Georgia Routs South Carolina As If Gamecocks Were A Non-Conference Foe

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It was supposed to be a Southeastern Conference game, but the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs treated "border rival" South Carolina as if it was a rent-a-win opponent in a 48-7 win in Columbia, S.C. on Saturday.

But there will be no guarantee payment for the Gamecocks.

It was the largest margin of victory in the history of the series that has reached 75 games. The Bulldogs (3-0) lead the series, 54-19-2.

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Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett threw a 78-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Brock Bowers for a 31-0 lead early in the third quarter. He added an 11-yard touchdown run for a 38-0 lead midway through the third period and called it a day.

I mean, Bennett really called it a day. During the fourth quarter, he was posing for pictures with Georgia fans.

Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett enjoys time with Georgia fans at South Carolina Saturday during the Bulldogs' rout of the Gamecocks. Bennett threw two touchdown passes and left the game in the third quarter with a big lead.

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Bennett completed 16 of 23 passes for 284 yards and two touchdowns. He also completed 6-yard touchdown to Bowers for a 21-0 lead in the second quarter. Bennett became the first Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) quarterback to open a season with three straight games of 250 yards passing or more and a rushing touchdown since Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes in 2016.

Carson Beck replaced Bennett and completed 5 of 6 passes for 55 yards and a touchdown. Bowers finished with five catches for 121 yards.

Kirby Smart

Georgia head coach Kriby Smart has his team playing like a National Champion again this season. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

"When you have a great standard, guys want to play to it, and you have an expectation," defending national champion Georgia coach Kirby Smart said.

Georgia's defense allowed its first touchdown of the season with 53 seconds to go when South Carolina backup quarterback Luke Doty threw a 13-yard touchdown to tight end Traevon Kenion. Starting quarterback Spencer Rattler threw two interceptions. He completed 13 of 25 passes for 118 yards.

The Bulldogs have not been tested yet. They won their opener, 49-3, over No. 11 Oregon and beat Samford 33-0 last week. Georgia will likely be favored in every regular season game this year. Its SEC West opponents are Auburn and Mississippi State.

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Guilbeau joined OutKick as an SEC columnist in September of 2021 after covering LSU and the Saints for 17 years at USA TODAY Louisiana. He has been a national columnist/feature writer since the summer of 2022, covering college football, basketball and baseball with some NFL, NBA, MLB, TV and Movies and general assignment, including hot dog taste tests. A New Orleans native and Mizzou graduate, he has consistently won Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards since covering Alabama and Auburn at the Mobile Press-Register (1993-98) and LSU and the Saints at the Baton Rouge Advocate (1998-2004). In 2021, Guilbeau won an FWAA 1st for a game feature, placed in APSE Beat Writing, Breaking News and Explanatory, and won Beat Writer of the Year from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA). He won an FWAA columnist 1st in 2017 and was FWAA's top overall winner in 2016 with 1st in game story, 2nd in columns, and features honorable mention. Guilbeau completed a book in 2022 about LSU's five-time national champion coach - "Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story" - that is available at www.acadianhouse.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble outlets. He lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, the former Michelle Millhollon of Thibodaux who previously covered politics for the Baton Rouge Advocate and is a communications director.