Georgia football opened as a 24-point favorite over South Carolina in the teams’ noon matchup at Sanford Stadium next Saturday.
The No. 3-ranked Bulldogs (5-0) are coming off a convincing 43-14 win at Tennessee on Saturday night.
The Gamecocks (2-3) were idle last Saturday. The week before, Coach Will Muschamp’s team scored a 24-7 home win over Kentucky for the program’s first SEC win of the season. It snapped a five-game losing streak for South Carolina in its series with the Wildcats.
The Gamecocks dropped their SEC opener this season, losing 47-23 at home against Alabama on Sept. 14 and followed that up with a 34-14 road loss at Missouri.
South Carolina is led by freshman QB Ryan Hilinski, who took over when incumbent Jake Bentley suffered a season-ending foot injury in the season-opening loss to North Carolina.
Georgia represents a big rival to South Carolina, according to former Gamecocks’ star receiver Deebo Samuel.
“Our rivalry in the SEC is Georgia,” Samuel said at the Senior Bowl in January. “So you get fired up about the game, it’s just more oomph to that game than any other game.”
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The Bulldogs are hoping to get cornerback Tyson Campbell back for the game against the Gamecocks, Campbell missed his second consecutive game after suffering a foot injury in Georgia’s 55-0 win over Arkansas State on Sept. 14.
UGA might also be without nose tackle Jordan Davis, who suffered a left ankle injury in the first quarter of the win over the Vols.
Left guard Solomon Kindley, who missed the Tennessee game, is expected to be available to play against South Carolina.
Kirby Smart made it clear Georgia will go back to work on Monday, looking to eliminate some of the issues that led to a slow start against the Vols.
“We’ve got a big, physical football team, (but) we’ve got to keep getting better,” Smart said. “We’ve got to get rid of some of the errors.”
Georgia has won the past four meetings in its annual series with fellow SEC East Division school South Carolina. The Bulldogs won last season’s game at South Carolina, 41-17.
In 2017, a Georgia team that was ranked No. 1 beat the Gamecocks 24-10 in Athens.
The SEC Nation program, featuring Paul Finebaum, Tim Tebow, Marcus Spears and Marty Smith, will be in Athens leading up to the game.
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