Facing the most challenging three-game stretch of the college football season against three-top-10 ranked opponents, South Carolina came out gunning against Georgia, scoring on their first two possessions, and rolling to a 35-7 victory over the fifth-ranked Bulldogs. The win set the tone for next week’s trip to LSU.

The contest was all but over at the end of the first quarter after junior PR-WR Ace Sanders, one of the most dynamic playmakers in football with rare stop-start acceleration, pulled another rabbit out of his hat on a 70-yard punt return  in which he slipped through five tacklers to put the Gamecocks ahead 21-0.

Steve Spurrier has built his reputation on gimmick trick plays and creative offensive packages and moved the ball with ease against a Georgia defense that’s stacked with top NFL draft prospects.

Most remarkable in South Carolina’s dominating performance has been the play of the Gamecocks’ defense, led by star pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney and physical senior FS D.J. Swearinger.

Georgia’s mammoth junior OLT Kenarious Gates, who kicked outside from the guard position he occupied last season to replace Bills second-round pick Cordy Glenn, could not handle the speed, quickness or power of Clowney, an elite rush talent who has turned flashes of dominance as a true freshman into more consistent play as a sophomore.

With senior DE Devin Taylor coming off the other edge and explosive junior DE Chaz Sutton kicking inside in nickel situations, ably replacing Chargers 2012 first-rounder Melvin Ingram in rush situations, the Gamecocks thoroughly outmatched the Bulldogs up front and would not let QB Aaron Murray find comfort or any rhythm in the pocket.