ATHENS — Thankfully for the Georgia Bulldogs, they still play two halves in football.
Admittedly, they were whipped by South Carolina for the first two quarters of Saturday’s SEC opener at Sanford Stadium. But the Bulldogs owned the last 30 minutes of play, particularly those precious first minutes after halftime, and that allowed them to score a hard-fought 24-14 win.
Trailing 14-3, Georgia received the second-half kickoff and drove 75 yards in six plays to score on Daijun Edwards’ 3-yard touchdown run to get within four only 2:20 into the third quarter. Not even five minutes later, the Bulldogs would score again, this time on a short TD run by Dillon Bell, capping a short 49-yard drive. Seven minutes and 20 seconds into the third quarter, the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs finally had a lead on their unranked visitors, 17-14.
There were a lot of missteps before and after that little run, including a pair of red-zone failures, but the Bulldogs would grind away the game in the fourth quarter and hold on for the victory.
“Did they answer the bell?” coach Kirby Smart said about his eighth Georgia team. “There’s lots we can talk about that they need to do better. Lots. Starting faster, what’s causing it? The world has questions about all those things. But you know what? I found out a lot about my team today than I did any other day this year.”
The win extended the nation’s longest home win streak to 21 games and Georgia’s school-record overall streak to 20. The Bulldogs (3-0) will tee it up between the hedges for the fourth time this month Saturday against Alabama-Birmingham.
South Carolina (1-2) limps back to Columbia with a good story to tell about how it had the two-time defending national champions on the ropes on their home field. Quarterback Spencer Rattler was more than a handful for Georgia, slicing and dicing with his legs and his arms to the tune of 291 total yards and staking his team to an 11-point halftime lead.
But 169 of those yards came in the first two quarters and almost none in the fourth. The Gamecocks’ famous senior quarterback spent most of the second half running for his life. Georgia’s Mykel Williams sacked Rattler twice, he went down four times and was pressured a half-dozen times, at least.
“He’s a dog, man, I’m not gonna lie,” said Williams, a freshman All-American at defensive end last season. “He’s a great quarterback, 16-for-18 against us in the first half. Very mobile, an athlete, a great arm, a great quarterback.”
So what was the difference in the first half and the second?
“Coach Smart really got onto us and told us wake up and be ourselves and go out there and play Georgia football,” Williams said.
The Bulldogs did that, and they rocked a little old-school Georgia football while they were at it. Even after losing starting right tackle Amarius Mims to an ankle injury early in the second half, the Bulldogs reestablished control of the line of scrimmage and ran the football with authority behind Edwards.
Edwards, who missed the first two games with a sprained MCL, proved its possible to sometimes run for more yards than is blocked for. He finished with 118 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. It was the third 100-yard game of Edwards’ career and the Bulldogs ended up with 189 yards on the night.
“As an offensive lineman, it’s kind of what you dream about as a kid,” senior center Sedrick Van Pran said. “Rainy, wet game, slippery, can get any footing. But you’ve just got to go out there and play, get first downs and push guys around. I think we did a good job of that tonight.”
Echoed quarterback Carson Beck: “We leaned on our offensive line. They played a great game. The running backs were running hard behind them, getting extra yards after contact. It all goes back to the line and how physical they were.”
Special props go out to senior Xavier Truss, who moved from left guard into Mims’ right tackle position. He had to do that because Mims’ backup, Austin Blaske, was out for the game. Sophomore Dylan Fairchild stepped in at left guard and finished the game.
Beck was tough and resilient himself. A junior from Jacksonville, Florida, Beck overcame a pair of sacks and finished with 269 yards on 27-of-35 passing. Among his completions were big some critical third-down conversions. Georgia was 5-for-15 for the game.
“Obviously, we didn’t play the way we wanted in the first half,” Beck said. “(In the second half) we came out with energy. We were composed. We were poised. We just started making plays. The offensive line started getting push. Running backs started making plays. I’m just proud of everybody.”
Dominic Lovett (7 catches, 56 yards) and Brock Bowers (7, 54) led nine Georgia receivers who caught passes. Linebacker Smael Mondon, cornerback Daylen Everette and nickel back Tykee Smith each led the defense with five tackles each. Smith and safety Dan Jackson each had interceptions.
Georgia was able to record the victory despite missing some key players. The Bulldogs played again without star receiver Ladd McConkey (back) and All-SEC safety Javon Bullard (ankle). Then they lost Mims.
Overall, it was probably a good experience for the Bulldogs, who otherwise has been cruising in all their home games for the past four years. The last time they had lost between their hallowed hedges had been Oct. 12, 2019 when they lost 20-17 to a South Carolina team against which they were posted as a 21.5-point favorite.
Favored by 27.5 points this time, Georgia wasn’t helped by freshman kicker Peyton Woodring missing a pair of field-goal attempts, including his second this season from inside 30 yards. But the Bulldogs’ cause wasn’t helped by some red-zone mismanagement ahead of those. They had first-and-goal both times.
“It’s not like we wanted to be tested, but we’re thankful we were able to get tested and find out what kind of team we are,” Jackson said.
Said Smart: “My expectation is that we go out and dominate and create a nightmare and make (opponents) not ever want to play you again. We didn’t do that. But we did respond to adversity. You have to play close games to get better, and we did that.”
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