Timing has long been a critical part of Georgia’s yearly matchup against South Carolina.
Hop in your time machine and revisit 2012, after SEC expansion shuffled some teams’ schedules. Georgia’s meeting with South Carolina, which usually occupied the second week of the season, was moved to Week 6.
“I sort of always liked playing (Georgia) that second game,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier infamously told ESPN, “because you could always count on them having two or three key players suspended.”
Although Spurrier had a point in the past, the same can’t be said for this year. Only one Bulldog, linebacker Davin Bellamy, will sit out Saturday’s game because of a suspension.
This year, Georgia benefits from where this game falls on its schedule — the third week of the season and following its first bye. The timing of the first of Georgia’s two open dates allowed the Bulldogs not only to correct mistakes the coaches saw against Clemson in the opener, but also to work on fundamentals while putting in some early scout work on South Carolina.
“The whole key, though, is you want to get better fundamentally in the open date and you want to maybe even get a little bit stronger in the open date. You know, get in the weight room three times last week,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said.
“And you also want to get far enough ahead of the game plan so you can get the repetitions of it. We had what we thought was our plan going into this week and then we gathered more information from that (South Carolina-)East Carolina game and just are comparing notes and making sure we’re on the right track. Hopefully it’ll help us.”
With a game as crucial and as unpredictable as South Carolina on the horizon, that extra work may give Georgia an advantage heading into a place where it has struggled: Williams-Brice Stadium.
Although the Bulldogs have won six of their past 10 meetings in Columbia, S.C., their offense has not thrived against the Gamecocks on the road. On Sept. 3, 1994, Georgia scored 21 points in Williams-Brice only to lose, and it has not exceeded 20 points in the 20 years since.
After an offensive performance such as the Bulldogs’ 45 points against Clemson two weeks ago, stopping running back Todd Gurley might pose a more considerable task for the Gamecocks.
“We’ll try our best to see if we can (stop Gurley,)” Spurrier said. “We’ve not really slowed down the other teams a lot this year, yet. … He’s going to get his yards, there’s no question about that. He’s going to get his yards against everybody.”
Although Georgia had more time to prepare for South Carolina’s defense with the open date, quarterback Hutson Mason would have preferred an opportunity to establish some rhythm under center in game conditions.
“I’ll tell you what, it seems like I can’t get the second game in a row,” Mason said. “I had Tech (last season) and then I had a long time off. Got the bowl game, had all offseason. Now I get a game and I got a bye week.”
Once the games start rolling after South Carolina, Mason may appreciate the team’s second open date. It falls on Oct. 25, seven days prior to the Bulldogs’ annual trip to face Florida.
Richt said of his two open dates: “I think they’re in as good a place as you can ask.”
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