Gamecocks Outgunned

South Carolina comes up short in shootout thriller

ATHENS, Ga. — In a game with more twists and turns than a north Georgia roadway — and certainly more points than expected — it came down to one play for South Carolina.

Despite 427 total yards, Spencer Lanning's school-record five field goals and 37 points, the Gamecocks fell 7 yards short of a win here.

With a fourth-down stop in the shadows of its own goal posts, No. 21 Georgia held on for a 41-37 victory in a wild one before 92,746 fans at Sanford Stadium.

"We believed in ourselves so much that it was disappointing to be let down in the end," said tight end Weslye Saunders, the intended target on that final play.

Facing fourth-and-4 at the 7, USC quarterback Stephen Garcia dropped back. Feeling heat, he stepped forward and sort of shoved one to Saunders at the goal line.

Two Georgia defenders blanketed Saunders, the ball went to the turf and this doghouse went nuts.

It was another disappointing loss in this series for the Gamecocks (1-1, 0-1 SEC), who had two red-zone turnovers last year in the fourth quarter of a 14-7 loss in Columbia.

Different setup this time, but similar heartbreak in the final seconds.

"As hard as we played," Lanning said, "it sucks to come up short."

Lanning was involved in another play nearly as crucial as the final one.

Eric Norwood's 35-yard interception return for a score brought the Gamecocks to 38-37, within a point of Georgia (1-1, 1-0 SEC).

But Lanning's extra point was blocked at the line by Georgia's DeAngelo Tyson. Special teams coach Shane Beamer said he thought the kicked looked low.

"They just came in through a couple of our guys on the right side," USC coach Steve Spurrier said. "It's as simple as that."

Without that extra point, and after Blair Walsh's 42-yard field goal, the Gamecocks were forced to go for the touchdown on the final drive and not a game-tying field goal try.

"I'm sort of broken up about that," Lanning said.

Beamer added: "We should still be playing."

On the final drive, South Carolina took over at the 19. The Gamecocks needed three third-down conversions to keep the drive moving forward.

Garcia moved around well and found open receivers to keep USC's hopes alive.

The sophomore finished the game 31 for 53 for 313 yards and two scores. He had one pass intercepted in the first half that led to a UGA score.

Days after saying he didn't feel comfortable throwing the ball 50 times, Spurrier watched his team do it.

After the 7-3 victory at North Carolina State, he said he'd like to see his team involved in a 42-39, shootout kind of win.

He got the track meet. USC was on the wrong end of it, though.

"Yeah, it would've been nice to win that one 44-41," Spurrier said. "But we didn't. ... We had our chances at the end. We didn't get it done."

The teams combined for 54 first-half points, with Georgia up 31-23.

That was more points than the past two games combined (49). It was more points scored in the half than the teams had put up in entire games in the past 13 meetings, going back to UGA's 42-23 win in 1995.

It was the most points in the series since Georgia's 52-34 victory in 1970.

Georgia's winning total didn't resonate well with the Gamecocks' defense, which missed numerous tackles and was out of position on a regular basis.

The first two quarters were particularly porous for the youthful unit, which wasn't helped by terrible work by the kickoff coverage team.

Georgia had a school-record 204 kickoff return yards in the first half, including a 100-yard return for a score by Brandon Boykin.

"It was just little stuff," said sophomore corner Akeem Auguste. "They took us out of our game in the first half."

So, if you'd told Auguste that the Gamecocks' offense would score 37 and amass 400-plus yards, what would he have thought?

"A blowout," he said. "No doubt."

Reach Travis Haney at thaney@postandcourier.com and check out the South Carolina blog at www.postandcourier.com/blogs/gamecocks.

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