Georgia football: Despite 2-3 start, South Carolina has enough talent to hurt Bulldogs
It seems like ages since No. 3 Georgia has played at Sanford Stadium. On Saturday, though, it returns between the hedges to take on a 2-3 South Carolina team that is coming off an open week and facing the first of 2 consecutive opponents ranked in the top 10.
The schedule was always set up to be unusually tough for Will Muschamp’s team: The Gamecocks already played No. 1 Alabama at home, will host No. 7 Florida on Oct. 19, and still have games against a fringe Top 25 team in Appalachian State, No. 24 Texas A&M and No. 2 Clemson remaining. While the Bulldogs should match up well with the Gamecocks and improve to 6-0, there are a host of players that they’ll need to keep close tabs on if they’re to remain perfect.
The Hilinski factor: How can Georgia keep Ryan Hilinski off balance?
For the second consecutive game, the Bulldogs will face a true freshman quarterback in Ryan Hilinski. But unlike against Brian Maurer and Tennessee, the California native — who was on Kirby Smart and Georgia’s recruiting radar — is not an unknown quantity as he’s started the past 4 games in place of an injured Jake Bentley. He’s shown great poise and capability to lead this offense, but he’s still a freshman prone to making mistakes when pressured.
Georgia did a good job containing Maurer on Saturday, ending the night with 3 sacks — 2 by Azeez Ojulari and 1 on a big hit by Eric Stokes that was returned for a touchdown by Tae Crowder. It will need to have the same response for the entire game against Hilinski. He cooled down against Missouri and Kentucky, but he threw for 324 yards and 2 TDs against Alabama.
“He went out and played one of the elite defenses in the country and spun the ball as good as anybody,” Smart said in his weekly press conference on Monday. “He’s got a great release, he’s got intuition on throws, he’s very instinctive. He’s going to be a really good player in this league for a long time in my opinion.”
Bryan Edwards: A star at wideout
Like Tennessee, the Gamecocks have a potential All-SEC performer at wide receiver. While he had a bit of an up-and-down 2018 and got off to a shaky start against North Carolina (1 catch for 7 yards on 7 targets), Bryan Edwards looks as if he will go out with the best season of his career, making 26 catches for 341 yards and 3 touchdowns in his past 4 games.
Georgia eventually accounted for Jauan Jennings during the Tennessee game, but Edwards provides the Gamecocks a big-play wideout who can easily get behind the Bulldogs’ secondary if it’s not careful. (We saw that as Richard LeCounte and DJ Daniel lost Marquez Callaway on his long touchdown catch in the 1st quarter Saturday.) Whoever is assigned to Edwards will have a challenge as the senior could stand to benefit from some deep ball packages that Gamecocks offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon is sure to add to his game plan.
2 options at running back
After a promising freshman campaign, Rico Dowdle had bumpy sophomore and junior seasons that were marked with uneven performances and injuries. The Gamecocks’ patience with him has paid off as he’s finally developed into the player that they hoped he’d become. Dowdle currently has 56 carries for 370 yards and 4 touchdowns, and if you throw out a tough day at Missouri, the senior has been everything South Carolina could have hoped for this year.
But Dowdle has a capable partner in the backfield in transfer Tavien Feaster. I’ll admit that when Feaster left Clemson after graduating early and decided to transfer to South Carolina for his final season, I was a little skeptical of exactly where he’d fit in with Dowdle as the No. 1 option at running back. He started the season with 2 strong performances against North Carolina and Charleston Southern before struggling in losses to Alabama and Missouri, but had his best game in a Gamecocks uniform: 15 carries for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns, splitting carries 50/50 with Dowdle and finishing with 5 more yards.
Georgia has been remarkably efficient against the run (5th in the country with 57.0 yards allowed per game), but it will have to account for as challenging a rushing attack as it’s faced all season long.
Javon Kinlaw: A disruptor on defense
One thing Jeremy Pruitt lamented after Georgia’s win over Tennessee was the lack of a pass rush. And the game took on a familiar feeling: Jake Fromm, comfortable in the pocket, delivering strikes. Fromm might feel more heat from the Gamecocks, as defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson will be looking to break through a stout o-line with a major weapon in Javon Kinlaw.
It’s been a steady progression for Kinlaw as he’s developed into one of the top defensive linemen in the country. In 2018, he recorded 9.0 tackles for a loss and 4.0 sacks. He already has 4.0 TFLs and 4.0 sacks through 5 games, recording one of each in the Gamecocks’ first 4 games of the season, while racking up a pair of fumble recoveries.
Kinlaw’s the real deal up front for the Gamecocks. While Georgia has received elite play from its offensive line over the first 5 games in allowing just 1 sack, it will face a stiff test from the Charleston, S.C., native.
Please stop. There is no chance for a USC win in this game and it just feeds the leg-humpers afterwards. Carolina is back to the moral victories of just trying not to look bad on TV.
You couldn’t have actually went to Georgia.. there’s no way you’re really that uneducated/ignorant. I don’t know..
Clearly haven’t been around SEC or CFB in general enough.
Best of luck to you
It seems to me that someone who comments on another persons education or lack thereof, should know when to use the word gone versus the word “went” in a sentence. I mean, if you’re going to throw an insult, at least hit the target.
Pretty nit-picky for a CFB forum.. avoiding the actual topic i see
And someone that is going to go grammar nazi should know that if a phrase is needed for a sentence to make sense and is used as the subject then a comma is not inserted. If you instead intended for “or lack thereof” to be an interjection then you would have needed one before the or. I mean if you are going to be a grammar turd then at least do it correctly.
Mr. “have went” calls someone “uneducated/ignorant”.
Where have you “went”, Pig?
Besides hell in a handbag, I mean.
Lighten up Francis.
I like Dowdle and Feaster. They run angry. With that in mind, UGA needs to shut down USC’s run game and force the Gamecocks to throw the ball.
Hilinski is no doubt talented but he is a freshman and as such can be forced into making mistakes.
Look for Kirby to take his foot off the gas after UGA goes up by 21 – 24 points. After all, Coach Boom is a UGA alum.
Georgia goes for a ball control offense and we have the defense to make it a hairy 3 quarters or so. I say SC scares Georgia a couple times but cant convert in the red zone like against Bama. Down about a TD in the half before tying it up. A td by UGA and a turnover plus game ending drive for a TD makes the 14 point win look like it wasnt as clsoe as it was. 31-17 Mutts.
A lot of detail in that prognostication. We shall see.
SC has some players who can make plays. This is pretty much what we heard last year. Only then the names were Samuel, Bentley, and Williams. The best thing going for SC is the noon kick. That will keep the excitement level to a minimum. I think SC keeps it closer than the 25.5 line but still loses by two touchdowns.
Kinlaw is a stud and will have to be neutralized. I wonder if Deebo told Edwards what happens if you shoot your mouth off?
I agree with you that SCar clearly has some talented people – athletes many schools wanted and who perform at a high level. Anyone who watched them play Alabama saw that. And they’re backed against the wall so they will play hard and I expect them to make a fight of it.
But they have the same issue as Tenn faced – much like Bama UGA has so many athletes, and so much depth, it’s hard for SCar to go 60 minutes against the Dawgs. Kirby Smart has changed the equation in the SEC East with his recruiting success – it’s hard for Scar, Tenn, etc. to close the gap when he keeps stacking up top 1 or 2 recruiting classes.
Nah Bama couldnt run against us either. Their wideouts were just too much for the very young secondary. Almost all true freshman and true sophomores but one or two of the safeties. Georgia has young wideouts as well except for that one transfer. It should be a close game for awhile.
Oh the Dawgs are gonna run on you, no doubt! SC defense keeps you in it for a half, but getting leaned on by 1600 lbs of grown man for 4 qtrs will take its toll.
oh no doubt its going to be impossible to keep UGA from running the ball. You just arent going to have the numbers that youre used to. And we actually have the D-line depth to stay with you for 4 quarters its our DBs that have basically a 2 deep with 4 true freshmen and 3 true sophomores. Our front seven is the strength of our defense. It will be a fun matchup.
It will be interesting in the trenches. SC’s front is legit, but can they hold up to the pounding for 4 qtrs. We won’t be able to JUST run the ball. Fromm will have to air it out some to and test that secondary.
If they get to Hilinski or we can’t stop their run it’s over from the start, I just want to see them fight for 4 quarters and not get blown out, which I feel is reasonable
USC is coming off a bye, right? Assuming a few big plays don’t put USC in the hole early I don’t expect them to quit. I think they’ll put up a good fight
This is proably the first truly threatening rushing attack we’ve faced all year.
We have parts and pieces. If we go 3 and out it’s going to be a looong day because our D isn’t deep enough and will run out of gas.
Our D played over 90 plays against Missouri and had the depth. Depth is not the problem anymore. Its the true freshman at QB and the coaching staff. Coaching staff directly caused the loss to NC and True freshman doing true freshman things cause the loss to Missouri. There are several worries that we need to have ahead of our Defensive depth.
If this were in Willy B, maybe. Between the Hedges with a true freshman QB? No. I’ll take UGA big
this week is the week we will know if smart is entitled to the 7 million dollar salary———-personally i believe anyone who earns more than 1 million does not deserve this but since college football is insane for paying these coachs while regular people try to make ends meet so be it——–if smart prevents those easy passes in the middle or over the top then he will have made me think he can have a chance to stop tua or burrow(this may be the big risk since he can run also)——-and yes i graduated from ga in finance and still cannot spell or do much grammer if someone wishes to make any critical comments about why i think coachs are overpaid
Getting paid $7 million in a competitive market is NOT entitled. The idea is to win this week’s game – not continually obsess about two teams that are NOT on the schedule. Stop the deep ball, I agree. Lecounte needs to do his job and stop looking for the highlight hits.
1st. either of the 2 bama or lsu will be on the schedule and at 73 years old i have no more patience or time for winning a NC———as to the competitive market it is a disgrace to pay coachs that much or pro athletes who do not respect the flag 100 million dollars——i worked on wall street with hedge funds for years and none of them deserve the money they get either—that is why i retired to get away from the greed but my fathers best friend son was the head trustee of the athletic dept and he approved this kind of money——-i understand he and dooley no longer friends ——-i knew tarkenton and he should have been coach since he did not need the money
Bronco, all you Post about is how you think Kirby is overpaid, you dislike your own team, you’re old, and your dad was a super connected UGA alumni. Maybe you’re a troll. If not, use that legacy experience you say you have to share some positive perspective on todays program.
senor rico——this is not personal
georgia is A- to A team and will win all the remaining regular season games in my opinion ——but i go back to the 1950s of watching georgia come close and i do remember in person attending the game the 1st time dooley did the lateral against bama in 1964——-the problem is smart is good coach better than mark richt but when you pay 7 million dollars you have to bring home the NC and so far the defense may not be up to the task——-some people forget that georgia almost always comes close but that only counts in horse shoes——-1980 was great but time is running out and i doubt any new QB is going to be = to jake so all dog fans must understand this fellow is going to go in the 1st round ——-i for one was very dissapointed that fields did not honor his pledge since with that i figured that we now had tua and hurts combo——-you probably will not understand but we suffered with wally butts when you were probally not born so we have a reason to wish the best for georgia but do not wish to go home again 2nd best in the NC
OldDawg, I’m proud to hear that you received a finance degree from UGA, but I did too, and if you do the math (the uhhh finance math), a $7MM coaching salary is not really a lot.
According to Forbes magazine, UGA is the 7th most valuable football program. For the last three years (ie under Smart) the football program has a $125MM average revenue, and an average operating profit of $74MM per year. That’s quite a return…
The University’s job isn’t to win a NC, it’s to provide educations to students and use athletic programs to achieve this goal. Obviously a NC would be a huge win for the football program, the university, and all of the people who make a living selling Bulldawg merchandise, but in the meantime, I think I trust the athletic department to make wise decisions on how much the coach should be paid.
I agree with the premise. There is a lot of talent on the SCar roster. They have several players that UGA wanted and wanted badly. They definitely just won’t roll over and let Georgia do whatever they want. But the opposite of the premise is also true. SCar doesn’t have the depth to hang with UGA for 4 quarters. UGA showed against UT that it doesn’t really matter if a team comes out blazing and punches them early as long as that team can’t handle the waves of equally talented, fresh backups that UGA can send their way. I expect a close game for a quarter or two but UGA pulls away late. Similar to what they’ve done to the SEC East for the past 2+ years.
SaKERliNA hAs ZeRo ChaNcE.
BiG bLowOuT A ComiNG.
pAlMeTTo CracKHeaDS ArE iN fOr A LoNg DaY.
We HaVe MorE 5 sTaR PlYerS ThAn SaKerLinA & ThE TurDs ComBinED.
Oh no King Negan, Corch and TDOW have morphed into one poster. This could get really ugly.
I feel like this account is poking fun at those guys… which is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a loooong time.
I dont even bother attempting to read that upper/lower case stuff. Even trying is like having a grand maul seizure
Ditto.
SC gives us a good game for about a quarter and then the depth and talent differences take hold. 45-10 UGA this year.
No matter what the talent level on EITHER side of the ball; SC always plays GA tough. For whatever reason, we always seem to struggle against them at least a little bit. Just like TN jumped up and put a little (a tiny bit anyway) scare into me during the first quarter – I expect SC will give us a couple of scary moments.
I don’t think they’ll win. But I always expect them to play us hard.
How do you figure? Since 2012, UGA is 5-1 against SC with the avearge margin of victory being nearly 20 points.
I guess, but for several seasons that game was decided under a TD either way.
I must have missed that toughness last year.
This is where I come in and say told you so. They Always play us tough. Don’t know why – but they do.
When you compare those huge salaries for college football coaches to salaries for Pro athletes and movie stars, and the relative value to society of their jobs, those salaries don’t look that bad. How many fatherless players are those coaches teaching self-discipline? How many players from underprivileged backgrounds will get degrees because the coaches held them accountable to go to class? Check out Coach Nick Saban’s graduation rate. He tells his players that they need a degree because (despite AL leading the nation in players playing in the Pros) most of them will not play Pro football.
I don’t think SC has broken 50 yards rushing in the last 3 years. I can count on one hand how many times SC has won in Athens. This game is not even going to be close. We can name our own score.
South Carolina has some talent, Hilinski is better than Bentley and Kinlaw is grown man, but I’m not sure the depth is there in the trenches to go 4 quarters. I think this will go similar to the UT game. Two teams holding the other by the throat and swinging hard each others faces before Georgia carries them out to deeper water where their feet no longer touch. I think it’s a 35-17 win for the Dawgs.
One plus for SC is that all the sports shows talked about after we played Alabama, was that a weakness was uncovered. Said teams can stop the run against them. We rushed for more yards against them than they did against us. Though, GA’s rushing game is top notch, but I hope we can contain the run…. then maybe with some ball bouncing luck our way, we make it a close game.
“Throw out the Missouri game” for Hilinski, for Dowdle, for SC. Uh-huh.
There are no mulligans in football.
Against the last top defenses USC has played against Bama and Clemson USC has put up 1100 yards of offense between the two. If that offense shows up it stays close going into the 4th if the Mizzou debacle shows up game over by halftime.
But what has that offense done against Georgia the last 3 years? Very little. Dowdle? Pfft, hit him hard he wants to come out. We will miss Bently’s interceptions though.Muschamp is an offense killer. Bama has not had much defense all year, so no, they are not a top defense. Clemson never made the adjustment with their safeties last year. I’m not sold. SC will have less than 300 yards offense, about 50 rushing and maybe 200 passing.
Georgia themselves will make it close until they late Jake take control. Then he will use talent on team to pull away. Happens every game. Go out conservative play close to vest. It’s gonna cost us. No killer instinct from the start.
If there is one weakness I see for Georgia is they don’t start fast and hard and keep pedal to metal. They scored first against TN but then let them take lead. Stay aggressive start to finish. Offence and defense. If we played relentless in your face at all times these games would all be blowouts without any moral victories for opponents.
There are no “moral victories”. That’s journalistic garbage. It’s either a W or an L. There is no middle ground.
Bare minimum, we had better come closer than Tennessee.