Perry Orth led South Carolina on two long touchdown drives in the second half, but it wasn't enough to come back from a 14-point halftime deficit, as the Gamecocks fell 28-14 to Georgia.
Unlike South Carolina's first two home games, the Gamecocks didn't start hot, allowing Georgia to score on its opening drive. Then, the first two offensive plays for Will Muschamp's squad ended in penalties, putting the Gamecocks in the shadow of their own goalposts.
While the Gamecocks committed just one more penalty in the first half, they couldn't seem to stay out of their own way, turning the ball over three times, the first of which led to a Georgia touchdown. On South Carolina's last drive before the break, a 30-yard catch by Deebo Samuel had energized the crowd, but Rico Dowdle lost a fumble on the following play.
Defensively, the Gamecocks struggled against the run, as Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and Brian Herrien consistently reached the second level, finishing with 336 yards. However, Georgia's freshman quarterback Jacob Eason struggled throughout the game, completing just five of his seventeen passes and throwing an interception in the red zone that set up South Carolina's first score of the day.
Down 14-0, the Gamecocks took over at their own 10 yard line, but proceeded to drive 90 yards down the field into the end zone, highlighted by a 39-yard catch from Deebo Samuel. The sophomore wideout finished off the drive with a spinning touchdown run to cut the deficit in half.
Samuel's score brought the energy back into Williams-Brice Stadium, and the crowd got even louder when Chubb dropped a pass on third down to bring up a Georgia punt.
Momentum shifted quickly though, as Hayden Hurst let the punt bounce around the 30 yard line, and it rolled all the way to the Gamecocks' 4. South Carolina would have to punt, and Georgia took over just 39 yards from the end zone. Just five plays later, the Bulldogs had a 21-7 lead after a 6-yard touchdown pass from Eason.
On the following drive, the Gamecocks quickly made it across midfield with two completions from Orth, but the drive would stall there, as A.J. Turner dropped a pass in open space on second down, and the Gamecocks couldn't convert a 3rd and 8 or a 4th and 3.
Down two scores and without all momentum, the South Carolina defense bent but didn't break, allowing Georgia to run four minutes off the clock before forcing a punt. The Gamecocks got the ball back with five minutes to go, and drove 76 yards for a score, as Rico Dowdle found pay dirt with 1:40 left in the game.
The ensuing onside kick bounced right to Georgia's Terry Godwin, who raced 42 yards untouched to squash hopes of a South Carolina comeback.
The loss dropped the Gamecocks to 2-4 on the season and 1-4 in SEC play. South Carolina will look to regroup during the bye week before facing Massachusetts at home at Oct. 22.