The Carolina Gamecocks have pulled out a back-to-back victory over the
University of Georgia for the first time since 2000 and 2001, which has only
been done six times in the history of the schools meetings. It was the Gamecocks
first time being favored in Athens, but they didn’t play like the
12th ranked team in the country would be expected to play against an
unranked SEC rival. Coming off the major second half win in Charlotte over ECU,
Steve Spurrier knew that Georgia would be bringing their biggest weapons, like
the highly recruited RB Isaiah Crowell and their biggest playmaker of the game
CB Brandon Boykin. Being Garcia’s first start of the year, the pressure was on
in the first quarter. Blair Walsh for the Bulldogs set the tone with a 37yd FG
and another 39yd FG about two minutes later, but for the first time in a long
time, the Gamecocks didn’t give up. The second quarter started the back and
forth brawl between the two teams when Jeffrey caught Garcia’s 34yd pass for TD,
and UGA answered with Murray’s 26 yd TD pass, but again, USC didn’t stay quiet.
Lattimore rushed for 176 yds in 27 carries, Jeffrey had 5 receptions for 85 yds
and the play-making star, Melvin Ingram with the 68 yd punt return and his 5yd
fumble recovery for TD were all key in the Gamecock win. The O-Line in general
looked like they had never played a football game before the first quarter, but
they later came together and started to work together like a team. I thought
they were not good for the overall game, struggling mainly with pass protection
and fly pressure . USC gave up some really big plays, but they made some pretty
big plays as well. The second week in a row Carolina’s special teams has had a
TD and Ingram was a top 10 player on SportsCenter.  The good news is despite the performance, you
have to feel good if you’re a USC fan being 2-0, and if you’re just not a
Georgia fan, feel good about Mark Richt’s job insecurity. Richt hasn’t gone 0-2 in a decade, and they
were picked to end up second in the SEC-East this year. Up next for the Carolina
Gamecocks is the Navy Midshipmen, also 2-0, who is coming off of a 40-14 win
over Western Kentucky. The offensive
players to watch will be Howell, who had 113 yds in 3 carries last week, and
Proctor who had 176 yds in 22 carries in their victory over Delaware. Kickoff is
at 6 PM in the big bad William’s-Brice Stadium, see you there!