The No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs played the No. 24 South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon, 41-17. Here are the three takeaways from this SEC East rivalry.
In what was the first big SEC game of the season, it certainly got out of hand in the second half, as the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs throttled the No. 24 South Carolina Gamecocks, 41-17. It was a brutally hot day in Columbia, South Carolina, as it pushed close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit at the 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff from Williams-Brice Stadium.
Georgia got to scoring even before its offense took to the field. All-American hopeful cornerback Deandre Baker was able to intercept a tipped pass from South Carolina signal caller Jake Bentley for a 55-yard return. Baker easily would have found pay dirt, but let go of the football feet shy of crossing the goal line. Fortunately, his teammate Juwan Taylor was there to jump on the ball in the end zone for six points.
It would be close heading into halftime, with the Gamecocks only trailing by a touchdown, 17-10. After a terrible 18-yard punt, Georgia would have great field position with 43 seconds left on the clock. That allowed Jake Fromm and the Georgia offense enough time to get All-American contender placekicker Rodrigo Blankenship in place to nail a 44-yard attempt as time expired to end the first half. Georgia would take a 20-10 lead into the second half and never looked back.
The Dawgs came out of halftime with a game plan to drive the rival Gamecocks into submission. Several well-designed runs and great speed on the outside allowed Georgia to outscore South Carolina 21-0 in the third frame. In what could have been a game that went down to the wire at Williams-Brice Stadium, instead we got a laugher. Here are the three biggest takeaways from Georgia’s rout of rival South Carolina in Columbia.
Georgia created its separation with hot starts to begin each half.
The Dawgs were laying 10 points as the visiting team in this game. It felt like a respectable spread, as even though Georgia had better players, Williams-Brice is still one of the hardest places to play in the SEC. Georgia knew it needed to get off to a fast start to win this rivalry game.
How Georgia took care of business in the early parts of each half proved to be the reason this game was so heavily lopsided in the Dawgs’ favor. The Baker “pick-six” was followed up by a 17-yard touchdown run by Georgia running back D’Andre Swift to make it 14-0 Dawgs. South Carolina would cut the lead in half on a great trick play with wide receiver Deebo Samuel throwing for a 13-yard touchdown to wide receiver Bryan Edwards.
While taking a 10-point lead into the half felt good for Georgia, Kirby Smart wanted his team to flex its dominance in the second half. Boy, did the Dawgs do that. Wide receiver Mecole Hardman Jr., running back Elijah Holyfield and running back Brian Herrien would all score touchdowns on Georgia’s first three possessions of the third quarter.
Conversely, South Carolina went punt, punt and interception in its first three possessions of the second half. Defensive back J.R. Reid would pick off Bentley on a fourth-down passing attempt in the end zone to pretty much seal it for the Dawgs. Coming out of the gate in both halves and executing at a high level was key to Georgia winning this rivalry game on the road going away.
Will Muschamp’s struggles against his alma mater continue.
With this blowout loss at home, South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp now falls to 1-6 in games versus his alma mater as a head coach. His only win versus Georgia came in his last year leading the Florida Gators in 2014 down in Jacksonville. That win came against former Georgia head coach Mark Richt. Muschamp is now 0-3 in three against his friend and former UGA defensive back Kirby Smart.
This was a game that would have been nice for South Carolina to win, as it would have only elevated the otherwise good job Muschamp is doing in Columbia. However, it is apparently obvious that South Carolina is still light years away from competing on the gridiron against its two biggest rivals in Georgia and the Clemson Tigers.
Even in the brutal heat, Muschamp wanted his offense to go fast. Though he does have faith in his third-year starter Bentley, speed killed South Carolina’s chances to win this ball game. The Georgia defense rarely got beat by even well-designed plays from offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon. Georgia just had too many four and five-star athletes to throw at the Gamecocks. They inevitably broke South Carolina’s will.
The question remains if South Carolina is still the second-best team in the SEC East? Nobody has any doubt that it is Georgia, and Georgia alone, atop the Eastern Division. South Carolina will now need Georgia to lose twice in SEC play, as well as beat other rivals like Florida, Missouri and Kentucky to even dream about getting to Atlanta. Frankly, that dream is probably dead, as it looks too arduous for South Carolina to overcome this loss to behemoth Georgia in SEC play.
Jake Fromm was cool in the scorching Carolina heat.
While most in Dawg Nation are thrilled about having the No. 1 recruit in college football in Justin Fields on scholarship, the starting quarterback for Georgia is without question Fromm. His consistency in Jim Chaney’s offense only aids in Georgia’s quest to contend for a national title this fall.
No, this was not the first big game that Fromm has played in. He won a road game at Notre Dame in what was his first career start this time last year. Fromm has wins on his résumé against other excellent Power 5 Playoff contenders in Mississippi State at home, Auburn in the SEC Championship and Oklahoma in the 2018 Rose Bowl.
But in a weird way, this one felt different. We’re not quite sure if Georgia has the Dawgs like it did a year ago to play for a national title. Georgia did lose several elite players to the NFL Draft like linebacker Roquan Smith and running backs Sony Michel and Nick Chubb. Fromm didn’t seem to care who was there on his Georgia offense. He was a Joe Montana cool 15 of 18 passing for 194 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
While this was not the most impressive game for Fromm to date, he again proved that he can beat a ranked team on the road in a hostile environment. Perhaps most impressive, he didn’t have to play nearly mistake-free football to do so. Though you could rank his quarterbacking today in the B+ range, his poise in Chaney’s offense was again an A. When Fromm plays with confidence, it’s very difficult to beat this Dawgs team. He’s oozing it after this blowout victory of South Carolina.