ATHENS — Contrary to evidence, that was the same Georgia football team that played in the Georgia Dome last weekend. Unfortunately for the Bulldog Nation, it also was the same team that has been losing more than it has been winning lately.
Georgia lost to South Carolina 45-42 in roller-coaster of a game that featured seven lead changes and big plays galore. More often than not it was the 12th-ranked Gamecocks who were executing the spectacular, usually at precisely the right moment.
With the victory, the Gamecocks (2-0, 1-0 SEC) get a leg up in the SEC East. The Bulldogs fall to 0-2 for the first time since 1996.
“I’ve never won a game like this that I can remember,” Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier said. “Georgia outplayed us. Give them credit, they outplayed us, but somehow or another we won the game. Sometimes it happens like that.
"Somebody was looking out for us tonight.”
The Bulldogs’ more inspired play — they were lackluster in a 35-21 loss to Boise State in the opener — is unlikely to get the critics off the back of coach Mark Richt. The loss was Georgia’s sixth in a row over ranked competition and ninth in the past 10. It was also the Bulldogs’ fourth consecutive loss at home to a ranked team.
“South Carolina, as we all know, is a tremendous football team,” Richt said. “Georgia is a pretty good team, too, especially if we don’t help the other team as much as we did tonight. But I saw a lot of fight in our guys, and we’re not out of it yet. There’s a lot of games to be played.”
Georgia took a 35-31 lead with 6:28 to play on freshman tailback Isaiah Crowell’s second touchdown, but the Bulldogs couldn’t make it stand up.
The Gamecocks drove 79 yards in six plays and went back ahead on Marcus Lattimore’s 3-yard run with 3:28 for a 38-35 lead. The way the game had see-sawed to that point, it seemed set up for the Bulldogs to once again answer.
Instead, on first down at the Georgia 30, freshman defensive end Jadeveon Clowney poured through the center of Georgia’s offensive line to sack quarterback Aaron Murray. Murray fumbled, and defensive tackle Melvin Ingram scooped it up and waltzed in for a back-breaking touchdown that, after the extra point, made the score 45-35 with 3:12 remaining.
Murray — who finished with 248 yards and four touchdowns passing — would get the Bulldogs back on the board with a 33-yard pass to Tavarres King with 2:15 to play. But it was too little too late.
Georgia was unable to execute an onside kick and, after Lattimore ran for a first down, was able to run out the clock from the victory formation in the Bulldogs’ territory.
Lattimore, kept in check much of the game, finished with 176 yards rushing. He had 182 against the Bulldogs in South Carolina’s 17-6 win in Columbia last year. It’s the first time since 2000-01 the Gamecocks have won back-to-back games over Georgia.
Crowell had an impressive Sanford Stadium debut. The Columbus native finished with 118 yards on 16 carries and scored two touchdowns, the other off a screen pass.
“We’ve got the ingredients to be a very fine football team,” Richt said. “I believe in these guys and these coaches. Let’s let the season play out and see where we go.”
Georgia was in position to take firm control of the game late in the third quarter when it committed a pair of devastating mistakes to let its advantage slip away.
Leading 20-14 and on the move with a first down at the South Carolina 42, Crowell fumbled a handoff from Murray. The ball bounced straight to Gamecocks defensive back Stephon Gilmore, who returned it 56 yards to the Georgia 5.
Two plays later Stephen Garcia scored on a keeper to give the Gamecocks a gift-wrapped 21-20 lead with 2:39 remaining in the third quarter.
It quickly got worse.
Georgia took over at its own 20 after the ensuing kickoff. After a holding penalty on first down, a Murray pass over the middle was intercepted by South Carolina’s Antonio Allen. Allen found a wide-open path to the end zone and trotted it in for yet another big-play touchdown for the Gamecocks.
The point-after gave them a 28-20 lead with 1:52 remaining in the third quarter. Moreover, South Carolina had gone from potentially being down 13 to up eight points in less than two minutes remaining.
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