South Carolina football vs. Georgia: Score prediction, scouting report for SEC rivalry

COLUMBIA — South Carolina football faces its second SEC opponent of the season when No. 2 Georgia travel to Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday (noon, ESPN).

The Gamecocks (1-1, 0-1 SEC) trail Georgia 53-19-2 in the rivalry series and have not beaten the Bulldogs (2-0) at home since 2014. Their last victory was a 20-17 upset in 2019.

Here's everything you need to know about the matchup.

Familiar faces in Williams-Brice

For the third game in a row, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer will go head-to-head with a former colleague. This week it's Beamer's former boss, Georgia coach Kirby Smart. Beamer served as Smart's tight ends coach and special teams coordinator from 2016-18 and attributes much of his coaching style to his time working under Smart.

The matchup also marks the homecoming of former Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp, who was fired midway through the 2020 season. Muschamp is now the co-defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs and will return to Williams-Brice Stadium for the first time since his tenure in Columbia. Expect some boos from a big home crowd.

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The quarterback battle

Stetson Bennett and Spencer Rattler have had wildly different college careers, but they'll go head-to-head as the No. 2 and 3 passers in the SEC, respectively.

Bennett came to Georgia as an unranked walk-on and transferred to a junior college for his sophomore season before returning to the Bulldogs and leading them to the 2021 national championship. Rattler was the No. 1 quarterback prospect in the nation and started as a sophomore at Oklahoma before losing the starting job last season to a freshman and transferring to South Carolina.

The two quarterbacks have similar strengths, each passing for more than 600 yards in just two games this season. They also aren't hugely productive in the red zone — Rattler has two passing touchdowns, Bennett has three. South Carolina's secondary is one of its defensive strengths, so a pass-first offense is a good matchup, but the Gamecocks are guaranteed to have issues breaking through the Bulldogs' offensive line.

Escaping Georgia's defense

South Carolina's offensive line looked stronger against Arkansas last week, but it's still a long way away from being able to compete with Georgia's top-10 defense. The Bulldogs have allowed just three points this season and are the only defense in the country that has yet to give up a touchdown.

However, both Oregon and Stamford tried to rush more than pass against the Bulldogs, so the Gamecocks could put more pressure on the Georgia secondary than they've seen yet. Georgia hasn't shown much in the pass rush yet and are last in the SEC with just one sack. If that's going to change, it will be against South Carolina, which has given up nine sacks, more than any other team in the conference.

South Carolina's injury woes

The Gamecocks could be missing as many as five defensive starters against Georgia due to injuries. Earlier this week, linebacker Mohamed Kaba and edge rusher Jordan Strachan were ruled out for the season with ACL injuries. Nickelback Cam Smith, safety RJ Roderick and lineman Alex Huntley are all questionable with less serious injuries.

Even at full strength, South Carolina would be underdogs to a Bulldogs' O-line that returned three of five starters from the national championship team. Unless some of the second-stringers have career performances, there will be no slowing down the Georgia offense.

Prediction for South Carolina vs. Georgia

Georgia 41, South Carolina 20: South Carolina get early points on the board and trails by a touchdown at halftime, but there's no stopping Georgia once it gets going. The Gamecocks' run game struggles again and Bennett tears up the injury-riddled defense.

Contact Emily Adams at eaadams@gannett.com or on Twitter @eaadams6.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina football vs. Georgia scouting report, score prediction