UGA Football: The Dawgs Learned That They Could Fight
On a soggy Saturday afternoon at Sanford Stadium, the top-ranked Georgia football team took a punch or two in its SEC opener against South Carolina. The Gamecocks were the sharper and more effective team early, and took a 14-3 lead into halftime. But the Bulldogs came out much better in the third quarter and controlled the game for the final 30 minutes, winning 24-14.
The yardage numbers tell a lot of the story. At halftime, South Carolina had a 180-168 advantage, with Spencer Rattler completing 16 of 18 passes for 152 yards. In the second half, with Georgia getting steady pressure on the quarterback, Rattler completed just 4 of 24 passes for 104 yards, with two fourth-quarter interceptions.
Offensively for Georgia, after being held to 4.5 yards per play in the opening half, the Bulldogs got rolling in the second — 290 yards and three touchdowns — and juiced that average up to 6.9 per play over the final two quarters. Georgia finished the game with a sizable advantage in total offense: 458-309.
“They showed what a championship team does and why they have won back-to-back national championships, coming back in the second half and playing like they did,” said South Carolina coach Shane Beamer, a former Bulldog assistant coach.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart said his message to his squad at the break was a simple one: “I told them at halftime, ‘Look guys, it’s going to happen very simply: one moment at a time.’ And they believed it,” he said. “They kept saying ‘one moment, one moment, one moment.’ We gained so much momentum in the second half thanks to our fans and thanks to our players making some plays.”
The biggest difference in the overall yardage came on the ground, where Georgia ran for 189 yards — compared to just 53 for the Gamecocks — and all three touchdowns. Daijun Edwards, back after missing the first two games with an injury, finished with 20 carries for 118 yards and scored the Bulldogs’ first touchdown on a seven-yard run early in the third quarter.
“Daijun is a huge luxury for us,” Smart said. “He breaks tackles. He’s the guy that when you draw it up, they have one guy you can’t block, he’ll make that guy miss. He’s done a nice job of that.”
Rattler often had time to throw in the first half, and he effectively spread the ball around to six different receivers (Xavier Legette had six catches for 68 yards). It was a much different story in the second half.
The Bulldog defense ramped up its pass rush, sacking Rattler twice and getting pressure regularly. Georgia defenders were almost always around the ball, getting stops after minimal gain or breaking up passes. The Bulldogs finished with seven pass breakups, one of the biggest coming from safety David Daniel-Sisavanh in the third quarter.
With Georgia up 17-14 and the result still up for grabs despite the Bulldogs dominating the third quarter, South Carolina faced a third-and-10 on its 25. Rattler was able to avoid a heavy pass rush and fired a pass down the middle toward Legette. Daniel-Sisavanh was able to reach in and break up the pass that would have gone for a big gain and possibly swung the momentum back the Gamecocks’ way. Legette only had one catch for three yards in the second half.
“We’re real proud of the way we came out in the second half and proud of the way we handled adversity,” safety Tykee Smith said.
After a short South Carolina punt, Georgia drove smoothly down the field, scoring on a 13-yard Cash Jones run to ahead 24-14 with 9:10 left in the game. The Bulldog defense did the rest, including getting interceptions on the Gamecocks’ final two drives, first from safety Dan Jackson and then Smith.
Georgia opened its season with a 48-7 win over UT Martin, a team in the Football Championship Subdivision. Last week, the Bulldogs routed Ball State 45-3 despite a scoreless opening quarter. The opponent was tougher and the stakes were higher Saturday with the start of conference play.
Despite another slow start, and an excellent one from South Carolina, the Bulldogs were able to fight their way out of a hole and control the final 30 minutes from start to finish. It was a valuable lesson, and probably a beneficial bit of adversity to overcome, even if a jab to the face never feels good.
“I learned that we could fight,” center Sedrick Van Pran said. “It may not always be pretty. It may not always be the most gorgeous thing you see, but I think we do a tremendous job with our coaching staff making adjustments and then as the players trying to execute and just fight.”
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He’s also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.