An offensive-minded Southeastern Conference football coach recently took his team on the road to open the season.

His offense failed to stretch the field, struggled to move the ball and managed one touchdown.

The description fits Georgia's Mark Richt. It fits South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, too.

"We had a pretty conservative game plan," Spurrier said of last Thursday night's 7-3 win at North Carolina State. "I didn't realize how conservative it was until I watched the game film. We wanted to give the running game a good chance, and we did do that, but obviously we need to try for some big plays along the way."

Two of the nation's brightest attackers in the 1990s, when Spurrier coached Florida and Richt was Florida State's play-caller, have offenses that hope to establish some identity Saturday night when the Gamecocks and Bulldogs vie in Athens. South Carolina had just 256 total yards and one run over 10 yards last Thursday, and Georgia had 257 yards and one run over 10 yards Saturday afternoon in a 24-10 loss at Oklahoma State.

A shootout shouldn't be expected anyway at Sanford Stadium, as the past four UGA-USC meetings have been decided by 17-15, 18-0, 16-12 and 14-7 scores.

South Carolina's triumph in Raleigh marked the sixth time the Gamecocks have scored seven points or fewer under Spurrier, who is 29-22 at the school. It happened only four times during his 12 seasons at Florida (1990-2001), when he was Mr. Fun 'N' Gun.

"Everybody's got to adapt to the personnel they have and do what your guys can do," Richt said. "I think it's the sign of a good coach. He's always been able to do that. I think everybody changes what they do to a certain degree based on who they have and what they can do, but overall he is still using the concepts he has always run."

Gamecocks quarterback Stephen Garcia completed 13 of 22 passes for 148 yards with an interception, while Georgia's Joe Cox went 15-of-30 for 162 yards with a touchdown and a tipped pickoff. The two combined for six long passes.

South Carolina rushed for 108 yards and Georgia had 95.

"We had some lousy plays because we never changed a pass play at the line of scrimmage all night," Spurrier said. "Looking back, we could have done better with the game plan. We were fortunate to come out with a win.

"We certainly can't bring the same game plan to Georgia. We don't want to send Stephen back there to get sacked and run around all night."

South Carolina's touchdown drive against the Wolfpack occurred after a first-quarter fumble recovery and covered only 14 yards.

Norwood sympathetic

South Carolina senior outside linebacker Eric Norwood, who tallied his 23rd and 24th career sacks last Thursday, was sorry to hear about Georgia losing starting left tackle Trinton Sturdivant with a torn ACL for a second straight year.

"It's sad when something like that happens to a player of his caliber," Norwood said after Monday night's practice. "I talked to him on Facebook a couple of times last year after he hurt it and told him to stay strong and that I was looking forward to going against him when he came back. But they recruit good players like everybody else, and Vince Vance is a good player."