Georgia vs. South Carolina score, takeaways: Dawgs stumble early, dominate second half behind Carson Beck

No. 1 Georgia held off a South Carolina upset bid on Saturday, storming back in the second half from an 11-point deficit at the break to take control of the game the rest of the way. It wasn’t pretty for the Bulldogs in their SEC opener, but every win counts the same in the standings no matter how easily you come across them.

Seriously, this was not an easy win. The Bulldogs may have been favored by four touchdowns before the game, but they didn’t look the part throughout. South Carolina opened with a 10-play, 65-yard touchdown drive that ultimately proved costly. Antwane Wells caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Spencer Rattler to end the drive — while his day ended, too, as Wells suffered a foot injury that knocked him from the game. The Gamecocks could’ve used his services in the second half.

Georgia didn’t have much trouble moving the ball in the first half, but the issue was stalling out in the red zone. A 15-play, 62-yard drive ended with a field goal, while a 13-play, 72-yard trek ended with a missed field goal. Meanwhile, South Carolina turned up the heat on Georgia with a touchdown drive just before halftime to make it a 14-3 game.

Then the second half started, and with it came the Georgia adjustments. The Bulldogs scored on their first two possessions of the second half while the defense smothered the Gamecocks. While the final margin may have only been 10 points, once Georgia took a 24-14 lead midway through the third quarter, South Carolina never had a chance to make it a game again. The Gamecocks offense ran only two plays in Georgia territory during the second half, failing to get past the Georgia 44-yard line.

Carson Beck threw for 269 yards for the Bulldogs, while Daijun Edwards led the way on the ground rushing for 118 yards and a score.

CBS Sports will update this story shortly with takeaways.