USC 20 - Georgia 52: Thoughts on Loss #2
Well, It was Fun While It Lasted
There's not much to be said about this one. Our 5 year run of pretty much owning the Dawgs is undeniably over. It is also fairly evident that the 2015 version of the Gamecocks are going to struggle to have a winning season. They'll likely only be favored in 3 of their remaining 9 games (UCF, Vanderbilt, and the Citadel), and therefore will have to pull off 2 upsets just to get to 6 wins. There's nothing guaranteed about that Vanderbilt game either: against Georgia Vanderbilt only gave up 17 offensive points and 422 yards, compared to the 52 points and 576 yards given up by South Carolina. Unless things change for the better in hurry the Gamecocks are looking at having their worst season since 1999.
The tough defensive unit that showed up late in the first 2 games never showed up at all in Athens. The Gamecocks gave up 24 points and 323 yards before halftime, and gave up a further 28 points and 253 yards in the 2nd Half. USC only forced 2 punts in the entire game, the first of which wasn't until the end of the 3rd Quarter. Give credit to Geogia, though. Greyson Lambert was incredible, completing 24 of 25 (an FBS record) for 330 yards and 3 TDs. He also spread the ball around, with 9 different Georgia players tallying receptions. His performance reminded me of Connor Shaw's against Missouri in 2012, only Lambert was more impressive. Even if the Carolina pass rush failed to put any pressure whatsoever on the QB, this performance was phenomenal. If Lambert can keep it up, Georgia is without a doubt the favorite to win the East and have a good shot at taking down the winner of the West in Atlanta.
Here's some interesting things I noticed from the game:
- Nunez looked really good running the ball, leading the team in rushing with 76 yards on 10 carries. He took the second snap of the game. Given our struggles in the passing game Nunez is going to have to be a bigger part of the offense going forward.
- T.J. Holloman got his first significant action of the season, but it wasn't in relief of Skai Moore at MIKE. From what I saw he got most of the reps at SAM when we lined up in the 4-3.
- D.J. Neal had his first career reception in his first career game, a nice catch for 15 yards.
- Jerell Adams only had 1 reception for 15 yards in the 2nd Quarter, but got a lot of those yards after the catch after trucking through some tackles. If we could catch this guy in stride he would be almost impossible for safety to bring down single-handedly.
That's all I've got. Not sure why you'd want to, but you can see the whole game again here: