Sept. 8, 2007

Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery

South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier
“This is the first one we have won against Georgia since I have been here. Somehow or another we scored 16 points, it was a wonderful win. It wasn’t a shocker, we thought we would win this game, we are two evenly-matched teams. We made all of our field goals and kept Georgia out of the endzone. We are 1-0 in the SEC.

“It was a funny start to the game with one guy getting two personal fouls. We had a lot of chances to score and we let them slip through. This win is a step forward for this team and I think it was a good solid ugly win.

“We have a lot of Georgia guys on team and we gave out a lot of game balls to those players.

“On the last drive we ran off two gains of 10+ yards but we were trying for 8 or 9 yards to keep the clock running.

“This game is like the game two years ago. We had squeaked out a win vs. Central Florida and Georgia beat Boise state pretty good. That game had some missed field goals, some missed extra points and (Georgia) won the ugly game. This year we won the ugly game after struggling with Louisiana-Lafayette, and Georgia beating Oklahoma State handily.”

South Carolina QB Blake Mitchell
“This game shows we can win the big game. We knew we could match up because we knew they were fast but we weren’t scared. We knew we could throw at them and we could match up well with the run. Our defense went out there and played very well. We can’t get overconfident but this is a big win. Our line blocked awesome for the run, and things happened. This is a real big win for me.”

South Carolina DE Eric Norwood
“This is a big win for our team and we will go on with a lot of confidence. We are not surprised with this win. We know we are a good team and can play with Georgia. We knew we could keep them from the endzone especially after the first few series. We got a lot of pressure on their QB and made things happen.”

South Carolina MLB Jasper Brinkley
“This feels great. Personally I had a chip on my shoulder so it makes it even better. Our defensive line got a lot of pressure on their offense, this is the best defense we have had since I have been here. This is a stepping stone to get to the SEC championship and what we did tonight we could do all season. This let everyone in the country know that we could play with anybody and win the big game.”

Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt
“We missed too many opportunities to make plays that could have made all the difference in the game. I spoke to the team after the game and tried to assess what happened. To be truthful, I don’t think it was because of a lack of effort out there. It was just a lack of ability to make plays when they were there. We missed open receivers, dropped balls here and there, had a chance to wrap us some guys and didn’t. There were coaching decisions as well that could have changed the outcome of this game. But we’re all in this thing together. I’m not pointing any fingers. We had opportunities that we didn’t take. And South Carolina did enough to win. You have to give them credit. Now we have to regroup and make sure we get better if we want to win in this league right now.

“South Carolina handled things well, especially the crowd noise. And I have to go back and commend our fans. The crowd was louder than it was a week ago, especially in that open drive of the second half when we got a great stop and the opportunity for a touchdown. Those are the kind of things we missed out on. The fans did a fantastic job of keeping us in the ballgame.

“We throw and catch pretty well in practice. We just have to take it to the next level in games. I thought in the second half our (offensive) line came around a little bit and created space for the backs to run through. We looked better in the second half; we just didn’t finish it like we needed to. We’ll go back and work on fundamentals and we’ll get better.

“You’re always surprised in a game when you don’t score any touchdowns. That’s why we went for it on that fourth-down situation where we got sacked. It was a trick play, and we thought we should take a shot at it because we were having such a tough job of getting in the end zone. I knew Coutu could make that field goal, but I didn’t think that would be enough to win us the game.”

Georgia QB Matthew Stafford
“We just have to make plays, that’s what it boils down to. We have to keep working hard and move on. South Carolina shut us down. They are a great team and we competed hard. It was tough. We just couldn’t get into a rhythm. They did a good job of scheming for us. Our offensive line did great, they made holes for our backs. But my timing was off a little bit, I have got to hit wide receivers if they get open. I have to make plays. They made plays and we didn’t.”

Georgia TB Knowshon Moreno
“We have a lot of character, we are not going to keep our heads down, we are going to fix our mistakes and get ready for the next opponent. They did a good job offensively and defensively. We had some success running the ball, we tried to mix it up but they did a good job on defense and we just came up short. We are going to get it back together, we just have to get back to basics and get ready for Western Carolina.”

Georgia OL Jeff Owens
“They are a great football team and we knew that coming in. We know what we have to do now. We have to learn from our mistakes, we have got to come back focused and ready to play Georgia offense and defense. The SEC is a tough league, we are going to let it play out.”

Georgia LB Brandon Miller
“We just have to be ourselves up front. I feel like we need to work on tackling. It’s tough, we had way too many missed assignments. I give South Carolina credit, they came ready to play. We’ve got to take away those mistakes and learn from them.”