Georgia vs. South Carolina: Game Grades, Analysis for Bulldogs

Will Muschamp bled from his upper lip like he was auditioning for a bit part in Stranger Things, Georgia passed for under 30 yards and Terry Godwin recovered an onside kick for a touchdown.

All of this is to say the fact this game—one in which Georgia won over South Carolina 28-14—was played on a Sunday was far from the most interesting thing about it.

The running game got back on track, as the Bulldogs were 18 yards away from having three 100-yard rushers. The team took steps forward in certain areas, but it failed to play a complete game overall. But a win’s a win. To the grades!

Pass Offense: D-

Rainier Ehrhardt/Associated Press

Jacob Eason’s statline: 5-of-17 with 29 yards. That is not good. Kirby Smart half-heartedly offered the wind in his postgame SEC Network interview as an excuse for Eason’s performance, but that is a bigger shielding than even Captain America could provide.

Granted, Eason wasn’t even asked to pass that much—his 17 attempts are the lowest number he’s had since he’s been the starter. But on the few times offensive coordinator Jim Chaney dialed something up for him, his balls were underthrown, overthrown and short-hopped. That is every way you can throw an incompletion. The freshman did have a nice pass to junior Isaiah McKenzie, who dropped a would-be touchdown, but overall Eason didn't look much like the player he was last week.

The fact remains, Georgia does not have the prototypical, Mr. Reliable wide receiver on its roster who can step up on a consistent basis, and that hinders Eason’s ability and development. Sophomore Terry Godwin has failed to make the leap that many hoped he would, the freshmen are young—and each is a work-in-progress—and the rest of the receivers are more possession-oriented.

The Bulldogs could afford to be one-dimensional Sunday because South Carolina had no answer for the run. But that’s not going to work every week, especially looking ahead to Auburn next month, which has one of the conference's best defensive lines. Eason is young and will continue to learn, but as the season goes on, that has to stop being an excuse if this team wants to run the table the rest of the way.

Grade: D-

Run Offense: A

Associated Press

Everyone involved, stand up and take a bow. Whatever offensive line coach Sam Pittman and running backs coach Dell McGee preached this week in practice, it worked in spades.

Georgia ran all over South Carolina’s defense. Junior Nick Chubb looks like his old self, and that week off had to have helped. Chubb rushed 16 times for 121 yards, but it was more about the way he ran. Chubb shook off and dragged defenders all afternoon. It’s almost as though his runs began at the first point of contact. He is and has always been fun to watch, and Sunday was a reminder why.

As a team, Georgia rushed for 326 yards off 50 total attempts, which given its 355 yards of total offense, accounted for roughly 92 percent of total offense. That is a total-group effort, and the much-maligned offensive line has to be commended.

Junior Sony Michel rushed for 133 yards on 21 attempts, and freshman Brian Herrien rushed for 82 yards off just nine attempts for a 9.1 yards-per-carry average. Bluntly, the running game is the reason Georgia won this game. Praise is due and earned all-around. The attack took pretty much all pressure off Eason, and since it kept working, the team kept going back to it.

Grade: A

Pass Defense: B-

Rainier Ehrhardt/Associated Press

Georgia has the same problem I do whenever I play basketball: It can’t guard anyone tall. This is nothing new, and we’ve touched on this a lot in this space—the secondary, not my basketball acumen or lack thereof.

Anyway, South Carolina had to have known this coming in, and it had the personnel to try to exploit it. Tight end and punt returner Hayden Hurst is 6-foot-5, 250 pounds and caught six passes for 86 yards, including a big 35-yard reception on 4th down in the fourth that led to a touchdown several plays later.

Georgia allowed 288 yards total pass offense, and while that isn’t too egregious a number, in the same way South Carolina knew to expect the run, Georgia knew to expect the pass most of the game with the Gamecocks trailing early and often.

The corners did do a good job of jumping more than a few routes, and Malkom Parrish had a nice interception. The secondary was not as much of a liability as it had been in past games, and that is progress, even if it is at least a bit of a testament to South Carolina’s inability to string several good plays together.

Grade: B-

Run Defense: B+

Rainier Ehrhardt/Associated Press

Sophomore inside linebacker Roquan Smith is putting together a very nice season for the Bulldogs thus far. He recovered and forced a fumble Sunday, both off rush attempts. Smith has become the player many hoped he would, and we’re now seeing why he was worth the trouble and hoopla that surrounded his recruitment. His counterpart Davin Bellamy had a nice game rushing the quarterback, recording 1.5 sacks to raise his season total to two, already just one shy of his career high.

As for the run defense as a whole, it held Carolina to 31 yards total. Say this for the Gamecocks' running game —they were not about to let Jacob Eason sitting at 29 yards to show them up. Jokes aside, this was not an inspired effort on their part. The number of solid runs any of their backs had can be counted on one hand. Georgia wasn’t tested all that much in this area, but that doesn’t mean its effort shouldn’t be commended.

Grade: B+

Special Teams: C+

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

This grade is likely never going to be higher than that, and that is because of the kicking problem. It’s not really even a problem, but more a conundrum.

Georgia starts every drive needing to score a touchdown, because it has made it abundantly clear it doesn’t trust anyone to attempt, let alone, make a field goal. Think about how outrageous that is. Coach Smart again mentioned concerns about the wind as a reason Georgia didn’t kick a field goal in South Carolina territory closing out the first half—he must be a big Scarlett O’Hara fan—but that is baloney.

Marshall Long was a bright spot, with three punts inside the 20, including a beauty of a kick into the corner inside the 10.

As for kick coverage, it was mostly serviceable. Gamecock returner A.J. Turner was able to advance one to the 30, but for the most part, the unit was able to win the field-position battle on that end.

Grade: C+

Coaching: B

Uncredited/Associated Press

Considering the circumstances surrounding the uncertainty with the game's start time and the lingering sour taste from Tennessee’s Hail Mary in Athens, Georgia, last week, Smart did an admirable job having his team ready to play. There had to be some emotion on his part facing off against longtime pal Will Muschamp, and between the two, Smart was able to come out on top.

As we’ve said, the game plan seemed to be based around running the ball at every given opportunity, and the team executed. The pass call that lead to a deflected interception in the third quarter with the team inside the 10 was suspect given its success running the ball. That Chaney gave Eason a few chances to throw it deep to keep the defense honest was a good idea in theory, but it only works if you can follow through on it.

In a more overarching sense, Georgia took a step back this week compared to last week where it hung with a talented Tennessee team that just took undefeated Texas A&M to overtime.

But a lot of how Smart’s first year will be judged will come in the next three to four weeks. Hang tight.

Grade: B

Conclusion

Rainier Ehrhardt/Associated Press

This was just a wacky game. There wasn’t really anything flashy about it, but the Bulldogs were able to leave with a win and keep pace with Tennessee and Florida, which lost and was idle due to postponement, respectively. If there’s anything to be concerned about, it’s that Georgia doesn’t seem to be progressing forward, perpetually moving one standard deviation to the left or right of the curve each week.

Last week’s performance was an indication of how this team is capable of playing when everything clicks, even if it lost. Sunday’s game could be looked back at as a slight anomaly based on how the team plays these next few weeks. Vanderbilt shouldn’t give them too many problems coming off a loss to Kentucky, but there was a similar narrative for the Bulldogs heading into Nicholls State, and that almost turned disastrous.

Georgia needs to make a leap and start making a marked improvement. Atlanta and the SEC Championship Game are still there as a possibility. The two big tests remaining are Auburn, which is getting stronger by the week, and Florida, which will have a boatload of confidence given how the last two matchups in Jacksonville have played out. Georgia did what it needed to and got the win, but it is what it takes and applies from this, a rare Sunday game, that could make all the difference.