South Carolina vs Georgia: Can the Dawgs rebound against the Gamecocks?

A	The Dawgs will beat and upset the Gamecocks!

B	The Gamecocks will leave athens 2-0!

In week 2 of the college football season, the Georgia Bulldogs host the South Carolina Gamecocks "between the hedges" in Athens, GA for the first SEC showdown for either team. The Bulldogs looked and played horribly in week 1, and were dominated in the national spotlight in the Atlanta Superdome by the Boise State Broncos 35-21. The loss has led Georgia fans to call for Head Coach Mark Richt's job.

Georgia's offense was not terrible, but it was one dimensional versus the Broncos as the Dawgs rushing attack was shutdown for most of the evening. QB Aaron Murray played decent. He completed 16 out of 29 passing attempts (55.2 CMP%) for 236 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception, and a QB rating of 139.4. However, he was sacked 6 times for -33 yards rushing and was constantly being hurried. The Broncos defense controlled the line of scrimmage as did their offensive line.

The statistics from the game show the Dawgs rushed for 137 yards, however, this is misleading because Senior RB Brandon Boykin had an 80 yard TD run in his only carry. If you take that run out of the stats, the Dawgs were only able to get a total of 57 yards on the ground. True Freshman Isaiah Crowell played okay. On 15 carries, Crowell picked up 60 yards rushing. Crowell was good at running the ball, but struggled picking up blocking assignments.

The Gamecocks, on the other hand, won their first game versus the East Carolina Pirates 56-37. The score may show a blow out, but the game did not start that way. The Pirates led 17-0 with ten minutes left in the 2nd quarter. Coach Steve Spurrier named Conner Shaw as starter of USC's first game, but after falling behind by 17 points he called on his senior quarterback, Stephen Garcia, to bring them back and get the win. Garcia played well throwing for one touchdown and running for two. He gave them the spark they needed.

RB Marcus Lattimore played up to expectations. He ran for 112 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also had 33 yards receiving on 3 receptions. If he has a good game against the UGA defense that gave up 127 yards to the Broncos, then the Dawgs are in deep trouble because he is way more talented than any running back on Boise's roster.

South Carolina also had 4 turnovers in their game against East Carolina. The UGA defense needs to get takeaways and give their offense good field position. If they are able to do that, then as long as the running game makes some improvements and Murray plays as good as he did against Boise the Dawgs will have a chance to win. If the defense is also able to marginalize Lattimore, the upset will happen.

Teams make the most improvements between weeks one and two of the regular season, and Georgia fans need to hope Coach Richt and staff were able to fix their line play before this game. In my opinion, the Dawgs have a very slim shot of winning. They will have to do all of the things mentioned above, and I don't think they have the time and the right coaching staff to get the job done. As three point favorites and the #12 team in the nation, I expect South Carolina to win if they can avoid all of last week's turnovers.

Brian Johnson

South Carolina vs Georgia: Can the Dawgs rebound against the Gamecocks?

A. K.

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