Storylines from a game that came down to one inch on Saturday buried a handful of records and milestones achieved during Georgia’s loss to South Carolina, sort of like the how a heap of bodies obscured the ball and made spotting so difficult on that faithful fourth down.
The earliest milestone was passed within the first five minutes. Trailing 7-0 before Georgia’s offense took the field, the Bulldogs quickly took care of a 10-year drought when Hutson Mason threw a 33-yard pass to Sony Michel to tie the game.
Not since 2004, when David Greene threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Brown to gain a fourth-quarter lead over the Gamecocks, had Georgia completed a scoring pass in Williams-Brice Stadium. That covers starts by Joe Tereshinski, Matthew Stafford and Aaron Murray.
In the interim between Greene’s and Mason’s TD passes, the Bulldogs kicked seven field goals, recorded three rushing touchdown runs and even a safety. The only points a quarterback recorded with a pass since Greene was a successful two-point conversion play with Stafford connecting with Kris Durham.
Although offensive coordinator Mike Bobo received heat from fans and media alike for his call to pass the ball on first-and-goal from the 4-yard line in the closing minutes, his offense performed far better in Williams-Brice Stadium than might have been expected. The Bulldogs lost 38-35 and several missed opportunities to score more but the point total was Georgia’s highest in a game in Columbia since the a 37-0 win by the 1920 Bulldogs.
“The reason we lost this game is because we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had to take points,” Mason said. “We left, I believe, 13 points on the board. I said this earlier, but you can’t leave 13 points on the board on the SEC and expect a win.”
Mason referred to two missed field goals and a 54-yard touchdown run by Todd Gurley that was called back because a holding penalty by of Brandon Kublanow.
As it was, the Bulldogs managed to score more than 20 points, a feat not reached by any Georgia squad in Williams-Brice in two decades.
Six of those 35 points came off the foot of Marshall Morgan who, despite missing two field goals, reached a personal milestone by becoming the SEC-record holder for most consecutive successful field goals (20). Georgia hit 20 points exactly in the third quarter with a two-yard touchdown run from Gurley.
With the Gamecocks’ win, coach Steve Spurrier achieved a milestone of his own at Georgia’s expense. He tied UGA’s Vince Dooley as the second-most winningest coach at an SEC school (201). Only Bear Bryant (292) has more.
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