South Carolina-Georgia football prediction: The strange, tall task ahead
This week feels odd. It should be Carolina-Clemson week, but No. 13 Georgia is coming to Columbia. Maybe it fits South Carolina’s deeply weird 2020.
Still, the Gamecocks’ march toward the end of the season means drawing a Bulldogs squad that is both a little disappointing but still unspectacularly solid. They’ve lost the two games they most needed to win (Alabama and Florida), but also showed spark last week with J.T. Daniels’ 400-yard debut.
We all but know freshman QB Luke Doty will start for the Gamecocks come Saturday. We’re thinking Shi Smith is most likely out.
How South Carolina scores? That’s a massive mystery. Georgia’s defense isn’t good by traditional metrics, in part because it got trucked by Florida and Alabama, but it’s very good group when adjusted for competition.
It might show a little about Doty, or Kevin Harris if he can get some traction, but it’ll be hard to read much into that.
The other side will present more of an interesting look.
UGA has just been fine running the ball. The pass game hasn’t been great and oscillated wildly with three QBs in Daniels, Stetson Bennett and D’Wan Mathis.
The play-makers are still pretty formidable, and South Carolina’s secondary is down to a true freshman as the top backup (Joey Hunter) and not much after that. They did somewhat well against a bad Missouri offense, but this task is a lot tougher.
The best source of hope is that the odds last year looked arguably worse against a UGA team that was undefeated and ranked No. 3 nationally, and South Carolina pulled off a stunner in Athens. But this isn’t that Gamecocks defense, and it took everything to pull that off in 2019.
The feel of the game is going to be weird, South Carolina without a coach and Georgia almost assuredly locked out of the SEC title game by kickoff. It could get weird, but don’t count on it.
The Pick: Georgia 38, South Carolina 9
