re: Who wins the SC v. UGA game and why?

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You could honestly argue all 4 categories for each big loss or win, but I'll give it a shot.

Our last 7 big games prior to the one on Saturday:

(1) v. South Carolina 2011 (L 45-42): The offense turned the ball over three times which directly led to 21 points and the special teams allowed a DE to house a fake punt. Yeah, we gave up 45, but this game rested squarely on the offense. The D gave up 3 legit TD drives (discounting the 5 yd drive), but also forced two turnovers.

(2) UF in Jax (W 24-20): The offense did enough to scrape by in this game (converting two 4th downs into TDs I believe), but the D made John Brantley and the UF OL look childish by holding them to 226 yards and creating some turnovers.

(3) v. #20 Auburn in 2011 (W 45-7): Nobody considers this a big game, but it was the one we HAD to have to take the East in '11, they had already beaten SC @ home earlier in the year, and they were ranked coming into the game. Most dominant performance of the last 2 years.

(4) @ South Carolina: A complete and total breakdown in every facet. Plus, not a single team in the country would have beaten SC at home that night. It just wasn't meant to be.

(5) UF in Jax: I think it's quite clear that our D won us this game. 6 turnovers? Next.

(6) v. Bama in GA Dome: I think it's quite clear that our D lost us this game. Sure, Murray had 1 int that resulted in 3 huge points, but Bama was able to run the ball down our throats in the 2nd half.

(7) @ Clemson: Honestly, I'd blame the offense in this game. We all knew the D was going to struggle with the best offense that we'll face all year on the road with many guys starting their first game. What we didn't expect was our OL to get manhandled up front at times and we didn't expect our O to turn the ball over twice at critical times against an average defense.

That's 3-4 in our last 7 big games with the D really costing us only one (Bama), a total breakdown (SC in '12), and two games on the offense (v. USC in '11 and @ Clemson). In our wins, I'd argue that the D won us both UF games while the there was total dominance in v. AU in '11.

Beyond the wins and losses, though:

1-1 at home with two of our most impressive performances and some unfortunate, untimely turnovers v. SC '11.

2-1 at neutral sites with the one loss being one hell of a game that could have gone either way in what was the de facto national championship game.

0-2 on the road with our two most disappointing performances by far. By far.

I really think us being at home bodes quite well for us this weekend. Especially considering that SC on the road is a weak aspect of their game. We cannot turn the ball over. I'd even venture to say that 0 TOs we win, 1 TO and game is a toss up, > 1 TO and we lose.

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