Despite coming into this game as a three point favorite, not many thought Georgia would come out with the victory. Georgia played a tough game against Clemson on the road in week one but came up short and left many doubters. Would Georgia be able to answer the bell against a team that had beaten them three straight times?
Mark Richt knew the importance of this game and not getting behind like they did last year against the Gamecocks and made some gutsy calls early. After holding South Carolina to a FG and then scoring a TD, Georgia went for and recovered an onside kick. On that same drive, Georgia went for it on 4th and 13 at the Gamecocks 31 and Aaron Murray completed a 24 yard pass to Justin Scott Wesley to keep the drive alive. Richt set the tone and the offense really answered the call in this game.
Aaron Murray has been continually told that he can't win the big game but his star shined bright today as he went 17 of 23 for 309 yards with 4 TDs and 0 INT. Todd Gurley was the other all-star for Georgia as he ran 30 times for 132 and 1 TD and also caught 1 pass for a TD on a critical 3rd and goal late in the third quarter.
Mark Richt might have said it best in the post game interview when he was asked about the defense. He said "they're young and they definitely don't know what they are doing yet but they will fight and that's a good thing". The defense looked as if it would be Georgia's downfall at times in this game but they came up big when they needed to at the end of the game. Another big turnaround for Georgia was the offensive line. While they weren't perfect, they played a lot better this week and they leaned on the South Carolina defense at the end of the game as they ran over eight minutes off the game clock to secure the 41-30 victory.
For South Carolina, the offense really clicked at times. The Gamecocks were at their best when Connor Shaw was on the run or picking on Georgia's true freshman corner Brendan Langley and when they got Mike Davis involved in the offense. Mike Davis only got 16 carries and honestly it felt like less even though he did have a big impact on the game. The Gamecocks also seemed to get away from running the ball with Connor Shaw after it worked so well early on for them. The season certainly isn't over for Carolina but they need to go back to the drawing board and you have to wonder if everybody is on the same page in Columbia after two coaches got after it on the sideline.
Georgia has resurrected their season, at least for now, and in the moment it's the Gamecocks that now have their doubters. How quickly a college football season can turn.
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