ATHENS – It will have been 413 days since Georgia lost to South Carolina 20-17 in double-overtime in October 2019 when the two teams meet again Saturday in Columbia, S.C. But, in many ways, it still stings.
As losses go, it was about as bad as they come. Not only were Bulldogs clearly the better team that day and all season, it was the first SEC Eastern Division game Georgia failed to win in three seasons.
It took a perfect storm of circumstances -- one blocked and one missed field-goal attempt by Rodrigo Blankenship and three interceptions thrown by Jake Fromm to an unranked South Carolina team that lost eight games.
A loss by the No. 9 Bulldogs (5-2) to the Gamecocks (2-6) on Saturday would be equally shocking, if not more.
South Carolina has fired coach Will Muschamp, and before and since the Gamecocks have had several players opt-out, including three-fourths of their starting secondary. Another upset would be colossal.
Here are five things to watch for as the Bulldogs aim for that standard:
1. Roomies’ rivalry
Smart and Mike Bobo, South Carolina’s interim coach, have gone head-to-head as coordinators four times, splitting those meetings 2-2. But Saturday will represent the first time they’ve competed as head coaches. Bobo was tabbed the Gamecocks’ interim head coach after Will Muschamp was fired Nov. 15.
Bobo and Smart roomed together while playing for the Bulldogs in the 1990s and have remained close friends. They’ve been competitive with each other throughout. That was most intensely displayed when they went against each other in Georgia’s practices. Bobo played quarterback, while Smart was a safety.
Asked how many times he intercepted Bobo in practice, Smart said: “You would have to ask Mike that. He never admits to it. But I have a few fond memories of flipping some balls to him.”
Said Bobo: “It was one time. He says it was multiple times in one practice. But I do remember his little cocky behind running up to me and flipping the ball at me after he picked it off.”
Since they forked off into separate coaching careers, the golf course has become their primary arena for competition. That also began in college, with Dax Langley and Smart taking on Bobo and Travis Jones.
“We had the upper hand for a while, but we haven’t won in a while,” Bobo said.
The field would appear to be tilted in Smart’s favor for Saturday’s duel. The Bulldogs enter as a 21½-point favorite.
2. JT’s encore
That 401-yard, 4-TD debut was nice by Georgia quarterback JT Daniels. So, what does he do for an encore?
The Bulldogs would prefer not to put as much of a strain on Daniels’ capable right arm. Georgia passed 38 times in 61 plays in its 31-24 win over Mississippi State. That’s 62 percent. What’s more, passing accounted for 98 percent of their 409 yards of offense. That’s unacceptable for a pro-style offense that still intends to utilize the running game.
The Gamecocks have a lot of defensive issues, but they’re relatively stout up front. Still, if UGA wants to get back to being “RBU,” it’s going to have to figure out how to run when it wants to and when it has to. The Bulldogs could do neither against Saturday.
If Georgia can produce even modestly on the ground, there should be opportunities for Daniels to display the arm that produced 13 explosive plays Saturday, including four passes of 40 or more yards.
3. Defensive triage
Georgia has fallen to 101st in the nation in pass defense after giving up 336 yards to Mississippi State. The Bulldogs allowed 417 to No. 1 Alabama on Oct. 17 and 474 to No. 6 Florida on Nov. 7.
Of course, it hasn’t helped that Georgia has been without safety Richard LeCounte or defensive tackle Jordan Davis this month or Cine for three-quarters of the Florida game. But the Bulldogs aren’t using that as an excuse, and neither Davis nor LeCounte are expected to be back against South Carolina.
The Bulldogs opened competition for all positions in the secondary this week and worked overtime to improve on zone defense. Georgia might catch a break because Shi Smith, South Carolina’s top wide receiver, was labeled “doubtful” by Bobo on Wednesday because of a concussion suffered early in Saturday’s game against Missouri.
What’s unknown is how much the Gamecocks might be willing to test Georgia’s secondary even if Smith can go. Last week, Bobo turned to freshman Luke Doty in the second half. Doty is a mobile, run-oriented quarterback as opposed to senior Collin Smith, who is a pure pocket passer.
4. Something to prove
Normally Smart doesn’t get too caught up in rankings and other influences outside of his control. But he was a tad defensive after the Bulldogs drew criticism for their No. 9 position in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the year.
CBS Sports’ Danny Kanell was particularly critical.
“An absolute joke,” he said of UGA’s ranking. “It shows you the love affair that the committee has with the SEC. Which is OK some years, but this year, Georgia’s supposedly dominant defense was shredded by both Alabama and the Florida Gators.”
Smart’s comments on Wednesday’s SEC coaches’ teleconference call hint that he’s caught wind of the criticism.
“I welcome anybody that wants to jump in our conference and play 10 games,” he said emphatically. “They’re more than welcome to. They can come right on over with us and play 10 games if they want to play our conference schedule. I’d be more than happy to let them.”
But Smart also said it’s important that the Bulldogs answer any criticism during games, not before or after them.
“We’ve got to let our play speak for itself,” he said.
5. T-Day
Normally, Georgia lets its players who live close by return home for Thanksgiving after an early-Thursday practice and take along teammates who don’t have such an option. But with the pandemic surging, Smart was considering keeping the Bulldogs in town this year.
“Obviously, it’s a concern for the safety for the people in our community, and we want our players to be safe,” he said. “We want all of the people in our community to be safe. I want my parents to be safe. I want everybody to be safe. We encourage everybody to mask up and keep the numbers as low as possible.”
Bobo said the Gamecocks plan to excuse their players and have them return to campus by Friday afternoon.
“We’ll stress what we have anytime they’ve had off time: Remember to social distance, remember to wear your mask. You can come back and potentially affect not only yourself but somebody on the football team.”
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