The second week of the Southeastern Conference season proved a couple of things. First, the Florida Gators are in trouble and, second, the Georgia Bulldogs are not dead after all.
After blowing a 17-3 lead in the second quarter, the Bulldogs could have collapsed after South Carolina rallied to tie the game 24-24 before halftime. At that point a lot of Georgia fans were ready to write off the season and call a moving truck to help Mark Richt move on to his next job.
But Aaron Murray stepped up. And so did Todd Gurley. And so did Keith Marshall. And so did the receiving combo of Justin Scott-Wesley and Michael Bennett.
Murray finished with 309 yards and four touchdowns on 17-for-23 passing. Gurley ran for 136 yards. Marshall had 62 yards on just seven carries. Scott-Wesley had three catches for 116 yards and Bennett had three receptions for 47 yards. The performance by the two helped the Bulldogs overcome the loss of Malcolm Mitchell for the season to a knee injury in the season opener.
“The team that loses this game is waiting for the other’s bus to break down. We’ve been chasing them last three years. South Carolina has a very good team, and this year, we get a chance to sit in the driver’s seat,” said Richt.”We haven’t been 1-0 in the league in awhile because South Carolina’s been getting us. Today, we got them, and I’m so thankful.”
“It’s great. It feels great to be ahead in the SEC East. That’s a huge thing,” said Murray. “It’s been tough for three years to be hoping that [South Carolina] loses so that we can get to Atlanta, so it’s a great feeling to be 1-0 in the [SEC East] right now. We know it’s a long season though and we just have to keep working.”
While Georgia took a big step in the SEC East, the Florida Gators went backwards in losing to Miami. The Gators outgained the Hurricanes 413 yards to 212 and they had 22 first downs to 10 for Miami. But the Gators gave the ball away five times on three lost fumbles and two interceptions.
“We kind of killed ourselves,” quarterback Jeff Driskel said. “That’s the most frustrating part of it all. It started with me. I was careless with the ball.”
But then Driskel spouted the party line that the Florida coaches will be preaching this week.
“We’re not out of anything yet,” he said.
Center Jon Harrison still seemed miffed at what had transpired on a cloudy, muggy afternoon when the Gators went into the Miami red zone five times only to come away with no touchdowns.
“I’m very surprised,” Harrison said. “We just couldn’t capitalize in the red zone. That’s what hurt us and that’s what we have to work on.”
Around the rest of the SEC in Week Two, every team came away with a victory, mostly in runaway fashion, although Toledo gave Missouri a struggle and Samford pushed Arkansas hard and actually had a third quarter lead. The most impressive win could have been Auburn’s win over Arkansas State, considering the subplot of Gus Malzahn coaching against the team he led to the Sun Belt championship just last season.
“First of all it feels good to be 2-0. We beat a good football team,” Malzahn said. “We talked about needing to run the ball to be successful against these guys, and I felt like we were able to do that.
“It was pretty emotional. It was a pretty interesting deal when you coach against a team that you’re close to the players. They have some great kids over there, great competitors. It was interesting, but it was good to see those guys. I wished them nothing but the best going forward.”
Auburn showed plenty of reasons for excitement with the SEC opener against Mississippi State coming up Saturday — the defense, quarterback Nick Marshall and running backs Tre Mason and Cameron Artis-Payne among them.
“Well he is getting more comfortable each practice. He was a little more comfortable this game than last week and I feel like that will improve,” Malzahn said of his quarterback. “The guy didn’t go through spring. He is still learning as he goes. He is very hard on himself, and he has a chance to improve each game.”