Georgia

Georgia football vs. South Carolina hits pause in SEC. ‘Going to be weird not playing’

Published

5 months ago

July 15, 2024

Press Room

Georgia football vs. South Carolina hits pause in SEC. ‘Going to be weird not playing’

DALLAS—Hanging on light posts near the Omni Dallas hotel where SEC Media Days opened Monday are two banners.

The quite familiar “It Just Means More,” and a sign of the times: “Now 16 Strong.”

Ushering in Texas and Oklahoma is a focal point of the four days of football chatter with more than 1,200 media members.

The Sooners hit the stage Tuesday and Longhorns on Wednesday.

Their additions meant the end of divisions and some familiar annual matchups taking a pause.

Like Georgia-South Carolina.

The teams won’t play this season or next—barring an SEC championship or playoff matchup—for the first time since 1992. That’s when the Gamecocks joined the SEC.

Not playing the beast that is Georgia could be looked at as a welcome break.

That’s not what the Gamecocks said.

“I always looked forward to playing Georgia every year,” said redshirt senior Luke Doty, who has played in four games against the Bulldogs including throwing for 190 yards in his first career start at quarterback against Georgia in 2020 and starting last season at wide receiver in the game. “It’s definitely going to be weird not playing them, Tennessee or Florida this year just because we’ve played them for so long.”

The Gamecocks led Georgia 14-3 at halftime in a week 3 game last season, but lost 24-14, their eighth defeat in the series in the last nine games.

South Carolina delivered Georgia their last home loss in the 2019 season.

Alex Huntley was there on a recruiting visit to Georgia. He’s now a fifth-year Gamecocks defensive tackle and would prefer to get a shot at what could be the preseason No. 1 ranked Bulldogs.

“I actually wasn’t a fan of it,” Huntley said. “I looked forward to playing Georgia. …I was there when South Carolina beat Georgia. I was at that game. So I kind of wanted that opportunity as well. Last year we had that opportunity. We came up short. I kind of wanted another shot.”

Georgia also won’t play Missouri or Vanderbilt the next two regular seasons. The Tigers are a tougher test now entering their fifth season under Eli Drinkwitz whose team went 11-2 and won the Cotton Bowl last season.

Georgia won its 10^th straight against Missouri last season, but the teams were tied at 10 in their Nov. 4 game in Athens before the Bulldogs pulled out a 30-21 win after Nazir Stackhouse’s interception return set up a fourth-quarter field goal.

In Shane Beamer’s fourth season as South Carolina coach, the Gamecocks also avoid Texas, but play at Alabama and Ole Miss in back-to-back weeks in October.

“You want to compete against the best, you want to coach against the best,” Beamer said. “We ain’t far off. We’ve had some fantastic wins over the last three seasons…There’s teams to be considered to be in the mix for that playoff that we have beaten.”

South Carolina went 5-7 last season and the Gamecocks aren’t expected to rise this season.

“I really like our football team, most of you don’t,” Beamer said.

He said he expects his team t be picked 13^th or 14^th.

The Gamecocks were picked 13^th in the USA Today Sports predicted order of finish ahead of only Arkansas, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.

Georgia was picked first, getting all but one vote to win the SEC title. The other went to Texas.

South Carolina lost quarterback Spencer Rattler. Redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers is in line to replace him.

“We’re young, we’re talented as an offense, but the question is how fast we can come together?” Beamer said.

Huntley is certainly confident.

Here’s what he said of not playing Georgia.

“We don’t see them on the regular schedule,” Huntley said. “I’m sure we’ll see them in the playoffs though or have that opportunity.”

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Georgia

Texas ran all over Clemson, and the Longhorns may have Georgia to thank for that

Published

2 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Texas ran all over Clemson, and the Longhorns may have Georgia to thank for that

AUSTIN — Yeah, yeah, sure. Georgia has beaten Texas twice already this year. The Bulldogs have done their best to ruin a perfectly good season on the Forty Acres. If not for Georgia, well, Texas wouldn’t even have had to go to work Saturday.

But hear us out: Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

After all, Texas got another Bevo Walk, one more time for an experienced senior class to soak in the atmosphere of 101,150 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. It gave the Longhorns one more opportunity to hear Matthew McConaughey get weird on the sound system. Most importantly, it gave the Longhorns another opportunity to get back to what they actually do really well: Run the damn ball.

In a 38-24 win over Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Texas outmuscled and then outran the overmatched Tigers defense for a season-high 292 yards and four touchdowns. Texas will take its regrouped ground game back to Atlanta, site of the most recent loss to Georgia, to play Arizona State in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on Jan. 1.

Texas split things up pretty evenly: Quintrevion Wisner and Jaydon Blue each got two. Wisner did most of the hard running early; Blue — who had touchdown runs of 38 and 77 yards, the latter coming after Clemson had closed within one score — did the speed work. End of the night: Blue had 146 yards, Wisner, who didn’t play in the fourth quarter to rest a knee he “banged” late in the first half, had 110.

It was, in a lot of ways, just like coach Steve Sarkisian drew it up after Georgia held the Longhorns to 31 yards 10 days ago in a 22-19 overtime loss in the SEC Championship.

“One of the first bullet points I put up in the room was ‘run to win,’” Sarkisian said of his workweek message to his team. “We needed to run to win this game. And we’re going to need to run the football to advance in these playoffs. That’s what playoff football is about. So, we really challenged them on the run game.”

They responded. Just as they did the first time Georgia beat them back in October and held the running game to 29 yards. Texas followed that up with three 200-plus-yard games on the ground in the five games ‘twixt Georgia meetings.

Against Clemson, it was important to demonstrate that the issue was just a Georgia thing. Clemson was the perfect opponent for Texas to reestablish the ground game. Clemson entered the playoff ranked 73rd in the country — last among the playoff teams — in run defense. There was a weakness to exploit and eventually a message to send to the rest of the remaining playoff field: Sarkisian may have been a quarterback once and may remain a quarterback at heart, but Texas will run to win. Arizona State, consider your Sun Devils warned.

“The run game is really important for us on a lot of levels,” Sarkisian said. “One, our offense is better when we can run it, because then the balance can really kick in for us. It opens up a lot that we do. When we can run it effectively, teams have to prepare for a lot when they’re getting ready to play us.”

On Saturday, this is how effective Texas’ running game was: It literally didn’t matter who was where on the offensive line. Texas got left tackle Kelvin Banks, who missed the SEC championship game, back Saturday, but lost center Jake Majors and right tackle Cameron Williams on successive plays late in the first half. Guard Hayden Conner moved over to center and Cole Hutson moved into the offensive line, which was jumbled to say the least. Worked good enough to spring Blue on a 77-yard TD run through the right side three plays after Clemson had cut a onetime 28-10 lead to 31-24. On both of Blue’s long touchdown runs, Ewers had checked off a pass play after reading the Clemson defensive set.

It was also good vindication for Blue, who dealt with issues holding on to the ball earlier this season, and had fallen into more of a secondary role to Wisner.

“The guys up front, those guys paved the way for me,” Blue said. “We made a big emphasis that we’re going to have to run the ball in order to win this game.”

For that, Texas can somehow thank Georgia for the reminder.

So far, so good: See photos from Texas’ first-round College Football Playoff win over Clemson in Austin

Find more Texas coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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Georgia

Notre Dame vs. Georgia: Odds and how to watch the Allstate Sugar Bowl

Published

10 hours ago

December 21, 2024

Press Room

Notre Dame vs. Georgia: Odds and how to watch the Allstate Sugar Bowl

The first round of the College Football Playoff lived up to expectations, as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish claimed a quarterfinal spot after defeating the Indiana Hoosiers in snowy South Bend, Indiana. The Fighting Irish will face the No. 2 seeded Georgia Bulldogs in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish secured their first playoff victory in the new era of the College Football Playoff with a 27-17 win over Indiana. Quarterback Riley Leonard delivered a stellar performance against the Hoosiers, completing 71.9% of his passes for 201 yards, one touchdown, and one interception while also scoring a touchdown on the ground. On defense, safety Xavier Watts was the standout player, recording 10 tackles and an interception to help the Fighting Irish clinch the victory.

The Bulldogs, who received a bye, are gearing up for a run at the College Football Playoff without their starting quarterback, Carson Beck. He will likely be sidelined due to an elbow injury on his throwing arm, which he sustained during the final play of the first half in the SEC Championship game against Texas. This injury forced him to leave the game early. Sophomore Gunner Stockton stepped in and successfully led the Bulldogs to a 22-19 victory. Gunner has a completion rate of 78.1% and has thrown for 206 yards in the three games he played this season. He is expected to lead the offense moving forward.

Here is everything to know ahead of kickoff at the All-State Sugar Bowl.

Allstate Sugar Bowl odds, lines: Notre Dame vs. Georgia

The Georgia Bulldogs are favorites to defeat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, according to the BetMGM college football odds.

Odds as of afternoon on Saturday, Dec. 21.

Spread: Georgia (-1.5)
Moneylines: Georgia (-120); Notre Dame (+102)
Over/under: 44.5

How to watch Notre Dame vs. Georgia in the Allstate Sugar Bowl

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 1
Time: 8:45 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Stream: Fubo
Where: Caesars Superdome (New Orleans, LA)

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Georgia

Georgia Disaster Recovery Centers to be closed for Christmas, New Year holidays

Published

18 hours ago

December 21, 2024

Press Room

Georgia Disaster Recovery Centers to be closed for Christmas, New Year holidays

ATLANTA, Ga. (WALB) – All Georgia Disaster Recovery Centers will be closed for the holidays.

For the upcoming Christmas holiday, the centers will be closed from Tuesday, Dec. 24, until Thursday, Dec. 26.

The centers will be closed from Tuesday, Dec. 31, until Thursday, Jan. 2, for the New Year holiday.

All centers are also closed on Sundays.

While the centers are closed, you can call the FEMA helpline at (800) 621-3362, or apply or check your application on https://www.disasterassistance.gov/. The helpline will be closed on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.

Survivors may visit any one of the FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers throughout the state to apply for assistance. Click here to find a center near you.

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