Once again, Georgia stumbled and fell at South Carolina when the college football world was watching.
The No. 6-ranked Bulldogs entered the CBS national TV game as touchdown favorites against the No. 24 Gamecocks, who already were saddled with one SEC loss. And while this was no way embarrassing like the 35-7, nationally televised debacle of two years ago, Georgia’s 38-35 loss to South Carolina was every bit as painful.
The Bulldogs (1-1, 0-1 SEC) were outplayed most of the game, but were presented a golden opportunity to steal away a victory. After Damian Swann’s interception and return, Georgia had a first-and-goal at the Gamecocks’ 4-yard line trailing 38-35 with 5:24 to play. But after a grounding penalty against quarterback Hutson Mason, a short run by Todd Gurley and a pass deflection by South Carolina’s J.T. Surratt, Marshall Morgan missed a chip-shot, 28-yard field-goal try.
“We got into a position to have a glorious moment and we just didn’t seize it,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said afterward. “To have first-and-goal down there and come out with zero points is very disappointing.”
It was the second wide-right miss of the night for Morgan, who made an SEC-record 20 in a row before that.
“After every kick I usually forget about it,” said Morgan, a junior from Fort Lauderdale. “I can’t say I’ll forget about this.”
Armed with new life and still holding a lead, the Gamecocks ran out the clock for an all-important win. But it literally came down to inches.
With 1:26 left in the game, South Carolina went for it on fourth-and-inches at midfield. It looked as if Georgia may have stopped the Gamecocks’ quarterback sneak, and the measurement on the 50-yard line was almost indiscernible. But officials ruled it a first down, and Georgia lost a timeout when Richt challenged the ruling.
“If they’d had a credit card they might could have slipped it in there,” Richt said of the officials.
The biggest curiosity was Georgia’s play call with victory at hand. Instead of giving the ball to Heisman Trophy candidate Todd Gurley on first down inside the 5, the Bulldogs chose to fake it to him and try a bootleg pass. Quayvon Hicks was covered, Mason was pressured and he threw the ball low into the line and was called for grounding. That meant a loss of down and a 10-yard penalty and changed the circumstances in a pouring rain.
“That was interesting they ran that play,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said.
But the Bulldogs experienced all kinds of problems before then. In a game delayed about 90 minutes by lightning, the Gamecocks lit up the Bulldogs’ young secondary with a lethal passing game not seen by a Steve Spurrier team since he was at Florida. South Carolina gained 271 yards through the air — almost all in the first half — then resorted to a stout rushing attack against Georgia’s tired defense to secure the victory.
The combination added up to 450 yards for the Gamecocks (2-1, 1-1 SEC), who got their fourth win in the past five years against Georgia. It also gave Spurrier his 201st career victory as a head coach. That ties him with former Bulldogs’ coach Vince Dooley for second in SEC history.
“Some wins are better than others,” Spurrier said. “I think this one is better than most others.”
Gurley finished with 131 yards rushing and a touchdown and also had a 54-yard score nullified by a holding call. IN his first SEC start, Mason was 16-of-22 passing for 191 yards and two touchdowns.
“It just stinks overall,” Mason said. “To come so close, to fight back in these conditions, to have an opportunity, it’s definitely not a highlight in my career.”
Georgia could have gone down meekly earlier, but didn’t. It trailed 31-20 late in the third quarter before mounting a gutsy scoring drive that included a 17-yard, reverse-field run by Todd Gurley on third-and-16, a 20-yard run by freshman Nick Chubb and a 5-yard scoring toss from Hutson Mason to Jay Rome. Mason’s two-point conversion pass to Michael Bennett got the Bulldogs to within a field goal, 31-28, with 14:55 still to play.
But Georgia’s overmatched defense couldn’t keep the margin there. After a 42-yard kickoff return by Shon Carson, the Gamecocks marched down the field behind tailbacks Mike Davis and Brandon Wilds and scored on a 24-yard run by Wilds. Four plays and less than two minutes later, South Carolina’s lead was back to 10, at 38-28.
Georgia answered with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with a 1-yard touchdown run by Quayvon Hicks. This time the Bulldogs’ settled for a point-after conversion and put the game on the back of its nearly exhausted defense.
Defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt’s group came up with the play the Bulldogs had been searching for. Swann intercepted a pass on South Carolina’s third-and-10 play from their own 19. It looked for a moment as if he might take it to the end zone, but he was tackled at the 8. A blocking penalty on the Gamecocks on the same play got them half the distance closer.
But that proved too much ground for the Bulldogs to negotiate.
“You just get tired of losing, tired of getting let down,” Gurley said. “But we’re going to move on. We’re going to bounce back and get it right.”
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