UGA Postgame Notes vs. South Carolina
*Bulldogs Fall In Double Overtime: With today’s 20-17 loss in double overtime, Georgia is now 8-7 all-time in overtime including 1-2 in Athens. Today marked the first overtime game for the Bulldogs since the 2018 National Championship game in Atlanta vesus Alabama. Today, USC won the toss in overtime and chose defense. On Georgia’s second play, Israel Mukuamu notched his third interception of the game. USC then ran three plays and missed a 33- yard field goal wide right for the win. In the second OT, USC was forced to kick a 24-yard field goal and made it for a 20-17 lead. Then, Georgia missed a 42-yard field goal. The Gamecocks snapped Georgia’s 15-game winning streak against SEC Eastern Division foes dating back to 2016. Also, it ended Georgia’s four-game winning streak in the series that the Bulldogs lead 51-19-2.
*Second Half Defense: After the Gamecocks scored 17 points in the opening half, including a 53-yard interception return for a touchdown, Georgia held South Carolina scoreless in the second half until overtime as the Gamecocks had their backup quarterback (Dakeron Joyner) in to replace the injured Ryan Hillinski. Before overtime today, the Bulldogs had allowed just 17 points this season in the second half all season.
*Fromm’s Afternoon: Junior QB Jake Fromm (28-for-51, 295 yards 1 TD, 3 INTs) finished with career highs in attempts, completions and interceptions. He had his first interception of the year since the 2019 Sugar Bowl, a stretch of 146 attempts. Today’s first INT went for a TD. It marked the Bulldogs’ first interception returned for a touchdown since Stetson Bennett threw one earlier this year versus Murray State. Fromm was also sacked three times after only being sacked once in the first five games. Fromm directed a game-tying TD drive that was capped by a six-yard TD to Demetris Robertson with 1:48 left. The drive covered 15 plays and 96 yards in 4:48. It was the longest drive by plays this season. Robertson had five catches for 51 yards and one TD.
*Blankenship’s Day: Graduate PK Rodrigo Blankenship connected on a 50-yard field goal, added two extra points and missed a 42-yard field goal in overtime that would’ve tied the game. His field goal came on a four-play, 42-yard drive that took 4:45 to put Georgia up 3-0. He has three 50 yarders this season (3-of-4 in 2019) and is 6-of-8 in his career from 50+. He also had a 53 yarder blocked to end the first half, snapping a 12-for-12 start to the season. This was his first blocked kick since the 2018 Missouri game. He has connected on a school record 181 consecutive PATs and the Bulldogs are second nationally with a streak of 272 consecutive PATs dating back to 2014. Also of note on special teams, sophomore punter Jake Camarda drilled a career-long 66 yarder in the opening period that positioned the Gamecocks on their own 7-yard line.
*Switching Leads Today: Following four lead changes and a tie in the first half, Georgia went into the locker room trailing 17-10. After Georgia struck first with a field goal, South Carolina scored the game’s first touchdown (a 46-yard scoring reception) in the first quarter on a nine-play, 93-yard drive that took just 3:59 to take a 7-3 lead. Georgia bounced back with a 75-yard touchdown drive that finished at the beginning of the second quarter to put the Bulldogs up 10-7. Junior TB D’Andre Swift finished the drive with a 1-yard scoring run. He ended the game with a career-high 23 carries for 113 yards. It was his sixth career game of 100+yards. After South Carolina tied it at 10-all on a 49-yard field goal, the Gamecocks had a 53-yard interception return for a touchdown to make the score 17-10 at the half. After today, Georgia is now 6-7 when it is trailing at halftime under Kirby Smart. Before today, the last time was when the Bulldogs were trailing 10-7 at halftime to #7 Notre Dame earlier this year and UGA won 23-17.
*For Starters: Junior Justin Shaffer started his second straight game at LG for Solomon Kindley. Kindley did return to the lineup on the second series. The Bulldogs actually started six linemen with sophomore Cade Mays lining up at a TE spot. Graduate defensive tackle Michael Barnett started his first game of the season and second of his career. Jake Fromm started his 34th straight to lead the offense while graduate S J.R. Reed now leads the defense with 35.
*Points Off Turnovers: The Bulldogs had four turnovers today and are even in turnover margin after giving up a 53- yard INT return for TD in the first half, a fumble in the third quarter and two INTs in the second half/overtime. The Gamecocks failed to score on the fumble recovery and INTs. Opponents have scored 21 points off eight miscues.
*Injury Report: A number of players sustained injuries and left the game. Mark Webb (left knee), Brian Herrien (lower back strain – did not play), Justin Shaffer (neck strain), Lawrence Cager (rib cage) and Solomon Kindley (left ankle) also were missing in action at some point.
*Up Next: The Bulldogs (5-1, 2-1 SEC) play host to Kentucky next Saturday on Dooley Field in Sanford Stadium. Game time and network has yet to be decided.