Staff picks: South Carolina-Georgia, other week two games

After its first loss of the season, things don’t get any easier for South Carolina.

The Gamecocks come in and play No. 1 Georgia, entering the game as 26-point underdogs to the Bulldogs.

GamecockCentral’s staff picked the game, along with a few others on an intriguing week two slate.

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Chris Clark: The Dawgs lost a lot on defense from the 2021 title team, but still have lots of talent, speed, and skill on that side of the ball. Perhaps even more worrisome for the Gamecocks: Georgia is very explosive on offense. The usual rushing attack is there, but Georgia can air it out with a variety of weapons and has been extremely efficient and schematically sound so far this season. Georgia 38, South Carolina 20.

Terry Ford: Georgia 42, South Carolina 20.

Pearson Fowler: Georgia 52, South Carolina 6.

Joe Macheca: Georgia is the No. 1 team in the country for a reason. They are legit and the Gamecocks need some magic to pull it off. South Carolina needs to find a run game identity and it’s going to be hard against the best run defense in the country. Gamecocks also need a little special teams magic, and that’s hard to find in a noon kick. Williams-Brice is going to be jumping, though. Decent outing for Rattler, but defensive injuries come back to bite South Carolina in the end. Georgia 42, South Carolina 24

Wes Mitchell: I think many are assuming, based on the first two weeks of the season, that this is the same Georgia team as last year. While the results have been the same so far for the UGA defense, they haven’t really been tested and lost a ton of talent to the NFL. I think Carolina may score more than expected, but the real test will be can they stop the Bulldogs? Georgia 38, South Carolina 24.

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Jay Phillips: Gamecocks will get some chances, but UGA appears to be on another level right now. It will take the cleanest performance yet under Coach Beamer for South Carolina to make this a fourth-quarter game. Georgia 38, South Carolina 16.

Michael Sauls: Georgia is No. 1 for a reason and unfortunately for Gamecock fans everyone will see why on Saturday. I think the prospect of playing at home will help South Carolina get out to a hot start but the Georgia defense will bottle it up quickly. Being down several bodies on defense will also certainly not help out South Carolina. At least the Gamecocks have games against Charlotte and SC State after this to look forward to. Georgia 42, South Carolina 21.

Kendall Smith: Georgia is the best team in the country, and while South Carolina is sure to play host to an incredible environment on Saturday, their talent level just is not the same as Georgia. Miracles happen, that’s why you play, but I’m taking Georgia is a pretty dominant win. Georgia, 38, South Carolina, 17. 

Collyn Taylor: South Carolina struggles starting fast and defending the run, two things that will lead to the Gamecocks getting beat this weekend. There are a few signs of progress offensively after week one, but Georgia is really tough no matter if it’s home or away. The Gamecocks have the ability to hit a few big plays but don’t have the firepower enough to go score for score with the Bulldogs. Georgia jumps out to an early lead and South Carolina isn’t able to chip away similar to last week. Georgia 41, South Carolina 17.

Mike Uva: South Carolina won’t win this game but there’s no need to hit the panic button yet. Let the pink hat fans get upset now before changing their tune later in the year as USC begins to find its stride after the gauntlet of a schedule to begin the year. The offense still has its flaws but they showed improvements from Week 1 to Week 2. Against one of, if not the best defenses in the country this week, USC will open eyes thanks to the passing attack but it won’t be enough. Georgia 38, South Carolina 24.

Jack Veltri: I liked what I saw from the Gamecocks last weekend. Mistakes were made, but there were enough positives to show improvement. Now, they get to face the defending champs in a noon kickoff at Williams-Brice Stadium. Normally this could be classified as a “trap game” for Georgia, but they are in a league of their own (with Alabama and Ohio State, of course).

The Bulldogs haven’t given me any reason to pick against them other than being in a hostile environment. While I love hearing Shane Beamer praise the belief his players have shown, it’s going to be a long afternoon for the Gamecocks. Georgia 52, South Carolina 24. 

Picker	Oklahoma at Nebraska	Purdue at Syracuse	Penn State at Auburn	BYU at Oregon	Troy at App State	Mississippi State at LSU	Texas Tech at NC State	Miami at Texas A&M
Chris Clark	Oklahoma	Purdue	Auburn	Oregon	App State	LSU	NC State	Texas A&M
Terry Ford	Oklahoma	Purdue	Penn State	BYU	App State	LSU	NC State	Texas A&M
Pearson Fowler	Oklahoma	Purdue	Auburn	BYU	App State	Mississippi State	Texas Tech	Miami
Joe Macheca	Oklahoma	Purdue	Penn State	Oregon	App State	Mississippi State	Texas Tech	Texas A&M
Wes Mitchell	Oklahoma	Purdue	Auburn	Oregon	App State	Mississippi State	NC State	Texas A&M
Jay Phillips	Oklahoma	Purdue	Penn State	BYU	App State	Mississippi State	NC State	Texas A&M
Michael Sauls	Oklahoma	Purdue	Penn State	BYU	App State	LSU	NC State	Miami
Kendall Smith	Oklahoma	Syracuse	Penn State	BYU	App State	Mississippi State	Texas Tech	Texas A&M
Collyn Taylor	Oklahoma	Syracuse	Auburn	BYU	App State	Mississippi State	NC State	Texas A&M
Mike Uva	Oklahoma	Syracuse	Penn State	BYU	App State	LSU	NC State	Texas A&M
Jack Veltri	Oklahoma	Syracuse	Auburn	BYU	App State	LSU	NC State	Miami

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