Georgia players take pride in emptying stands early at Williams-Brice Stadium

Georgia running back Kendall Milton asked a simple question Saturday during the third quarter of Georgia’s blowout win over South Carolina.

“Where’s everybody going?” Milton was overheard by photographers as saying near the USC student section.

Milton and the rest of the Bulldogs watched as thousands from the sellout crowd of 78,297 exited early in Georgia’s 48-7 victory over South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Fans started leaving before and during halftime with Georgia up 24-0. By late in the fourth quarter, there were less than 200 or so people left in The Cockpit, the name given to the South Carolina student section.

“The plan was to come in, come out fast and make the fans not a factor in the game,” said Georgia tight end Brock Bowers, who accounted for three touchdowns. “We are just playing the people across from us. And we just came out and played our game.”

Unlike last year when a sparse crowd showed up for the Oct. 4 home game against Troy, USC head coach Shane Beamer on Saturday didn’t sound off toward the fans.

The Gamecocks have announced sellouts in both of their home games this year.

“I want to apologize to our fans that were out there today,” Beamer said. “That was a poor performance, to say the least. We challenged them (fans) in the press conference during the week to show up, and they did. It was an unbelievable atmosphere throughout the game for a noon kickoff. That was awesome. The walk was great. The atmosphere pregame was great, and they were fantastic.

“Sorry we didn’t coach better and play better for them. Obviously, not a lot went well today.”

Georgia had a lot to do with how things went on the field. The defending national champions showed they were the better team in all phases and were mindful that they were walking into a raucous atmosphere in their first true road game of the season.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart said after the game that he had preached to his team on flexing their “composure muscle,” as many of his team’s younger players hadn’t performed in an environment like the one at the beginning of Saturday’s contest.

Georgia players said they were unfazed by the loud crowd and atmosphere because the coaches made it harder on them in practice during the week.

“I told you guys earlier in the week that they made practice so complicated that it made the game easier,” Georgia linebacker Jumon Dumas-Johnson said. “When I went walking in, I said practice was louder than this. So that didn’t affect us at all.”