Controversial spot leaves Georgia on short end of the stick in loss to South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Two teams covered 855 yards on this dark Saturday afternoon, under buckets of rain and boos and singing and towel-throwing. They went back and forth across a drenched field, sometimes in wide swaths and sometimes in angry budges – 30,780 total inches of offense.

Then they watched all they had done reduced in an instant to the width of a spray-painted blade of grass on the 50-yard-line.

"I'm praying," said South Carolina wide receiver Nick Jones. "Asking the Lord God to help us."

Someone up there, or out there, answered that call. A controversial spot at midfield on a fourth-and-nothing with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter decided this classic game for the Gamecocks, 38-35. The nose of the ball nuzzled up against the chain post, and that final first down allowed Steve Spurrier to get Georgia's goat for a record 16th time in his career.

"We were meant to win this game," Spurrier declared, "and Georgia was not."

Meant to be. It sure didn't feel meant to be down the cement corridor where Todd Gurley sat on a plastic chair.

"Hurts more than …" he said, struggling to finish the thought.

"Hurts bad."

The junior running back was thunderous in defeat, dragging his team back after a seemingly endless barrage of South Carolina touchdowns. His 131 yards on 20 carries don't even hint at what he did for his team in response to three Dylan Thompson touchdown passes and one more score on a sneak. On one third-and-16 in the second half, Gurley got the ball, hurried out to the left, saw a mass of bodies, then reversed and ran all the way to the other side of the field. He ran what looked like 40 yards to gain 17. He stood up after being tackled and marched back to the huddle for more.

And yet when his team had a chance to take the lead late in the game, on a first-and-goal at the South Carolina 4 after a momentum-swinging interception late in the fourth quarter, Georgia did not go to its star with the first play call.

Damian Swann's pickoff brought the ball to the doorstep, right in front of South Carolina fans who were so upset they booed and blanketed the end zone with white towels. Gurley was sure his team would punch it in and take the lead. "Yeah," he said. "I'm like, 'We got it.'"

They didn't get it. Georgia coach Mark Richt went for a pass instead, and quarterback Hutson Mason got flagged for intentional grounding.

"Coach's call," Gurley said flatly when asked about that decision. Then, when asked if he would have liked to get that call, Gurley hesitated and then shook his head.

Gurley got the ball from further back on second down and could only muster three yards. A third-down pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage, and then kicker Marshall Morgan, who had broken an SEC record earlier in the game with his 20th straight made kick, missed his shot to tie the game at 38.

That set up the Gamecocks' final drive, and the spot heard 'round the world at midfield. Georgia shouted and pointed as if they had Thompson stuffed on fourth down, and it did look as if they had turned it over, but the Gamecocks had just enough, and Richt was left to look back.

"If I could do it again," he said of his decision, "I'd have hammered it."

This is the difference between Spurrier and Richt, for one night and maybe for history. The Ol' Ballcoach always seems to find some black magic, and Richt always seems to be one move shy. Georgia came into this game with an unblemished record and the game's best college player in Gurley. South Carolina was short on confidence and the 2014 No. 1 NFL draft pick in Jadeveon Clowney. Then, over the course of several hours, it switched: Spurrier was coasting on divine intervention and Richt was left to repent for his football sins.

"That was interesting they ran that play, I guess," Spurrier quipped.

So while we've never seen a game quite like this, it still feels so familiar, like we've seen it all before.

Gurley certainly has.

"This place is unbelievable," he said in frustrated wonder. "The environment. One of the craziest environments I've ever been in. Once you give these fans something to cheer about, it's hard to shut them up."

Georgia is not done, not by a long shot. All of its playoff dreams lay ahead, and one loss in a very difficult place won't ruin their chances. And another bright side: Gurley is incensed.

Asked about his emotional state after a second loss in this town, Gurley shook his head.

"More fire, dude," he said. "Makes me want to work harder than I've ever worked."

More fire might be the Bulldogs' motto going forward. And more fire is bad news for the rest of the SEC. It's hard to imagine anyone in the college game stopping Gurley – especially now.

He was stopped on Saturday, though. Stopped by his own coach, stopped by Spurrier's black magic.

In the damp hallway on the way to the victorious locker room, South Carolina governor Nikki Haley strode up to Spurrier to shake his hand and congratulate him.

"That," she effused, "was a beautiful game!"

Spurrier shrugged at the governor in his iconic way, flashing that sideways grin.

"Meant to be," he said.

Meant to be.