Dawged Out

A brilliant effort from the South Carolina defense was wasted by Steve Spurrier’s turnover-prone offense as No. 2 Georgia escaped from Williams-Brice Stadium this afternoon with a 14-7 victory over the Gamecocks.

South Carolina’s “D” held Georgia Heisman Trophy candidate Knowshon Moreno to just 80 yards on 20 carries, and also came up with three consecutive stops in the fourth quarter.  But Spurrier’s offense couldn’t translate those opportunities into points, fumbling into the end zone after getting the ball first and goal on the two yard line and then turning it over again in the last minute of the game on a Chris Smelley interception.

The Gamecocks (1-2, 0-2 SEC) actually played like a Top 25 team this week … either that or Georgia (3-0, 1-0 SEC) isn’t as good as everybody thinks they are.

Either way, those oddsmakers we were making fun of earlier this week for pegging the second-ranked Dawgs as only a seven-point favorite in this game clearly knew something we didn’t.

Yet as good as the Gamecocks played it still wasn’t enough, and once again it was Spurrier’s side of the ball where things failed to pan out.

First of all, South Carolina has no running game – at all.

Top rusher Mike Davis picked up just 20 yards on twelve carries – an average of less than two yards per run. Not surprisingly, Georgia was able to drop tons of Bulldogs into pass coverage, rushing just three down linemen for most of the second half.

Smelley – with the exception of his fatal interception with twelve ticks left on the clock – nonetheless looked pretty sharp against the Bulldog defense, and definitely found his rhythm in the second half (well, when Spurrier wasn’t inexplicably subbing in redshirt Freshman Stephen Garcia on two key second down play calls, anyway).

For the second week in a row, South Carolina entered the locker room at halftime with a lead on an SEC opponent, and for the second week in a row they gave up that lead in the final two quarters.

That’s coaching, people.

The Gamecocks were playing without top receiver Kenny McKinley on offense, but Georgia was playing without three of its top eight players, too, and the Bulldogs did everything they could to keep South Carolina in the game by committing 11 penalties for a total of 111 yards.

But it was mistakes at key moments of the game that did Spurrier’s team in.

South Carolina’s offensive line did a remarkable job of providing pass protection to Smelley all afternoon, but the one sack they gave up (on the last play of the third quarter) cost the Gamecocks a shot at a makeable field goal.

And then there was Davis’ fumble from the two-yard line, which brought back painful memories of 2002 when South Carolina was driving for a decisive late score against Georgia only to have Andrew Pinnock fumble with twelve seconds left – also from the two-yard line.

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