USC-UGA: Thumps up, thumbs down.

[SacFalcFan]

UP: To Georgia’s Brandon Boykin, who returned USC’s kickoff a Sanford Stadium-record 100 yards for the Bulldogs’ first touchdown. A week earlier, Georgia totaled 65 yards on four kickoff returns vs. Oklahoma State.

UP: To Georgia’s Branden Smith, who bounced back from a fumbled kickoff that set up USC’s first-quarter field goal by taking a reverse around left end for a 61-yard touchdown and the Bulldogs’ first lead, 21-17.

UP: To USC’s Stephen Garcia, who broke personal records for single-game passing attempts, completions and yardage in three quarters; his 24-of-41 for 245 yards eclipsed previous marks against LSU (14-of-26, 215 yards), and his two touchdowns equaled his 2008 game vs. Tennessee.

DOWN: To pregame predictions of a defensive-oriented, quick-moving game. Both USC (17) and Georgia (14) outscored their first-game totals in the first quarter, which took 59 minutes to complete. The second quarter? One hour.

DOWN: To USC’s kickoff coverage team. In the first half, the Gamecocks allowed a 100-yard return for a touchdown (a school record for the Bulldogs when playing in Athens) and a pair of 48-yard returns that set up two more touchdowns.

— Bob Gillespie

[diablo]

Smith seems to be a great player for us and his future looks good but our soft defense will never make it I'm afraid. No way you can play that far off and win many games. Good win though but Richt will really have to rethink his defensive scheme imo. Samuels ran the ball great and should see more carries to help Cox and co. keep the defense off the field. USC's special teams just got outplayed by some superior blocking from UGA.