ATHENS, Ga. - There was much fear and loathing on the SEC trail Saturday.
In the end there was mostly relief.
The most hated man in Athens - Steve Spurrier - made his long-awaited second coming to Sanford Stadium and scared the silver britches off of the Georgia Bulldogs and their fans, who expected an entirely different kind of welcome back.
Spurrier's South Carolina team could only hang 15 instead of 50 on the Bulldogs, and that wasn't quite enough in a 17-15 loss that was essentially a dead draw.
All the shoulda, woulda, couldas were squarely in the Gamecocks column. A missed extra point is the difference between losing and overtime. A silly illegal shift call is the difference between winning and losing. A missed field goal here, a botched third-and-22 defense there and all of the sudden you find yourself staring at an 11-2 career record against the Dawgs.
"Little things here and there made us lose," said Spurrier. "It was there to be had if we were sharper."
It was there to be had all right. Georgia's worst fears were coming to life in front of 93,000 sets of disbelieving eyes. The Bulldogs' arch nemesis was supposed to roll over and play dead this time, perhaps surrendering the kind of beating that he so routinely dished out for 12 years with Florida.
Memories of Spurrier's only other visit to Sanford Stadium still burns in the bellies of Bulldogs fans. He maliciously dealt Georgia its most ignominious defeat between the hedges in 1995, piling on for a 52-17 victory that still stings.
This was supposed to be the Bulldogs' revenge. This was supposed to be Georgia's day to pick on a weaker, defenseless team in the hands of Spurrier.
"I was hoping their team was thinking that," Spurrier said of the uneasy confidence of Georgia fans.
South Carolina didn't follow the script. In fact, they almost shoved it down Georgia's throats.
The blood pressure inside Sanford Stadium rose to dangerous levels after D.J. Shockley's pass into the end zone was intercepted by Gamecocks freshman Carlos Thomas just before halftime. The deep gutteral boos that greeted Spurrier's pregame entrance seemed more desperately high-pitched when he left with a 9-7 halftime lead.
That it wasn't 14-7 was the real lucky part for Georgia. After an interception return for a touchdown, usually reliable kicker Josh Brown doinked the point-after off the right upright.
Then came the most unsettling part off of all for the home team. Without nearly the resources he had while in Florida, Spurrier's offensive genius went on display in a brilliant six-minute drive.
There was gadgetry in the form of a reverse option pass call in the hands of former quarterback Syvelle Newton. Only the play was thwarted by DeMario Minter sniffing out the trickery and covering quarterback Blake Mitchell.
On the next play, Mitchell hit Sidney Rice on a perfect seam pass for an apparent touchdown. But South Carolina's Daccus Turman was whistled for an illegal shift for tapping his feet. The Gamecocks eventually settled for a field goal.
"I yelled, 'Stop, Daccus, stop!'" Spurrier said, taking blame for the infraction. "He did the little pitty-pat with his feet and it cost us four points."
Much like two other ugly victories over South Carolina in the past three seasons, Georgia did what it needed to do to take the lead. An interception set up a go-ahead field goal and the running game provided a touchdown and a 17-9 lead.
That's hardly a comforting cushion with Spurrier in the house. Mitchell - doing his best Shane Matthews impersonation - led what could have been the tying drive. But a two-point conversion pass was overthrown as the crowded briefly exhaled.
The Gamecocks didn't have enough in the end. Giving up a first down on third-and-22 with the Bulldogs backed up to their own 8 was costly. A desperate hook-and-lateral on fourth-and-19 came up 2 yards short.
Georgia escaped much like a year ago, when it rallied from a 16-0 deficit. But it was a win. Technically it evened a score against an arch enemy.
"It just feels good to win no matter how you get it," Bulldogs receiver Sean Bailey said .
But Spurrier brought the fear and loathing back on Saturday. In a morale sense, it was the Gamecocks who left feeling better about themselves.
"We're going home losers tonight," Spurrier said. "But I'm proud of the effort."
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
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