445-plus yards of total offense. 38 points.

Those were the numbers.

The shutdown Georgia defense we saw in the second half of the Aug. 30 opener against Clemson was nowhere to be found in Columbia, S.C. on Saturday afternoon. From the opening drive, South Carolina had its way with a Georgia defense for which nothing seemed to go right. South Carolina came away with points on 6 of its 11 drives.

First-year defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt has long been regarded as one of the brightest defensive minds in football, having coached the secondary on a couple national championship teams at Alabama and winning a title as the defensive coordinator at Florida State in 2013. He coached several defensive backs at Alabama who are now making their livings in the NFL including Dee Milliner and Dre Kirkpatrick. Pruitt inherited a top-10 defense in Tallahassee from former coordinator-turned-Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops, and led the unit to one of its best seasons in years en route to a BCS National Championship last season.

So what happened to the Georgia defense on Saturday?

Nothing seems to have changed.

Pruitt’s an educator. He prefers to coach one-on-one, teaching the fundamentals and basics of playing defense.

“To me, a lot of people try to make football harder than it is,” Pruitt said after his hiring back in January. “It’s the details, it’s blocking, it’s tackling, it’s fundamentals, it’s getting off the blocks.”

But the defense we saw at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday was eerily similar to the one Todd Grantham fielded last season.

Related: Vertical passing, physical O-line makes South Carolina very formidable

Pruitt’s hiring was supposed to have a two-fold impact; as coordinator, he’d simplify the scheme to help the secondary, and as secondary coach, he’d fix the achilles heel of the unit. His overhaul is layered. There’s the simplification of the calls to help prevent the communication issues that plagued the Bulldogs a season ago. There was the open competition in fall camp, with no guarantee given to last season’s starters meant to make everyone better. Finally, there’s individual improvement with which the word “detail” is associated.

But Gamecocks quarterback Dylan Thompson sliced-and-diced Georgia on Saturday.

The Bulldogs played two high safeties with a mixture of zone and man coverage underneath the majority of the game, and Steve Spurrier had to have seen something on the field because Carolina manhandled Georgia on early downs. The Gamecocks were often in three and four wide receiver sets that spread the Georgia secondary out and caught them in unfavorable matchups.

Georgia’s front seven, considered one of the best in the country, got no pressure on Thompson recording just one sack. Thompson had all day to throw and the Bulldog defensive backs often found themselves in soft coverages or on an island with one of South Carolina’s athletic receivers.

It was a long day for Pruitt. Thompson completed 21-of-30 passes for 271 yards and four touchdowns. In the second half, it was all Brandon Wilds who had several key runs for South Carolina as he finished with 93 yards on the ground and a touchdown.

Perhaps the overhaul isn’t complete. Maybe the praise based on one successful half of football (remember the first half in which Clemson scored 21 points?) got to the Bulldogs.

But one thing’s for sure: if Georgia is going to stay alive in the SEC East race, it’s going to be because Pruitt’s defense keeps them in it.