MVDs: South Carolina Edition

You don’t claw your way back from a halftime hole and secure your first SEC victory of the season without a total team effort. But even when everyone comes together some Bulldogs are bound to stand out from the rest. They are the MVDs, the Most Valuable ‘Dawgs from Georgia’s 24-14 win over South Carolina.

Offense: Daijun Edwards. Georgia ran the ball better today than it has all season. Some of that was more physical play up front. But a lot of it was Edwards, whose 20 carries for 118 yards represented the first time a Bulldog rusher has eclipsed the century mark this season. Suffice it so say that it was nice to have him back.

Defense: Tykee Smith. Several members of the Bulldog secondary had good days despite having to cover a lot of ground defending Spencer Rattler. Rattler probably has more arm talent than any quarterback Georgia will face in the regular season, and he stressed the defense in a way that was a little unsettling to watch, especially when the Red and Black weren’t getting pressure.

But I thought that of the guys who had solid games Tykee Smith may have had the best. In addition to tying for the team lead with five tackles his fourth quarter interception (h/t PastorDawg) gave the Bulldogs the ball back with a chance to kill the clock.

Special Teams: Brett Thorson. I very nearly left this one blank. Jared Zirkel put the opening kickoff out of bounds and set the Gamecocks up with good field position. Peyton Woodring missed two makable field goals. No Bulldog actually returned a punt. But Thorson had a fairly consistent afternoon, averaging 37.0 yards per punt while dropping each inside the Gamecock 15 yard line. In the land of the disappointing that counts as a superstar effort.

As always feel free to nominate your MVDs in the comments, and…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!