Georgia attempting to keep focus off rivalry, recent history with South Carolina
ATHENS -- Georgia is trying to approach Saturday’s game against South Carolina like it’s any other one on the schedule. But that task is increasingly difficult given the recent history and natural rivalry of the annual meeting.
A year ago, the Bulldogs went into Williams-Brice Stadium and left with a stinging 38-35 defeat, making it the fourth loss Georgia has had against South Carolina in the past five years.
Senior outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins has been a part of the past three games against the Gamecocks and was a part of losing teams last year and as a freshman. Those losses have stayed with him, even when he knows it’s best to carry on.
“It definitely is motivation in the back of your mind,” Jenkins said. “You like to think back on past years and look back at some of the plays you could’ve made that you didn’t, look at some of the ways you lost, to get yourself mentally ready for the game.”
Last year’s loss was tough for Jenkins to take. The Gamecocks ran the ball for 176 yards as senior Brandon Wilds accounted for 93 of those and a touchdown. The defense gave up a total of 447 yards and allowed South Carolina to control the time of possession battle at 31:27 to 28:33.
“I didn’t play to the best of my capabilities,” Jenkins said. “Last year when we played them, I felt I was definitely a part of that loss. Some of that weight had to be put on me. I also just remember a sour taste in my mouth leaving that field after the last couple of seconds.”
While Jenkins admitted to thinking back at the recent losses against the Gamecocks, fellow outside linebacker Davin Bellamy said he’s doing his part to not worry about the past. Bellamy didn’t travel to last year’s game and watched it on television. He said it was difficult and that the defense “looked flat as a unit.”
But Bellamy said this year’s game provides a different test for the Bulldogs.
“One thing (defensive coordinator Jeremy) Pruitt always preaches is to focus on Georgia,” Bellamy said. “It’s no outside factors. We don’t look at the scoreboard. We don’t look at how many people are in the stands. We just go out there and play defense that we practice every day. We’re not looking at last year or the year before that or the year before that. We’re just ready to go out there and be some junkyard dogs.”
When asked about the rivalry between the teams, head coach Mark Richt said it’s not something he’s harping on with his team.
“We’re not thinking much about the rivalry,” Richt said. “We’re not thinking much about what happened last year or in the past years as much as really are trying to focus on getting better. There’s just so many areas we’ve got to get better.
Even so, linebacker Chuks Amaechi said he learned quickly how important this game is for many of his teammates. Amaechi, who transferred to Georgia from Arizona Western College in January, wasn’t too familiar with the SEC while growing up out west.
It didn’t take long for Amaechi to learn the significance of the Georgia-South Carolina game.
“They explained to me how big it is and how we shouldn’t have lost last year and how we have to play harder this coming Saturday,” Amaechi said.
Sophomore running back Sony Michel has a different take on the game. With South Carolina generally being an early season game, it provides the winner with a leg up on the division race. Instead of focusing it as a border war, Michel said he looks at the game as a way to gain ground on others in the SEC East.
“It probably has more significance of being an SEC game and just wanting to be ahead in the East Division,” Michel said.
This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Georgia attempting to keep focus off rivalry, recent history with South Carolina ."