Five things to know for UGA-South Carolina in Georgia Bulldogs SEC opener in Columbia

Georgia and South Carolina play a 12 p.m. ESPN game Saturday in Columbia, S.C.

Here are five things to know for the SEC opener for the Bulldogs, ranked No. 1 in the AP poll and No. 2 in the USA Today Sports coaches poll.

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Bulldogs not passing on going to air

The top two passing offenses nationally include one name that was among the leaders in the category going back the last decade and one not so much.

Texas Tech is No. 1 and Georgia is No. 2.

It’s early in the season, but the Bulldogs’ 395.5 yards per game shows the changing identity of the offense in year 3 under Todd Monken.

“It's evolved based on the players,” coach Kirby Smart said. “And that will never change, right? So when the strength of our team is the backs, then we feature the backs. If the strength of the team is the tight ends, you try to feature the tight ends. The strength of the team is the quarterback, O-line — you know, right now the strength of this team is probably its depth upfront, experience at quarterback. And a distribution of the ball across the entire offense to make you defend 53 yards. So the evolution is based on what players you have.”

Georgia is passing for 143.6 yards more per game than it did last season when it ranked 51st nationally in that category.

The Bulldogs are fifth in the nation in both passing plays of 10 or more yards (33) and passing plays of 20 or more yards (13), per cfbstats.com.

“Can we sustain it?” Smart said. “I think it's probably dictated more by what the defense does and what the defense gives us. You know, I would like to think we could sustain it when it comes to accuracy, completion percentage, decision-making. A lot of those plays, there's multiple people that the ball can be thrown to. It boils down to, did we read the coverage right? Did we take what the defense gives us? Did we hand it when we should hand it? Did we throw it when we should throw it? … I would certainly think we can maintain that, but it's going to take staying healthy, protecting the quarterback. It's going to take protecting the football. But that's the expectation.

Quarterback Stetson Bennett has protected the ball with no interceptions in the first two games while completing 75.4 percent of his passes.

Bennett is second in the SEC in passing yards per game at 334 yards per game (behind only Mississippi State’s Will Rogers), second in passing efficiency at 176.94 and first in passing yards per attempt (10.28).

“I think he's grown a lot in his maturity, really trusting Coach Monken, Coach Smart,” center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger said. “I think this is the most Stetson has been in control of the offense since I've been here.”

Georgia’s top seasons in passing yards per game came with Eric Zeier at quarterback in 1994 (338.3) and 1993 (322.9) when the team went 6-4-1 and 5-6.

Bulldogs venture into first road environment

Crowd noise blared from the Georgia football outdoor fields Tuesday for much of practice as the Bulldogs geared up for their first true road game of the season.

“We practice that kind of thing,” inside linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson said. “We have noise control. (Smart) blasts it throughout the week. We get used to it throughout the week and by the time Saturday comes we really get used to the noise.”

Williams-Brice Stadium’s seating capacity is listed at 77,559 but the crowd was announced at 79,897 for a game last year against Clemson.

“I heard about the stadium,” Dumas-Johnson said. “It can get loud."

"It's one of the impressive stadiums because it seems really vertical," Smart said. "They get after it. 'Sandstorm' starts playing and their fans get really into it."

Georgia is 22-4 in true road games under Smart. The losses were at Ole Miss (2016), Auburn (2017), LSU (2018) and Alabama (2020).

“We've probably got 20 or 30 guys that have experience going into Auburn, Tennessee, places similar in terms of fan experience,” Smart said. “Any time you go on the road for the first time, guys have to get comfortable with that. We had that a little bit in Atlanta (against Oregon) in terms of not being on our own field. But it certainly wasn't the same kind of environment we're going into this time.”

Offensive tackle Warren McClendon said games at Auburn and Tennessee were the loudest he’s experienced.

“I know there were a lot of people that wanted this to be a night game, frankly, no one cares,” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said. “Got a great opportunity for our fanbase to show the entire country on national television what Williams-Brice Stadium and a gameday at South Carolina is like. … If you need more time to tailgate and need more time to get ready, wake up earlier so you can start preparing at 6 a.m., 5 a.m., 7 a.m., whatever time the lots open over there. We need that place to be absolutely rocking on Saturday at 12 noon.”

Beamer said kickoff would be pushed back a few minutes because the broadcast wants to show the “2001 Space Odyssey” entrance.

Georgia’s last visit to South Carolina came during the COVID-19 season of 2020 when attendance was limited at the game to just 16,444.

Only wide receiver Kearis Jackson, outside linebacker Robert Beal and defensive back William Poole played in the 2018 game at South Carolina that still remain at Georgia.

“We need to make it really, really difficult and uncomfortable for them when they are out there,” Beamer said.

Defending Spencer Rattler and Gamecocks passing game

South Carolina leads the SEC and is tied for fourth nationally in pass plays of 30 or more yards.

“We’ve got some receivers and we’ve got some tight ends that can make plays,” Beamer said. “We’ve got to continue to find ways to get them the ball and capitalize on those.”

That figures to be harder for quarterback Spencer Rattler to do against Georgia than it was against Georgia State or Arkansas.

Opponents are averaging 7.6 yards per reception against Georgia, completing 58.7 percent of their passes with 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. The only pass play longer than 30 yards against Georgia this season was 36 by Samford.

“They have size in the secondary and they are really good,” Beamer said. “There are not a lot of teams with wide open receivers running down the field and if you do, they aren’t going to be wide open for long because of their closing speed.

Junior wide receiver Antwane Wells leads the SEC with 15 catches for 244 yards. Marshawn Lloyd has 8 catches for 103 yards and a touchdown and Jalen Brooks averages 19.5 yards per catch on six receptions.

“We know they’ve got some speed,” Georgia nickel back Javon Bullard said.

“We’ve got an NFL quarterback, NFL receivers and NFL tight ends,” Beamer said.

Pressuring Rattler and minimizing big plays and yards after the catch will be key.

"They have some really big wide outs and some challenging guys to cover,” Smart said. “We will have to play well.”

Georgia has good size in cornerback Kelee Ringo (6-2, 210) and safety Malaki Starks (6-1, 205), but relies on DBs under 6-feet tall in safety Christopher Smith and nickel backs Bullard and Tykee Smith.

“People think our small DBs are our weak link,” Dumas-Johnson said. “They’re really not.”

Tykee Smith settling in Georgia football secondary

Tykee Smith was viewed as a big get out of the transfer portal last year for Georgia but injuries limited him to a single game.

Now he’s back contributing at the nickel “Star” position behind starter Bullard after being sidelined by a broken bone in his foot at first and then a torn ACL.

“Just really thankful to be back out there again,” said Smith, a third-team AP All-American at West Virginia. “The biggest thing right now is just getting the confidence back and not trying to overdo it and re-injure myself and basically the confidence and trust in my knee.”

Smith saw 20 defensive snaps against Oregon and 16 against Samford, according to Pro Football Focus. The 5-foot-10, 198-pound Smith’s 5 tackles are fifth on the team.

“Tykee is probably one of the most physical players on our team,” Dumas-Johnson said. “He comes up making hits, can cover.”

Smart said Smith, who was held out of spring practices, hit higher speeds in practice before last week’s game.

“He wasn't very confident when we started fall camp, but he has gotten better in his ability to change direction, change, point, and tackle,” Smart said. “He's gotten more confident, but he still has improvement to do, and he'll be the first to tell you. We are going to need him to play well before this year is over."

Bullard, Smith and William Poole—who didn’t play last week and may not make the trip, according to Smart, due to "personal issues"—offer options at the Star position.

“Those guys play well,” Smart said. “They're smart, heavy players. They're physically tough and can match up on people, get their hands on them, play strong, and play physically.”

Bullard thinks Smith is just getting started.

“It’s only a matter of time,” he said. “Tykee is a great player. He comes in and works day in and day out. He’s very physical. Kind of like me stature-wise. Probably not the tallest guy, but he makes up for it with his physicality and toughness.”

Evaluating Georgia's run game

Georgia has run the ball on 57 of 137 offensive plays. That’s just 41.6 percent of the time.

“As an offensive line, we’re always focused running the ball,” McClendon said. “We want to be physical and come off the ball, but in certain situations you have to be ready to pass.”

Georgia ranks 92nd nationally in rushing offense at 129.5 per game but 10th in total offense at 525.0.

“I thought we did run the ball well (against Samford),” Smart said. “When you're getting four or five yards a rush, you know, it's hard to complain about that. You got to do it at a higher level against a better opponent.”

Smart said that anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of plays Georgia ends up passing are run plays.

“And they can be very successful run plays,” he said. “The question is: Are they more successful as a run play or more successful when we decide to throw the ball out of that run play? So the evaluation, for us, is those plays are running plays. And a lot of times, we put them in rushing yardage. Because they're actually replacing rushing yardage.”

Georgia’s 4.54 yards per carry ranks 61st nationally. That’s down from 5.26 when it was 14th last season.

“We left some things out there for sure,” Van Pran-Granger said. “We’ll be better.”

“Just getting better with our double teams, just meshing well together,” McClendon said. “Not staying on blocks too long, knowing when to come off, knowing when to stay on a little bit longer.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: 5 things to know: Georgia football vs. South Carolina in SEC matchup