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Georgia’s defense no match for Gamecocks

10:26 pm October 6, 2012, by Tim Tucker

(Updated 11:50 p.m.)

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Remember the Georgia defense that ranked among the nation’s top five last season and expected to be even better this season?

It once again was nowhere to be found Saturday night.

The Bulldogs’ defense ranked an inexplicable 55th among FBS teams in yards allowed through this season’s first five games   and looked even worse in Game 6, a 35-7 loss to South Carolina in Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday night.

The Georgia defense was porous on South Carolina’s first two possessions, allowing touchdown drives of 76 and 69 yards that gave the Gamecocks a 14-0 lead and set the tone for what was to be a long night for the Bulldogs.  A special-teams touchdown –- a 70-yard punt return — stretched South Carolina’s lead to 21-0 with 5:18 still to play in the first quarter.

“We said we were going to fight back,” cornerback Sanders Commings said, “and unfortunately we couldn’t tonight.”

Any remote chance of Georgia getting back into the game seemed to slip away in the third quarter when the defense was burned on a long pass to the 1-yard line, setting up a score that gave the Gamecocks a 28-0 lead.

By the long night’s end, Georgia’s defense had allowed 392 yards. The Gamecocks ran for 230, including 109 on 24 carries by tailback Marcus Lattimore and 78 on 14 carries by quarterback Connor Shaw. Shaw, the dual-threat quarterback from Flowery Branch, threw only 10 passes but completed six of them for 162 yards, an average of  27 yards per completion.

“We  just made a lot of bonehead mistakes,” Commings said. “Giving up big plays, jumping offsides — we just can’t do  things like  that and win ballgames. … It was just lack of focus on our part. When that happens, it’s easy for a team to make a big play, and that’s what they did.”

On South Carolina’s first possession, South Carolina receivers twice got behind Georgia safety Bacarri Rambo for long pass plays –- 42 yards from Shaw to Damiere Byrd and 20 yards from Shaw to Bruce Ellington for the touchdown. Rambo recovered on the first to the point of almost intercepting the pass, but Byrd took it out of his hands.

On the Gamecocks’ second possession, the Georgia defense yielded a methodical 11-play drive that included a 16-yard pass from Shaw to Lattimore and a 14-yard touchdown throw from Shaw to wide-open tight end Rory Anderson.

“We gave up two touchdowns right off the bat on explosive plays. You can’t do that,” Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. “We had a chance to make a play there [on the 42-yard pass to Byrd]. We didn’t.  Give them credit. We dug ourselves a hole.”

Another lowlight for the defense: South Carolina’s D.L. Moore ran past Commings  in the third quarter and caught a 62-yard pass from Shaw, going down at the 1-yard line. Lattimore scored on the next play.

“Us losing like this, I definitely don’t think they’re that many points better than us,” Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones said.  “We could have executed better, and we could have done a lot of things better than we did.  We can’t make excuses. It is what it is. They played well. They executed.  They  made plays.”

Said Grantham: “It’s tough when these things happen, but the thing you’ve got to do is, you’ve got to take an evaluation of yourself and say, ‘What have I got to do as a player and a coach to get better and work through it and make sure that we improve so that when we play in two weeks we’re a much better football team?”

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF GEORGIA-SOUTH CAROLINA GAME

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80 comments Add your comment

Hairy Dawg

October 7th, 2012
3:42 am

Spurrier not only ate Todd Grantham’s lunch tonight. He digested it, crapped it out, put it between a couple of pieces of bread, and watched Grantham eat it.

No. 5 Bulldogs ‘Spurriered’ by No. 6 South Carolina, 35-7 (UPDATED) | UGA sports blog

October 7th, 2012
4:38 am

[...] Georgia’s defense no match for South Carolina’s offense [...]

Georgia’s defense no match for Gamecocks – Georgia – Dawg News

October 7th, 2012
4:45 am

[...] this link: Georgia’s defense no match for Gamecocks ← Back to Home Tags: commings, defense, game, lead, night, ranked, sanders, season, [...]

Topp Dogg

October 7th, 2012
9:06 am

I still say D Dooley will have sucess quicker than Georgia with this coaching staff.I would rather slam my tool in a sliding glass door as to watch anything like that beat down again.

ADH

October 7th, 2012
9:21 am

Grantham got schooled. All that talent on defense is wasted. No discipline on or off the field.

Fire Richt and make that clown your head coach. He’s firey! ROFL.

ross

October 7th, 2012
9:39 am

LOOKED TO ME THAT M.R, WAS MORE WORRIED ABOUT MESSING UP HIS HAIR,THAN THE GAME.I QUITE WATCHING AFTER THE FIRST QUARTER.THE BRAVES SUCKED,GT SUCKED,AND THE DAWGS,WELL THEY NEED TO CHANGE THEIR NAME.MAYBE LIMP DAWGS.

Hanky Panky

October 7th, 2012
10:39 am

JON GRUDEN FOR UGA HEAD COACH.

Beano Cook

October 7th, 2012
11:02 am

At least the Dawgs dont have to get routed by Alabama.

Will Trane

October 7th, 2012
12:40 pm

Totally agree with outer banks. That was the worst play selection and game plan. Put the power to one side of the line and let your big backs pound them. Carolina is good on D due their speed and pass rush. Why do you line up your back so deep to get into the running lane. All four of those plays inside the five were the mometnum killer for the O. Amazed where Bobo goes. Sends a 180 pound receiver over the middle. Note the receiver had two guys on him. Had a lineman within two yards who watched rather than pushed the tacklers and receiver into the end zone.

Look Dawg fans…you have to be able to run the ball in the SEC. CMR never ever understands that. He and his offensive staff do not recruit enough O lineman. Recruit some D lineman from high school and convert them if the talent pool is down. But Georgia has to do a better job of recruiting O lineman…and I mean some studs who can come of the line with their feet. Georgia has been the worst blocking team in the SEC for about 4 -5 years. Watch their damn pad level.

Not one damn time did Bobo get Carolina to reset their box. Man all night against the O and it worked. We went zone of D and they torched us for big plays. Second game back for Rambo and Ogletree and it showed.

1969 Graduate

October 7th, 2012
1:13 pm

I don’t understand this article. It is supposed to be about our defense. We have no defense.

We have no offense either.

We need to go through a brief spell where we have no coaches. Fire them all. I’m sure they can all get another job. A small middle school P.E. teaching job.

Spurrier is our daddy. South Carolina owns us.

Mark Richt and Mike Bobo and all the rest of them should be horse whipped. What a bunch of losers. And we gave these losers raises. Shame on UGA.

Can we beat any good team? I doubt we will. Never. Not until we get real coaches.

Tdawg

October 7th, 2012
1:17 pm

I’ve had it and can no longer stomach Mark Richt. I’ve been backing him the whole time he has been at UGA. No more. The dawgs have been playing like a bunch of pansies. The only reason they’ve even won a game this season is because they were way more talented than the other teams. South Carolina show them just how good they really were. Which is not really that good at all. South Carolina punched them in the mouth from the get go and they folded like a tent in the category 5 hurricane. I hope the dawg player’s are feeling sick today. They should. They just got the crap punked out of their over rated arses. Jenkins a first round draft choice? Yell right. Only if you are drafting marshmallows. What has happened to Jarvis. Is he being tripled teamed. Dawgs will lose at least 2 if not more games this season. Florida is a loss. Mississippi State is a loss. He!! with that pathetic defense, GA. Tech may be able to out slug them. Auburn, Ole Miss, Kentucky and even Ga. Southern are now thinking that they also have a punchers chance against the much weaker than advertised dawgs. The only reason the entire coaching staff should be even showing up for school Monday morning is to collect their severance pay. Fire the dang lot of them.

Tdawg

October 7th, 2012
1:42 pm

Better to let Mark Richt know now that his service’s would be no longer needed at the end of the season and start looking for a head coach now instead of at the end of the year. That way you could give the new head coach time to pursade the high school kids to stay committed or do what ever they are going to do. Do you think for one second that Langley is considering UGA any longer? Wouldn’t be a damn bit suprised if the WR committed to BGA from SC flips. Hell I would.

cmac22

October 7th, 2012
1:43 pm

Grantham is a farce!! He has duped UGAly for a huge paycheck & he is not producing any results. Yea, he beats the crappy teams, but his D can’t play with the big boys (WOW! S. Carolina is part of the big boys!).

Two years ago, Granthams first, UGAly D couldn’t stop Colorado!! Miss State!! Kentucky!! Vandy!! or UCF!!. Last year, they couldn’t stop the 4 toughest teams on the schedule. Now the first real game of 2012 … same results!!

To bad UGAly can’t just face the unranked teams!! They would be AWESOME!!, the coaches would all get big raises & the delusional UGAly fans would all be HAPPY!!

Return to Glory

October 7th, 2012
2:10 pm

Lets see poor defense, bad special teams play, offensive turnovers..hmm,, sounds familer. Sick of EXCUSES, were a joke.

Hanky Panky

October 7th, 2012
2:58 pm

DRAFT JON GRUDEN FOR UGA HEAD COACH.

jlp39

October 7th, 2012
3:29 pm

Why in the hell was someone not assigned to hit connor shaw on every hand off? For our coaching millionaires, its an option offense and the boy from Flowery Branch can run.
We need some hunting dogs and not a bunch of show dogs. NFL my butt. Keep reading the summers press clippings boys cause it aint happening. USC’s offensive line sucks and they owned us all night. Can Terry Hoage coach??

Delbert D.

October 7th, 2012
4:52 pm

Grantham’s dreams of a big paycheck are slipping away fast.

LakeDawg

October 7th, 2012
5:51 pm

Any news out of Athens yet? I can only hope this isn’t going to drag out for another year or two. That would be unbearable.

No. 1 Braves Fan

October 7th, 2012
6:21 pm

UGA fans are amazing. They lose one game and scream for the coach to be fired. Nevermind that they will be heavy favorites in 5 of their last 6 regular season games
and will be fairly even against Florida. Team should finish no worse than 10-2 in regular season yet the sky is falling on Athens. Grow up whiny UGA fans and get another life to go with football. Geesh.

JB

October 7th, 2012
6:36 pm

Braves fan……If you are just dropping by, last night was not just one loss. It’s a 4 year slide. Georgia has not beat a top ranked team going on 4 years. We have laid 4 or 5 big hyped National TV games the last 4 years. This staff underachieves with more talent and resources than any team in the country. Beating teams of much lessor talent is not much to brag about.
McGarity has a real problem. The ONLY thing that will force a move is $$$$$$$…….

JB

October 7th, 2012
6:37 pm

laid 4 or 5 EGGS

JB

October 7th, 2012
6:38 pm

I’m beginning to agree about Grantham. I think he’s showing he’s over sold.

007

October 7th, 2012
6:40 pm

If Rambo is an All American, then I’m a Chinese airplane pilot.

Struggles continue in marquee games; team whipped but not flat, Richt says | UGA sports blog

October 7th, 2012
7:32 pm

[...] Georgia’s defense no match for South Carolina’s offense [...]

JRW7

October 7th, 2012
9:17 pm

CMR got embarrassed!

Reason

October 7th, 2012
11:48 pm

Grantham is doing as well as any DC can do in a CMR program.

You can’t expect a defense under an 85 scholarship limit (which UGA is well under) to hold a very physical team forever.

The defense started shaky but held S. Car for majority of the 2nd and 3rd qtr forcing 3 3 and outs.

The offense had 2 turnovers. 3 3 and outs, 1 possession with a single 1st down and then an 80 yard drive with no points in the 1st half.

Where were Bobo’s big plays? The great OL opening holes? It was a shut out until late in the game.

1 Loss and screaming to get fired?

This isn’t just a DC, OC or special teams break down. ESPN published the stats against teams ranked at the yr end: 2-14 against all teams 0-9 against SECs team since ‘08? This is not a 1 year trend. Bobo and special teams deserve just as much blame, if not more.

I do expect UGA to only drop 1 more game this year (UF) but I do not see the program improving past this. The team is at about the same level this year as last, but 2 of the 3 best teams are in the East not West last they were last year 10-2 this year will likely be 3rd in the East, Bama likely wins the west with 1 loss at most.

Reason

October 7th, 2012
11:53 pm

*I do expect UGA to only drop 1 more game this year (UF) but I do not see the program improving past this. The team is at about the same level this year as last, but 2 of the 3 best teams are in the East not West as they were last year. 10-2 this year will likely be 3rd in the East, Bama likely wins the west with 1 loss at most. Placing UGA at a debated 4th best in the SEC. Last year Bama and LSU were the top 2, Arky was 3rd best in many people’s opinions, placing UGA 4th.

pop

October 8th, 2012
10:46 am

fire bobo come on dawg nation help me to get rid of bobo please speak up and voice your angry hearts and send in letters to ga campus to get rid of bobo he is stupid whe we was on the 2 yd line why not jump ball with 6 ft 5 brown or 6ft 3 conly or the tall tight ends get my idea or run 240lb samual come on bobo u are stupid

Delirious

October 8th, 2012
7:46 pm

Every year Georgia thinks its going to win every game. No one except Alabama does that. Your in a very strong conference. The fans go nuts when lose one game and they want to fire everybody…ridiculous.
I’m a Tech fan and its always a hoot to me to see all the hype about Georgia’s football team. You should have paid attention to the powder puff schedule you played before the S.C. Playing patsies really doesn’t help make you a better football team. Gets the fans all hyped up….next thing you know all the idiot fans that don’t know a football from a beer can think your going to win the national championship. Start beating Alabama …then you will have a chance at winning championships.
Beating Tech isn’t that big of a deal anymore. They don’t get near the talent that Georgia does…you should always be able to beat a team with less talented players. I have a funny feeling that this isn’t going to be the only game you lose this year.

The Tide is Rolling and Nothing can stop it

October 8th, 2012
10:56 pm

I tried to tell you guys all off season not to get too hopeful about your awesome coordinator that averaged 39 pts to ranked teams

But you just wanted to blame it on the offense.

Then, you thought you had an awesome offense.

32 years boys!

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