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Sanders continues interception surge Lambert sensational in Georgia romp past Gamecocks Georgia tight ends aid Lambert's big evening Brilliant Lambert leads Georgia to rout, 52-20
ATHENS, Ga. - Remember the days when Georgia was a run-oriented team that lacked a quality quarterback?
Those days were so last week.
Bulldogs redshirt junior quarterback Greyson Lambert, making just his third start for the Bulldogs after transferring from Virginia, set an NCAA accuracy record in Saturday night's 52-20 trampling of South Carolina before a sold-out crowd of 92,746 at Sanford Stadium. The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder completed 24 of 25 passes (96.0 percent) for a career-high 330 yards and three touchdowns, notching a record for a quarterback with more than 20 attempts in a game.
"NCAA? I guess that feels pretty good," a stunned Lambert said when told of his feat. "We kind of got going pretty quickly. We opened with three straight passes, and everybody did their role."
In last week's 31-14 win at Vanderbilt, Lambert went 0-for-5 in the first half.
"It all comes down execution and rhythmic offensive possessions back to back to back," he said. "We were able to do that and put points on the board on every drive. For our offense to go out and do that was big."
The previous NCAA mark of 95.8 percent was set by Tennessee's Tee Martin, who went 23-of-24 in a 49-14 thumping of South Carolina in 1998. Martin's mark was matched by West Virginia's Geno Smith against Kansas in 2012.
Georgia's mark of 86.9 percent was set by David Greene, who completed 20 of 23 passes in a 2002 win over Vanderbilt.
"I can't believe he threw an interception," Georgia coach Mark Richt joked afterward. "I'm disappointed in that, but we'll forgive him."
Lambert also set a school mark for consecutive completions, connecting on his final 20 attempts. That broke the record of 19 set by Mike Bobo in the Outback Bowl following the 1997 season.
Georgia still had its running game, though, as Nick Chubb punished the Gamecocks for 159 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. Chubb has surpassed 100 yards 11 consecutive times, but this was the first time his performance was accompanied by so many aerial yards.
"Lambert obviously had a great performance, and the stats show it," Chubb said. "I knew coming in that he would have a better game than last week. He looked good in practice this week.
"If we can keep doing this, we'll be unstoppable. We've got to keep it rolling."
Senior receiver Malcolm Mitchell had eight receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown, while backup tailback Sony Michel rushed eight times for 51 yards and a touchdown and had three catches for 32 yards and two scores.
It added up to 576 total yards for the Bulldogs and their largest victory ever over a Steve Spurrier-coached squad. The previous high was 20 points, when Georgia's 1997 team pulled away for a 37-17 win over Florida, the only triumph for the Bulldogs over Spurrier's Gators in 12 tries.
"They totally dominated us tonight," Spurrier said. "Their offense was very good. We weren't very good on defense or offense, really. We didn't throw the ball well and didn't run the ball well. We got clobbered."
Spurrier was asked about giving up 52 points after scoring 52 points in Athens during the 1995 meeting, when Jacksonville's stadium was being renovated.
"We beat them 52-17," Spurrier said.
Georgia's previous big win over a Spurrier-coached South Carolina team was an 18-0 blanking in 2006.
The Bulldogs, who struggled out of the gate offensively in each of its first two games against Louisiana-Monroe and Vanderbilt, took its first possession 71 yards on 11 plays but had to settle for Marshall Morgan's 30-yard field goal. South Carolina responded with a 13-play, 48-yard drive and tied the game on Elliott Fry's 45-yard field goal, but the Bulldogs continued to click.
Lambert completed passes of 17 yards to Terry Godwin and 20 yards to tight end Jay Rome to set up a 2-yard Chubb touchdown run that put Georgia up 10-3 with 12:56 remaining in the half. After Georgia's first two drives, Lambert was 6-of-7 for 85 yards and also had a 9-yard scramble.
Lambert continued to roll on Georgia's third possession, finding tight end Jackson Harris for 21 yards and Mitchell for 15 to help set up Michel's 21-yard touchdown run that put the Bulldogs up 17-3 at the 7:37 mark of the second quarter.
The Bulldogs will step out of conference this week and host Southern of the FCS. The game will have a noon kickoff on the SEC Network.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524