South Carolina 38, Georgia 35: Gamecocks Pull Upset

South Carolina shook up the SEC East race with a 38-35 win over Georgia.

In its first possession the South Carolina offense looked like a well-oiled machine methodically moving the ball down the field against Georgia in 9 plays. In its first possession, Georgia responded with equal efficacy and lightning speed. With 10 minutes left in the first quarter those watching were on pace to witness approximately 170 points, and hear way too many plays of Sandstorm. Play then slowed down—at least for Georgia.

In the battle of below average secondaries, South Carolina took a commanding lead into halftime with a score of 24-13. At that point, it didn't look like Georgia would be able to stop Dylan Thompson, Pharoh Cooper, Nick Jones, and Shaq Roland. South Carolina's defense seemed poised to limit Georgia to field goals, and it impressively limited Todd Gurley to 8 rushes for 44 yards. Why Gurley only had 8 rushes in the first half is an issue I'm sure will soak up valuable bandwidth on Georgia message boards this week.

In the second half the offensive explosion continued. Gurley cemented himself as a Heisman favorite as he almost single-handedly kept UGA in the game. His 131 yards weren't enough though as South Carolina buckled down for an impressive goal line stand late in the fourth quarter. UGA's typically reliable kicker missed his second field goal of the night, and that was pretty much that. Kudos to Georgia who never quit and scored 14 points in the fourth quarter. It just wasn't enough.

In two weeks, South Carolina has silenced many of its doubters and firmly entrenched themselves in the SEC East driver's seat. Additionally, the victory over East Carolina looks even more impressive in hindsight with their win over Virginia Tech today. The South Carolina defense still has holes but the balanced offense and the magic of Spurrier will overcome those deficiencies most nights. This South Carolina team has resilience, and now they have momentum.