Georgia running back Zamir White (3) during the Bulldogs’ game with South Carolina in Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (Photo by Tony Walsh)
ATHENS, Ga- Second-ranked Georgia (3-0) beats South Carolina (2-1) 40-13 in front of a packed Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium. Georgia improves its series lead to 53-19-2 over the Gamecocks.
Quarterback JT Daniels on the atmosphere, “92,000 is awesome. I’ve never experienced or believed in a true home field advantage too much until I saw a real SEC game and hearing that when the other team is on 3rd-down is something else. I would hate to play against us in Sanford and it’s what we do.”
JT Daniels returned from a one-game absence due to an oblique injury and threw for 303 yards and 3 touchdowns on 23-31 passing. On his injury he said, “I definitely feel very confident and that goes to Ron Courson and the whole training staff. They have done so much and brought so many things in specific for my injury. I’ve had muscle pulls, tears, and strains and I’ve never had one heal this fast.”
Freshman tight end Brock Bowers led the team in catches for the third straight week to begin the season tallying 5-catches for 53-yards. Adonai Mitchell led the team in receiving yards with 77 including a touchdown. Kendall Milton led the way for the Bulldogs on the ground with 66 yards. Zamir White and James Cook both contributed 51 yards as well as a touchdown each on the ground. Cook also added a touchdown through the air to his tally.
The Georgia offense was efficient on 3rd-down finishing 9-of-12 for the game on 3rd-down. Head Coach Kirby Smart on the 3rd-down success, “Impressive. Our offensive line stepped up. Kenny McIntosh stepped up and hit a guy in between the eyes on a blitz. They went soft zone, they went max blitz, they did it all and we converted on each one. When you are efficient on 3rd-down you are hard to beat.”
Nolan Smith led the way for the defense with 8 total tackles including 1.5 sacks. One sack forcing a fumble and the other combined with Jordan Davis for a safety. Channing Tindall follows a good performance last week with 7 total tackles. Derion Kendrick added an interception, his first of the season.
Georgia opened the second half on the South Carolina 20-yard line following an interception by senior cornerback Derion Kendrick. Junior Zamir White would follow with 2 rushes for 15 and 5 yards and a score giving Georgia a 33-6 lead just over a minute into the second half.
The Bulldog’s defense would force its second-straight turnover to start the second half after Nolan Smith strip sack’s Gamecock quarterback Luke Doty giving Georgia possession at its own 47-yard line. The Georgia offense follows with another touchdown following a 4-yard touchdown reception by James Cook on the 8th play of the drive pushing the Georgia lead to 40-6. This would be senior James Cook’s 2nd touchdown of the day.
South Carolina would punt on their following drive giving Georgia the ball on the UGA 11-yard line with 4:18 remaining in the half. The Gamecock defense responds after Jaylan Foster records his second interception of the day on the 4th-play of the drive.
Following a Gamecock punt and a Georgia fumble from Kendall Milton, South Carolina finds the endzone for the first time of the day on a 36-yard pass to Josh Vann cutting Georgia’s lead to 40-13. This would be the first touchdown given up on the year for the Georgia defense.
Stetson Bennett would re-enter the game for the Bulldogs and lead a 4-play drive resulting in a Georgia punt. South Carolina would follow with its longest drive of the night resulting in a turnover on downs at the UGA 9 on the 12th-play of the drive. Georgia would take over with 1:21 remaining and kneel-out the clock giving Georgia a 40-13 victory.
Georgia improves to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in SEC play. The Bulldogs will face Vanderbilt next week on the road at 12:00 in an interconference matchup. The game is scheduled to air on SECN.
See Georgia Jumps Out to 26-6 Lead on South Carolina for first half recap.
