Our last NCAA FB Preview was for the Week 3 teams that included No. 6 Georgia, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 8 Baylor, No. 9 USC and No. 10 LSU. Texas A&M, Baylor and LSU were winners so now we will recap the losers. No.6 Georgia 1-1 (SEC) lost to No.24 South Carolina (SEC) 2-1 with a score of 38-35.
The Georgia Bulldogs and the South Carolina Gamecocks both SEC team with the game being played this past Saturday, September 13, 2014 at the Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina and the Bulldogs were favored at -5 ½ with the Over/Under 60 and the Money Line was -230 on the Bulldogs. Needless to say Georgia lost the game and it also went over the total of 60.
The tell-tale of the game was a Georgia missed field goal and a tight fourth down conversion by South Carolina to get the much desired win to stay alive in the SEC East race. Georgia had the ball on the 4yard line with first and goal with less than 5 minutes in the game.
On the 1st play Bulldogs QB Mason was penalized for intentional grounding, then on 2nd RB Gurley got 3 yards and on 3rd a Mason pass to the end zone was incomplete. Then the kicker Morgan who earlier in the game set the SEC record with 20 straight field goals missed right on this 28 yard attempt with 4:22 left in the game. Then the Gamecocks took over the ball and managed to run out the clock winning 38-35.
Possibly, the biggest difference in this game was South Carolina had 27 first downs while Georgia had some 18 and the Gamecocks had 271 yards passing to the Bulldogs 191. The Georgia QB Mason was 16 of 22 for 191 yards with 2 touchdowns, while South Carolina QB Thompson was 21 of 30 for 271 yards with 3 touchdowns and was intercepted once.
The Gamecock receivers were led by Anderson who had 5 receptions of 67 yards and scoring 1 TD and all eight receivers had a total of 21 receptions for 271 yards and 3 touchdowns while the five running backs rushed for 176 yards on 42 carries and scored 2 touchdowns.
The Bulldog’s had 9 receivers with 16 receptions for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns, with Conley and Gurley each had 4 receptions. Their running backs were led by Gurley with 20 carries for 131 yards and 1 TD while the other 6 running backs has 18 carries for 86 yards with Hicks scoring a TD. Also Heisman candidate Gurley had a TD run of 54 yards nullified as their guard Kublanow was holding on the play.
This South Carolina victory was Spurrier’s 201st as a coach in the SEC and is now tied for second with Georgia’s famous Vince Dooley for all-time SEC wins. This victory was also made coach Spurrier’s record against the Bulldogs to 16-6 and put him 1st in all-time wins against Georgia. Apparently Spurrier and the Gamecocks have the Bulldogs number.
The Bulldogs an Coach Richt entered the game with favored and with the momentum of the 45-21 defeat of Clemson in their opening game and their Heisman candidate RB Gurley was running in high gear. In the end they failed at the goal line and the Gamecocks took the victory in a game that had 90 minute delay due to severe lightning.
So if you’re a Bulldog fan or a Gamecock fan and you bet on college football at an online sportsbook, you certainly want to check with your bookmaker as to how this will affect the rankings and the odds for the teams upcoming games in Week 4.