little, held Peyton Manning and the prolific Indianapolis offense to just three field goals until Manning ran 15 yards for a touchdown with 1:51 left.

But that was too late -- Yancey Thigpen recovered an onside kick and the Titans ran out the clock.

George hoped to do well against an Indianapolis defense that allowed 4.2 yards per carry and was depleted by the absence of veteran linebacker Cornelius Bennett. Still, he carried just nine times for 38 yards in a first half that ended with the Colts ahead 9-6 on three field goals by Mike Vanderjagt to two by Al Del Greco.

But early in the second half, he took a handoff from Steve McNair, cut through a huge hole in the middle of the Indianapolis line created by a failed blitz, and outraced the secondary for the game's first TD. Del Greco later added two more field goals.

The Titans will play in the franchise's first conference title game in 20 years.