After getting in the win column last week against an overmatched Furman team at home, the Gamecocks will travel to Athens to face off against the back-to-back defending national champs as a 27-point underdog. Needless to say, it'll be no easy task. That said, what are some key questions that the Gamecocks need to answer this weekend to feel like progress is being made in the 2023 season?

Let's call a spade a spade: the Gamecocks run game is not their strength on offense. After two games, South Carolina is averaging just 1.5 YPC and is averaging only 53 yards per game on the ground. It's unlikely those numbers are set to improve this week as they travel to Athens to face a UGA squad that is giving up just 3.6 yards per carry and 104 yards per game. While I expect Dowell Loggains and the offensive staff to still sprinkle in some run, it seems like the best strategy may be working quick passes on 1st and 2nd down and basically use that as your run attack to slow down LBs from blitzing Spencer Rattler and open up opportunities down the field. The real question is whether the Gamecock OL can hold up long enough to complete any strategy at all. If they can find away to be at least average against an elite UGA front, this could be a golden opportunity for Loggains to show his skills as a strategist and play-caller in a hostile environment, but if the OL plays like they did in week one vs. UNC, it's unlikely any strategy can work around those deficiencies.

Two-time national champion winning quarterback Stetson Bennett is no longer under center in Athens, opening the door for Junior Carson Beck to take his crack at keeping the Bulldogs' momentum going this season. So far against UT Martin and Ball State, Beck has held up pretty well. He's currently completing 72.1% of his passes and has thrown 3 TDs with just one interception. That said, he hasn't seen a P5 defense yet this season, and perhaps South Carolina can give him a little more to think about this week as they attempt to rattle Beck in his first SEC start. As usual, Georgia's bread is buttered with a strong run game that sets up the pass, so this point is probably moot if the Gamecocks can't force a couple of third and longs, but if they can, look for Clayton White to dial up some blitz packages to attempt to confuse the Bulldogs' new OTs and Beck into making mistakes. If you can get that to happen early in this game, it could force Beck off his mark, but if Beck gets a clean pocket and the run game sets up easy opportunities, this could get ugly quickly for the Gamecocks.

By all means it would seem that Spencer Rattler has turned a corner, with an 83.3% completion percentage to start the season, despite being sacked 9 times vs. UNC. Even if the Gamecocks' OL finds a way to put together an average game this week, it's likely that Georgia will put some pressure on Rattler in this one, and the question is whether or not Rattler can stay poised in a tough road environment to continue his hot start. If he can, he gives South Carolina a puncher's chance, with the emergence of Xavier Legette and hopefully the return of form from Antwane Wells Jr., who has played sparingly to start the season as he recovers from a camp injury.

The Gamecock receivers may be one of the few areas where they match up reasonably well vs. a young and banged-up Georgia secondary, but South Carolina won't be able to take advantage unless Rattler continues his near-perfect start to the 2023 season. This is a real opportunity for Rattler on an individual level to stake his claim that the beginning of this season wasn't a mirage, and continue to draw NFL attention towards himself from scouts, regardless of what the final score in this one ends up being.

The Georgia defense is just too good for South Carolina to expect to keep pace this weekend by stringing together multiple 10+ play drives, and on defense, it's probably not realistic to expect the Gamecocks to stonewall the Bulldogs for multiple 3 and outs. That means for South Carolina to actually make this into a 4th quarter game they are going to have to make explosive plays on both sides of the ball. In 2019, Bryan Edwards caught a 46-yard TD pass in the 1st quarter to put the Bulldogs on their heels, and the Gamecock defense forced 4 turnovers. There will need to be similar game-breaking plays on Saturday. Another aspect that won the day in 2019? South Carolina's ability to hit FGs while Rodrigo Blankenship had a surprising miss. Can the Gamecock special teams win the battle vs. the Bulldogs Saturday? That could be crucial should South Carolina actually find a way to make this a second-half ball game.

Look, I know this hasn't been the most optimistic article, but I'm just a guy writing about what I see. The University of South Carolina football team is going to Athens on Saturday with the mindset that they are trying to win the football game. They aren't aiming their sights on moral victories. That said, what does success mean in this one for the Gamecock fanbase? Do you have to win the football game to feel okay about progress under Shane Beamer and have optimism for the rest of the season? I tend to think a competitive showing by the Gamecocks, after two straight blow outs to start the Beamer era, would at least be an encouraging place to start, with a winnable game against Mississippi State due up next week to get the season back on track. We talked all off-season about how tough the beginning of the schedule was, and this Georgia game is the apex of that difficulty, but it can also be used as a litmus test for how the Gamecocks are coming along in the SEC pecking order, which outside of UGA looks more wide open than it has in a long time. Maybe the 2023 Gamecocks aren't quite ready to step to the top of the conference, but this game could be an important stepping stone on the way there.