Bullets: Game news and notes

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ATHENS - News, notes and highlights from Saturday night's South Carolina-Georgia football game.

A complete game story will be posted soon.

FINAL SCORE: UGA 52, USC 20.

STATISTICAL SUMMARY:

-- Perry Orth completed 6-of-17 passes for 66 yards in his first career start for USC. Freshman QB Lorenzo Nunez saw the most extensive action of his young career and scored his first career TD early in the fourth quarter. He led USC in rushing with 76 yards on nine carries and completed 4-of-5 passes for 18 yards.

-- USC had trouble tackling Georgia running back Nick Chubb, who amassed 141 rushing yards through three quarters and finished with 159 yards on 21 carries. In addition, UGA quarterback Greyson Lambert completed for 24-of-25 passes for 330 yards to set a school single game completion percentage record.

-- Steve Spurrier is now 16-7 against Georgia after the Bulldogs piled up 576 total yards against the overmatched Gamecock defense. USC mustered just 258 yards.

-- The USC defense had not allowed a point in the second half of the first two games, but yielded 21 points and 175 yards in the third quarter as the Bulldogs pulled away for its second straight win over USC in Athens and made the fourth quarter 15 minutes of garbage time.

INJURIES: Center Alan Knott was helped off the field with 12:33 left in the second quarter with an apparent ankle injury. USC soon tweeted out Knott had a sprained ankle and would be evaluated at halftime. . .Brandon Wilds exited the game in the second quarter with a rib injury. . .Defensive tackle Taylor Stallworth left the game with an injury in the second half.

-- Lorenzo Nunez made his first appearance on USC's second snap of the first offense series. Pharoh Cooper ran over the left side for 13 yards. Two plays later, Nunez returned on third down, but was tackled well short of the first down marker.

-- Georgia took possession at its 17-yard line and drove 71 yards in 11 plays before the drive stalled in the end zone. Nick Chubb was tackled for a 2-yard loss on first down, and UGA eventually settled for a 30-yard field goal by Marshall Morgan with 7:16 left in the first quarter. SCORE: UGA 3, USC 0.

-- Chubb actually fumbled on his first touch of the game after running for seven yards to the SC 40. The fumble was forced by Gerald Dixon Jr. But the Bulldogs recovered to keep the drive going.

-- Orth completed his first three passes of USC's second possession, including a 15-yard throw to freshman D.J. Neal to the UGA 33 for his first career reception. Tight end Jacob August caught Orth's second pass. All three aforementioned completions went to freshmen.

-- On third-and-4 from the UGA 27, Orth rolled right and fired a 6-yard pass to Pharoh Cooper for the fourth first down generated on the drive. Cooper was tackled out of bounds at the UGA 21. The completion made Orth 4-of-5 passing for 37 yards on the drive.

-- After Orth was sacked on third down, Elliott Fry booted a 45-yard field goal with 1:36 left in the first quarter to make him 5-of-7 on the season, 1-2 from 490-49 yards. Orth was 4-of-7 passing for 37 yards on the drive. SCORE: USC 3, UGA 3.

-- The Bulldogs converted a third-and-2 from the UGA on a pass from Lambert to Terry Godwin for 17 yards on the final play of the first quarter.

END 1ST QTR: USC 3, UGA 3.

-- Chubb totaled 26 yards on three consecutive carries as UGA quickly moved to the USC 22. Lambert then fired a pass to backup TE Jay Rome for 20 yards to the SC 2. Chub powered into the end zone on first down with 12:56 left in the second quarter for his third rushing TD of the season, capping a 9-play, 82-yard drive in 3:35 for the Bulldogs. SCORE: UGA 10, USC 3.

-- Shon Carson returned the kickoff to the USC 33, giving USC good field position. After two incompletions, Orth coolly stepped back and fired a 14-yard pass to Samuel at the USC 47 for a first down. However, Alan Knott was injured on the play and replaced by freshman Zac Bailey. Sean Kelly punted 37 yards to the UGA 12, where the ball rolled out of bounds.

-- Taking over with just over 11 minutes left in the second quarter, UGA inserted No. 2 running back Sony Michel into the game and soon proved why the Bulldogs have one of the deepest running backs corps in the country. Michael carried four times for 47 yards on the drive, including a 21-yard TD run through the left side in which he was barely touched. He also caught a screen pass for 10 yards. So, Michel accounted for 57 of UGA's 88 yards.

-- Trailing by two touchdowns and needing a spark, USC inserted Nunez into the game for the second time. The freshman promptly ran for 17 yards. Two plays later, the freshman pitched to Cooper, who crossed midfield for an 11-yard gain to the UGA 40. Wilds powered through the middle for 13 yards to the UGA 27, but stayed down on the field injured. He was escorted off the field by USC trainers.

-- Facing a critical third-and-6 from the UGA 23, Orth completed a 15-yard pass to tight end Jerell Adams over the middle. Adams dragged several UGA tacklers to the UGA 8. The conversion improved USC to 4-of-7 on third-down opportunities.

-- On second down, Orth kept the ball and scurried into the left corner of the end zone for his first career rushing TD with 2:17 left in the second quarter.

-- Running the two-minute drill, UGA needed just four plays to drive into USC territory. Lambert connected with Reggie Davis along the left sideline and USC safety Isaiah Johnson was flagged for targeting. But an official review waved off the flag as Johnson made contact with the UGA receiver in the shoulder area.

-- USC desperately needed to keep UGA out of the end zone, but the Lambert completed a 14-yard pass to Mitchell and Chubb ran for four yards to the USC 5. UGA called timeout with 20 seconds left in the second quarter.

-- Coming out of the timeout, Lambert stepped back and fired a 5-yard TD pass to an open Mitchell in the left middle of the end zone as the Bulldogs regained a two-touchdown edge over the Gamecocks. SCORE: UGA 24, USC 10.

-- Carson broke free on the kickoff and ran out beyond midfield to the UGA 48. A facemask penalty on UGA moved the ball an additional 15 yards closer to the end zone with seven seconds remaining in the first half.

-- Even though USC had one timeout left, Spurrier decided to immediately bring in Elliot Fry for a 51-yard field goal attempt. Fry drilled the long kick between the uprights as the half ended to cut the deficit to 24-13. It was Fry's first career field goal beyond 50 yards. He had previously been 0-for-3 in that category.

HALFTIME: UGA 24, USC 13.

-- The Gamecocks did exactly what they could ill afford to do at the outset of the third quarter - surrender a touchdown to fall behind by three scores. Georgia took over at the 25 and rocketed down the field in just five plays. Chubb ran for 13 and 31 yards on his first two carries of the second half to surpass the 100-yard plateau with over 28 minutes left to play in the contest.

-- Lambert threw a first-down screen pass to Michel on the left side. He deked a Gamecock defender and crossed the goal line for the Bulldogs' fourth straight touchdown. SCORE: USC 31, USC 13,

-- Disaster struck the Gamecocks on their opening possession of the third quarter when Orth overthrew a receiver on third down and the errant pass was intercepted by safety Dominick Sanders at the SC 44 and returned 33 yards to the SC 11. Moments later, Lambert threw an 11-yard TD to Michael with 12:48 left in the third quarter. SCORE: UGA 38, USC 13.

-- USC gambled on fourth down from its 31 on the ensuing possession and Nunez scampered six yards for first down. But the next three plays gained just two yards and the Gamecocks punted.

-- Lambert found a WIDE open Reggie Davis for a 28-yard gain to the SC 31. Two plays later, UGA fumbled the snap and the Gamecocks recovered.

-- USC quickly gave the ball back in great position as USC again gambled on fourth down inside its 35-yard line. This time, Shon Carson was tackled for no gain short of the first down marker on fourth-and-1 from the SC 23.

-- The fourth down failure gave Georgia the ball just outside the red zone and the Bulldogs quickly scored on a 7-yard TD by Chubb with 4:13 left in the third quarter. SCORE: UGA 45, USC 13.

-- USC forced UGA to punt for the first time in the game late in the third quarter. The Bulldogs had scored six touchdowns, kicked a field goal and fumbled on their previous eight possessions.

-- UGA outscored USC, 21-0, and outgained the Gamecocks, 175-55, in the third quarter. UGA had 498 total yards by the end of the third quarter.

END 3rd QUARTER: UGA 45, USC 13.

-- Nunez scored his first career TD on a 7-yard run with 13:49 left in the contest, capping a 4-play, 54-yard drive in which the freshman handled most of the load. SCORE: UGA 45, USC 20.

-- Georgia scored again (fourth TD of the second half) on a short run up the middle by Keith Marshall with 8:24 left in the game. SCORE: UGA 52, USC 20.

-- USC barely avoided disaster on the ensuing kickoff when a fumble was negated by an offside penalty on Georgia. Both teams essentially ran out the clock after that as Nunez continued to gain valuable experience.

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