ATHENS — Aaron Murray threw four touchdown passes, but those were not the four plays on his mind in the aftermath of Georgia’s 45-42 loss to South Carolina on Saturday.
“We pretty much gave them 28 points on a fake punt, a fumble, a pick and another fumble,” Murray said. “Those four plays really killed us.”
Murray was involved in three of the four plays, all except the fake punt that South Carolina turned into a 68-yard touchdown run by Melvin Ingram in the second quarter.
The other three plays: a fumbled exchange between Murray and Isaiah Crowell that was recovered by South Carolina and returned 56 yards to set up a third-quarter Gamecocks touchdown; an off-target Murray pass that South Carolina’s Antonio Allen intercepted and returned 25 yards for a third-quarter score; and, with about three minutes to play, a sack of Murray that resulted in a fumble returned for a touchdown by Ingram.
“Too many mistakes,” Murray said. “It was a great game, and I definitely feel like we could have won the game. But we’ve got to get rid of the mistakes.”
This is how Murray saw the three misplays:
-- Crowell's fumble: "Just a bad exchange between both of us. The film will show a little better what happened, but that can't happen. We'll work on that." Murray was "banged up," as he put it without elaboration, on the preceding play, but said that did not play a part in the fumble.
(Crowell said the fumble was entirely his fault. “I made a small pocket for the exchange, and the ball hit my hands,” Crowell said. “I blame it on myself.”
-- The interception: "I threw it behind Orson [Charles]. With man coverage, it's tough windows out there, and you've got to put it on the money. That one got away from me a little bit, and the guy made a great play."
-- The sack/fumble: "[Jadeveon Clowney, who forced the fumble] is a big kid, long wing span, and he just got a hold of me. I probably could have tucked it away a little faster. The guy got there pretty fast and made a great play on it. There was a good defensive call for that play."
The accumulation of those three plays, plus South Carolina’s fake punt/touchdown, overwhelmed the things the Bulldogs did right in the game, Murray said.
“We made a lot of plays today on offense, defense and special teams, but those four plays — we just gave them points, and you can’t do that against great teams,” Murray said.
Murray’s four touchdown passes were a career single-game high for him. He completed 19 of 29 passes for 248 yards. He threw the touchdown passes to four different receivers (Rantavious Wooten, Crowell, Michael Bennett and Tavarres King).
