ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia’s 45-0 victory over Austin Peay last Saturday provided Bulldogs sophomore running back D’Andre Swift a moment he will never forget.
“It was amazing to hear my name called with the starters,” Swift said of the first Sanford Stadium start of his career.
Swift had a team-high eight carries against the Governors and gained 43 yards, with junior backup Elijah Holyfield adding five rushes for 24 yards. Another junior, Brian Herrien, had one carry for 2 yards.
Georgia’s returning running backs were not on display much as coach Kirby Smart emptied the bench against the Football Championship Subdivision program, but establishing a running game this week at South Carolina will be paramount.
“We’ve got to have more explosive runs,” Smart said Monday in his weekly news conference. “We have not been as explosive in our run game as we were last year, which includes our scrimmages. We didn’t have the number of explosive runs you might have expected Saturday.
“I’m not going say those guys ran the ball poorly. They ran the ball hard, but they missed the hole a couple of times and were probably a little impatient at times staying behind their blocking schemes or trying to bounce things out when we’ve got to commit to keeping it inside.”
The Bulldogs rushed 33 times for a healthy 284 yards against Austin Peay, averaging 8.6 yards per carry. They collected 72 of those yards on the speed sweep that transfer receiver Demetris Robertson took for a touchdown early in the second quarter for a 24-0 lead.
Swift had a long run of 15 yards, while Holyfield had a 17-yarder.
“We had some good stuff and some bad stuff,” Holyfield said. “We haven’t played our best game, obviously, so we’re looking forward to improving in these upcoming weeks. I’m glad I had the opportunity to show a little bit of what I could do, and I’m looking forward to showing more.”
Said Swift: “Everything went fine, but we’ve got to do a better job of being physical.”
Georgia was a rushing machine two years ago inside Williams-Brice Stadium, pounding out 326 yards and 6.5 yards per carry in a 28-14 victory. Sony Michel had a team-high 133 yards on 21 carries, while Nick Chubb added 121 yards and two touchdowns on 16 rushes.
Herrien had his best career game at South Carolina with 82 yards on nine carries.
The Bulldogs ran for 242 yards on 53 carries in last year’s 24-10 win over the Gamecocks in Athens, with Chubb netting 102 on 20. Smart believes his tailbacks can produce a “positive run game” by continuing to work hard with good ball security, and he knows this week’s test will start up front.
“At times we did some good things last week, but the team we were playing was overmatched in a lot of the situations they were in,” Smart said. “I’m pleased with the assignments and the communication, but it will be a whole new ballgame this week. They’re going to be playing bigger, more physical guys.
“It’s going to be loud, and we’ve got to do a better job of creating movement and second-level blocking and protecting our ball carriers down the field, which takes more effort.”
No correlation
Several Georgia players said minutes after the victory over Austin Peay that they can draw from last year’s trip to Notre Dame this week. The Bulldogs opened last year with a 31-10 home win over Appalachian State before pulling out a 20-19 triumph over the Irish.
Smart does not see much of a correlation.
“I don’t compare this to Notre Dame,” he said. “Our fan base there was like 50 percent of the fan base. It won’t be that way in Columbia, I can assure you. That environment is not a good analogy for what we’re going into.”
Odds and ends
The Bulldogs hold a commanding 50-18-2 series lead over South Carolina, but Georgia’s advantage is just 11-7 when the two open their respective SEC schedules against one another. Each of Georgia’s scholarship true freshmen played last Saturday except for running back Zamir White, receiver Kearis Jackson, offensive linemen Warren Ericson and Owen Condon, defensive back Divaad Wilson and linebacker Azeez Ojulari. Smart on South Carolina senior receiver Deebo Samuel: “He’s probably the most underrated player in all of college football. I don’t think that everybody in the country knows what the SEC knows.” The Gamecocks are just 90-117-1 in SEC regular-season games since joining the league in 1992, but they are 35-29 since the start of the 2010 season.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.