Murray leads Georgia past Clowney, Carolina 41-30

Jadeveon Clowney smothered Aaron Murray for his first sack of the season.
Otherwise, the South Carolina star's name was barely called Saturday.
That's starting to sound familiar.
With Clowney turning in another rather quiet performance, Murray carved up the Gamecocks defense with 309 yards passing and four touchdowns, leading 11th-ranked Georgia to a 41-30 victory over No. 6 South Carolina in a game that established the early balance of power in the Southeastern Conference East.
Clowney was credited with three tackles and failed to chase down Murray on the biggest play of the game - an 85-yard touchdown pass to Justin Scott-Wesley with 13 minutes remaining.
''Aaron played a pretty good game,'' Clowney said. ''He threw it quick and ran it away from me the whole game.''
The teams combined for 990 yards - Georgia had 536 - in a game that sparked such passion, a couple of South Carolina coaches got into it with each other on the sideline early in the third quarter. They had to be pulled apart by another assistant.
''It was pretty obvious that Georgia was the stronger of the two teams out there,'' head coach Steve Spurrier said. ''They kicked our tails up and down the field. We couldn't stop them.''
Coming off a 38-35 loss at Clemson, Georgia (1-1, 1-0 SEC) could not afford another defeat if it wanted to remain a serious contender for a national title.
''It was a lot of fun,'' said Murray, who came in with a 1-6 record against Top 10 opponents. ''It's definitely up there.''
The beleaguered Georgia defense finally made a play, stuffing Mike Davis on fourth-and-goal from inside the 1. Murray and the offense took it from there, running off the remaining 8 1/2 minutes after taking over at their own 1.
''That was by far my favorite part of the game,'' Georgia coach Mark Richt said.
Davis led the Gamecocks (1-1, 0-1) with 149 yards rushing. Connor Shaw passed for 228 yards and two touchdowns, ran for 75 yards, but also lost a crucial fumble in the third quarter in Georgia territory.
Georgia snapped a three-year losing streak against South Carolina, seizing control of the SEC East though the Gamecocks still have a chance to pull it out, thanks to a more favorable schedule. In fact, the Bulldogs won the division the last two years despite losing to their rival.
Todd Gurley had another huge day for the Bulldogs, rushing for 136 yards on 30 bruising carries and scoring two touchdowns. His first came on a 2-yard run in a wild first half, which ended with the teams tied at 24. Then, in the final seconds of the third quarter, he hauled in an 8-yard TD pass from Murray to give Georgia a 34-24 lead, running the wrong route but getting open when Murray motioned him where to go.
Davis ended the third with a 75-yard run down the sideline, and scored on a 3-yard run early in the fourth to make it 34-30. South Carolina missed the extra point.
With Georgia facing third-and-13 from its own 15, offensive coordinator Mike Bobo sent in a play the team had not worked on all week.
''That wasn't in the playbook,'' Murray said. ''I was like, `I hope everyone knows what this play is.''
Murray scrambled away from Clowney with a bit of an assist from backup left tackle Mark Beard, who took over after Kenarious Gates went out with an ankle injury. Beard was beaten inside but gave Clowney enough of a shove to allow Murray to sprint away. It was easy from there. Scott-Wesley was all alone behind the secondary, hauled in the pass and was gone, the Gamecocks having no chance of chasing down a state high school track champion.
The Gamecocks weren't done. Davis nearly powered into the end zone before he was stopped a couple of inches short. South Carolina had to go for it on fourth down, and Spurrier called a quick pitch to Davis out of the shotgun.
The Bulldogs were ready for it. Amarlo Herrara led a swarm of tacklers that stopped Davis short of the end zone and pushed him back.
''I didn't even know it was fourth down,'' Herrara said. ''I just heard everybody cheering and figured it was good.''
After South Carolina grabbed a 3-0 lead, the Gamecocks ran only three offensive plays in nearly 13 minutes.
Murray threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Arthur Lynch, and Georgia caught the Gamecocks napping on the ensuing kickoff. Collin Barber dribbled an onside kick that was recovered easily by Blake Sailors. The Bulldogs drove from there for Patrick Beless' 22-yard field goal.
South Carolina went three-and-out, and Murray extended Georgia's lead to 17-3 with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Keith Marshall swinging out of the backfield.
The Gamecocks rallied. Brandon Wilds' scored on a 7-yard run, and South Carolina tied it on the first of Shaw two touchdown passes to Nick Jones, an 18-yarder set up by Barber's fumbled snap on an attempted punt.
The teams traded touchdowns in the final 1:42 of the half, Gurley powering in from the 2 and South Carolina evening the score again on Shaw's 30-yard TD pass to Jones with just 13 seconds remaining.
''This one stinks a little bit,'' Shaw said. ''We just have to bounce back.''
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