South Carolina beats Georgia to remain in hunt for SEC East title
It turns out there's still a little magic left within the walls of Williams-Brice Stadium.
No. 24 South Carolina was left for dead after a crushing week one loss at home, but on Saturday, the Gamecocks did the unthinkable.
South Carolina toppled the No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs 38-35 and launched itself right back into the conversation for the SEC East title as well as a spot in the College Football Playoff.
“It was our turn to win,” head coach Steve Spurrier said. “We were meant to win this game, and Georgia was not.”
From the very beginning of the game, it certainly looked like the Gamecocks (2-1, 1-1 SEC) were destined to pull off the upset. After receiving the opening kick-off, redshirt senior quarterback Dylan Thompson led South Carolina down the field on a nine-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a Shaq Roland touchdown grab.
But that’s when things got messy.
Once the Bulldogs (1-1, 0-1 SEC) got their first shot on offense, it took them all of two plays to go 69 yards for a score of their own.
That set the tone for the rest of the contest as both team’s traded blows until the clock read zero, and South Carolina had its final three-point advantage.
“When you go to war, you need soldiers,” Thompson said, “and that’s what I thought we brought. Every time we put 11 on the field, we had soldiers out there.”
Despite Georgia entering the day as a heavy favorite, the Gamecocks played with the advantage for the bulk of the contest. The game turned into a responding exercise for South Carolina, once Georgia pulled within striking distance of the lead.
And respond they did.
South Carolina’s offense and defense both received their fair shares of criticism after the first two games of the season. But the Gamecocks didn't just show signs of improvement when facing adversity Saturday — they showed dominance.
Thompson finished with 271 yards and three touchdowns through the air to go with one interception, but the quarterback’s air raid in no way limited the opportunities of his running backs.
Juniors Brandon Wilds and Mike Davis combined for 159 yards and a touchdown on the day, and proved that the hype surrounding South Carolina’s backfield in the offseason was well-warranted.
“We feed off each other pretty well, and I’d say it was a great effort by both of us,” Davis said. “We had a great game.”
Davis, a Georgia native, said Saturday’s win meant more to him than many in his South Carolina career, a sentiment shared by a large portion of the team.
The Gamecock roster features 27 players from Georgia, the most of any state, other than South Carolina. But according to Wilds, you didn't have to hail from the Peach State to want to stick it to the Bulldogs.
“It was a personal game to all of us, knowing that we've got a lot of players from Georgia,” Wilds said. “Knowing it was a rivalry game, we just had to keep pushing.”
There were several moments during Saturday’s win that tested the Gamecocks’ will to keep pushing, and they were rewarded for it.
At times, it was the opponent’s mistakes.
In the first quarter, Georgia’s powerhouse runningback, Todd Gurley, ripped off a 54-yard touchdown run that was called back due to holding and the defense forced the Bulldogs to punt.
At times, it was luck.
In the fourth quarter, Thompson's interception left Georgia in the red zone. The defense forced a field goal attempt that the Bulldog kicker missed. It was his second miss of the game after breaking the SEC record with 20-consecutive makes in the same game.
And at times, it was the will to get that extra inch.
With less than two minutes to go in the game, South Carolina faced a fourth-and-one and opted to forgo the punt to attempt get the first down. And by a matter of centimeters, Thompson plunged forward and put the game out of reach for Georgia.
On a young defense that spent Saturday proving it belonged in the stacked SEC, Skai Moore made the biggest impression. The sophomore finished with a team-leading 10 tackles, and after the game, he put into words what South Carolina did in the monumental win.
“When our back’s against the wall, our mindset is just to gut up,” he said. “Who wants it more is going to get it ... We preached that to everybody on the field, just let them know that we've got to gut up and make a play.”