With Georgia clinging to a four-point lead early in the fourth quarter and facing a third down deep in its own territory, South Carolina looked to be in good shape to get the ball back for a chance to reclaim the lead.
However, UGA quarterback Aaron Murray scrambled to the left to avoid Gamecock defensive end Jadeveon Clowney and lofted a pass to a wide open Justin Scott-Wesley, who raced 85 yards to the endzone to give the Bulldogs an 11-point lead with 13 minutes left in the game.
That took the air out of the Gamecocks’ sails and it proved to be the dagger in the 41-30 Bulldog win.
“It’s pretty obvious that Georgia was the stronger of the two teams today,” coach Steve Spurrier said. “they kicked our tails up and down the field; we couldn’t stop them.”
Georgia racked up a whopping 536 yards against the Gamecocks and had the ball for 35 minutes, compared to South Carolina’s 25 minutes.
South Carolina defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward said his unit was running a combo coverage on the 85-yard touchdown and sophomore safety T.J. Gurley covered the inside receiver, leaving Scott-Wesley open for the touchdown.
Ward said that he takes the blame for his team’s defensive performance and that it wasn’t the play of any one defender.
“There is no excuse,” Ward said. “We got our butt beat. Georgia was a better football team than us today.”
For Gurley, the defense needs to get better at tackling. The Georgia native racked up 11 tackles against the Bulldogs after recording nine against North Carolina last Thursday.
“We didn’t play like we should have played,” Gurley said. “They were just breaking a lot of tackles and getting out on the edge. But one play doesn’t determine the game. We couldn’t stop the run all night. If we could have stopped the run, we could have had a chance.”
The Georgia defense had its share of holes also, allowing the Gamecocks to have 454 yards of offense and nearly allowing South Carolina to get right back in the game late in the fourth quarter.
On the drive following the Wesley-Scott touchdown, quarterback Connor Shaw led the team down to the UGA one-yard line with around nine minutes left in the game. On a fourth-and-goal, the Gamecocks ran the option out of the shotgun formation. Running back Mike Davis received the pitch and was stopped on the half-yard line to effectively seal South Carolina’s fate.
“We thought we could run that option again, but we missed a guy and he was waiting on Mike,” Spurrier said.
The Gamecocks would not touch the ball again as Georgia methodically chipped its way down the field to knock off the remaining eight minutes off of the clock.
“It was sort of sad to watch,” Spurrier said. “We have to coach better.”
“I look out there and I see all those redshirt freshman or second-year guys and I start to wonder if maybe we were expecting a little bit too much out of all those guys. But they’re going to take their lumps I guess, but we have to be creative. We’re going to change our defense around. We’re not just going to stand there.”
While there was not much talk about the Gamecocks’ defense after the win against UNC, despite concerns about conditioning, there are definitely questions after the game against the Bulldogs.
Two games into the season, the Gamecocks have yet to force a turnover, which Spurrier says is a concern. In addition, opposing teams make it a point to run away from Clowney.
“It’s hard out there, trying to chase them from the backside,” Clowney said. “They were just taking me out of the game.”
Spurrier knows there will be a different feeling when South Carolina returns to campus, but there are still ten games remaining on the schedule. In addition, Georgia represented the SEC East in the conference championship game the past two years after losing to the Gamecocks both seasons.
“Well sometimes when you lose one, you regroup and all of the pressure is off of you,” Spurrier said. “When the guys go to class, everyone is not telling them how great they are. So hopefully we can start figuring out what kind of team we have.”