Gamecocks Connection: Catching Georgia

Catching Georgia.

Hey, I’m Chris Clark with GamecockCentral.com, and welcome to Gamecocks Connection.

This weekly newsletter will consist of a summary of some of the latest happenings in Gamecock Country, reader questions, and one “main idea” that’s on my mind. Plus, there will be some other goodies along the way.

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What’s on the docket today?

In this edition, I’m thinking about where South Carolina is relative to Georgia, and how Shane Beamer’s programs can continue to make strides to move up in the college football pecking order.

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Get caught up.

Three quick things to know about your Gamecocks from the last few days.

🏈 Spencer Rattler gave his first thoughts on the game against UGA on Monday during an exclusive appearance on GC Live presented by Garnet Trust.

⚽ USC women’s soccer coach Shelley Smith captured her 300th win.

🏈 Know what happened on this day in 2014? This was a fun night…

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The main idea.

— On this day in 2014, the Gamecocks took down Georgia in a 38-35 thriller, with Dylan Thompson pushing the nose of a football just far enough across the line to clinch the game late.

After a stretch in which South Carolina played fairly even with the Bulldogs in this series, UGA has captured 8 of the last 10. The only other win for Carolina in that timeframe aside from 2014 is the unexpected 2019 road win in Athens.

It’s sad to think about the fact that this game will not be played in 2024 – and seems unlikely to be a permanent fixture once the SEC moves to its new scheduling format. There have been some great games and some awesome moments for USC in the past, like the two games mentioned already, the 2012 shellacking in Williams-Brice, and numerous others.

Those are certainly fun to remember, but they also seem like a long time ago at the moment. Since that 2019 game, UGA has won this game by scores of 29, 27, and 41 points.

Georgia under Kirby Smart has taken off as a program and is now the gold standard in college football. The Dawgs have captured two straight national titles and may have the goods to challenge for number three in a row.

It’s not difficult to see what happened to make this game – really only second to Clemson in terms of the rivalry fee in Columbia – more lopsided lately. South Carolina’s program slipped overall at the end of the Steve Spurrier era, and Georgia took off when Smart was hired.

The UGA teams that South Carolina plays on the regular now are even better than the ones it used to beat when Spurrier was in town, and those were good clubs.

This all begs the question: can the Gamecocks eventually challenge Georgia? If so, how?

There’s no doubt it’s now a steeper mountain to climb than it was, given where UGA is as a program. But if Shane Beamer’s operation is to make more headway toward catching up, there’s a simple answer. 

Recruiting.

Yes, coaching and development absolutely matters, and Georgia happens to be quite good in those departments as well. But look up and down that roster and you’ll see a roster loaded with talent. Look around at the best college football teams in a given year and you’ll see rosters that have a collection of standout players from the high school ranks – with transfers and JUCO guys sprinkled in there.

Since Smart’s arrival in Athens, here’s how his recruiting classes have stacked up nationally according to the On3 Industry Ranking: Number 11, number 3, number 1, number 2, number 1, number 3, number 3, and number 2. The Dawgs are working on a 2024 class that’s as of this writing the highest-ranked in the country. What’s more, they’ve done a good job of development and not having the type of attrition that’s plagued some programs (Texas A&M, for instance).

Shane Beamer’s showed some recruiting chops of his own, bettering the class ranking each of his years in Columbia. The 2024 crop has a chance to be the best yet. He’s landed his first two five-stars, both from the DMV, in the last couple classes. The staff has also developed some players well and found some gems in recruiting. 

On the field, USC got a boost with beating a couple top-ten teams last year. It would surely help if the team could become more consistent against the Missouri and Kentuckys of the world. 

South Carolina’s 2023 class was ranked number 16, and the 2024 class is 19th – although it has been in the top 10-15 and could end up in that range. If USC is to take the next step in passing some other SEC teams and closing the gap to Georgia, landing more big-time talents like some of the freshmen who are beginning to make waves on this year’s team is a necessity.

Sure, Georgia’s going to be hard to catch in the short term. But it’s a battle that’s sure worth trying to fight.

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