Key plays, game balls, and the burning question following South Carolina’s 40-13 loss to Georgia.

Three Key Plays

1. Stetson Bennett IV

On its first two possessions Georgia easily marched 75 yards for a pair of touchdowns. On its third possession, Kirby Smart replaced starting quarterback JT Daniels with backup Stetson Bennett, who promptly threw a pass directly to Jaylen Foster. Instead of delivering an early knockout blow, Georgia let South Carolina right back in the game. It was classic overcoaching by Smart, the same kind that cost Georgia in South Carolina’s 2019 win. Fortunately for Georgia, South Carolina couldn’t really take advantage of the turnover and only got a field goal, but sometimes it feels like Georgia has to overcome its own coaching.

2. Beamer calls timeout

The strategy made sense, although it was probably overly optimistic. The Gamecocks had forced a punt and had all three timeouts, so Shane Beamer used one to try to get a quick score before the half. Instead, everything went wrong. The punt was downed at the one, and then Luke Doty was sacked in the end zone for a safety. After the free kick, Georgia was able to get into field goal range and take a 26-6 halftime lead. South Carolina needed some good luck to pull off the upset. Instead it had bad luck.

3. Josh Vann’s 36-yard touchdown

It’s hard to find another play that made a difference, but in the fourth quarter, Vann scored the first touchdown allowed by Georgia this season. Even though Georgia had started subbing in the backups, that still counts for something. Plus, it was a perfectly placed pass by Luke Doty.

Two Game Balls

Josh Vann

This is kind of a reluctant game ball. Vann had some bad plays (a false start penalty, a drop on a deep pass, and a taunting penalty after a long catch) that might have been costly in a closer game. But he also provided most of the offense. Vann was able to get behind the defense repeatedly and finished with three catches for 128 yards.

Jaylan Foster

Apparently channeling the spirit of Israel Mukuamu, Foster had two interceptions, one off each quarterback. He also had seven tackles

One Burning Question

Can South Carolina prevent this loss from snowballing?

We might not have anticipated some of the things that happened along the way (a quarterback getting his hand stepped on or the safety at the end of the first half), but the loss was about what was expected. One of the things that defined the WIll Muschamp era was that South Carolina could never sustain positive momentum and could never halt bad momentum. In coach-speak, it’s known as “Don’t let a team beat you twice.” That used to happen to the Gamecocks a lot. Can they flush this game and get ready to compete against Kentucky next week? It is probably a good sign that South Carolina continued to compete into the fourth quarter even after the outcome was clearly decided.

“I thought we competed throughout the game and I’m proud of that,” Beamer said. “As bad as we were in a lot of areas tonight, I’m more excited about our team coming out of this game.”