GEORGIA BULLDOGS

David Paschall evaluates Saturday’s 41-30 win over South Carolina:

QUARTERBACK

The leaner, quicker Aaron Murray continued to extend plays and completed 17 of 23 passes for 309 yards and four touchdowns. He had three passes dropped and threw another out of the end zone.

RUNNING BACKS

Todd Gurley had 132 yards on a career-high 30 carries and had touchdowns rushing and receiving. Keith Marshall added 58 on seven before leaving with a knee injury.

WIDE RECEIVERS

The drops can be forgiven considering the clutch play of Justin Scott-Wesley and Michael Bennett, who combined on six catches for 163 yards. Scott-Wesley showcased his speed on the clinching score.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Helping churn out more than 500 yards of total offense has become the norm for this bunch, which used Kenarious Gates and Mark Beard to limit Jadeveon Clowney to three tackles and a sack.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Although much of South Carolina’s success occurred with outside rushes, Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw did have some vertical lanes with which to run. End Sterling Bailey had 10 tackles and a sack.

LINEBACKERS

Amarlo Herrera and Ramik Wilson combined on 20 tackles, with Herrera collecting a strip of Shaw and a huge fourthdown stop in the fourth quarter. That outweighed the Gamecocks netting 454 total yards.

DEFENSIVE BACKS

One of the game’s bigger mismatches was freshman cornerback Brendan Langley against Nick Jones, who had 97 yards and two touchdowns on six catches. Shaq Roland also got hot for the Gamecocks.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Patrick Beless made two field goals and five extra points, while Collin Barber executed a nice onside kick. A high but mangeable snap from Nathan Theus to Barber on a punt, however, resulted in a turnover.

COACHING

The angst Georgia fans would have had with an 0-2 start has been replaced by optimism that the two best teams on the schedule may be in the rear-view mirror. Then again, LSU’s visit is not too far off.