Georgia coach Mark Richt’s Bulldogs face another tough early-season test Saturday when they travel to SEC East foe South Carolina.South Carolina looked more like South Carolina in Saturday night’s 33-23 win over East Carolina, but can the Gamecocks look like they have in recent years when Georgia visits Williams-Brice Stadium this week?
After getting humiliated by Texas A&M 52-28 on Aug. 28, a setback that obliterated South Carolina’s 18-game home winning streak, the Gamecocks got back on track at least to some extent. South Carolina was outgained by ECU 453 to 441 and led the Pirates just 30-23 early in the fourth quarter before embarking on a 10-minute, 33-second drive that culminated with Elliott Fry’s 20-yard field goal with 1:30 remaining.
“Oh, I feel better — I felt better when we won the game,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said Sunday afternoon. “For a while there, it didn’t look real good. East Carolina went down the field on their first two possessions, but somehow or another we forced field goals and were only down 6-0. Then we were able to put a little drive together and score and get ahead, and at halftime we were ahead.
“We’ve got a long way to go. It was encouraging in terms of the effort. Guys played with some enthusiasm, but we’ve got a ways to go to be a decent team this year.”
South Carolina has been beyond decent the past three years under Spurrier, posting the first 11-win season in program history in 2011 and matching it in 2012 and ’13. Yet if the No. 24 Gamecocks lose this Saturday to the No. 6 Bulldogs, they would be saddled with two losses in mid-September for the first time since 2008.