ATHENS, Ga. -- South Carolina might have settled for a field goal. Brian Scott wanted the Gamecocks to throw his way instead.

So he made his case to coach Lou Holtz. "I can beat him. I can beat him," Scott pleaded.

Beat him he did. Scott made a leaping catch of a 16-yard pass from Phil Petty with 1:22 remaining Saturday night, ripping the ball away from Georgia cornerback Bruce Thornton and falling into the end zone for the game winning touchdown to give No. 21 South Carolina a key 14-9 road victory over the 25th-ranked Bulldogs.

South Carolina's Derek Watson struggles for tough yards in the defensive battle.(AP)

"I just reacted to it," Scott said. "Phil threw the ball and I had to go get it."

Billy Bennett's third field goal, a 27-yarder with 3:17 remaining, pushed Georgia to its first lead of the game at 9-7.

But the Gamecocks (2-0, 1-0 SEC) drove 66 yards in nine plays to earn the first prominent road victory of Holtz's three-year tenure.

"This is a real big win," Scott said. "Coach stresses to us that all great teams have to win on the road. To have a great season, we had to come in here and beat Georgia."

The Bulldogs (1-1, 0-1) couldn't stop Petty on three straight third-and-10 plays. He threw to Ryan Brewer for 19 yards and freshman Matthew Thomas for another 32 to reach the Bulldogs 16.

After two plays failed to gain and Georgia expecting the Gamecocks to settle for a field-goal try, Petty lofted the ball toward Scott at the goal line.

The 6-foot-3 senior leaped shoulder-to-shoulder with the 5-11 Thornton, wrestling the ball away to turn a possible interception into the winning score.

"I knew Phil could get it there," Scott said. "And I knew I could beat him."

Georgia had its chances to atone for an embarrassing 21-10 defeat last year in Columbia, which snapped South Carolina's 18-game losing streak in the SEC and propelled the Gamecocks to a surprising eight-win season.

Bulldogs receiver Terrence Edwards had a miserable night, dropping a sure touchdown pass.

Billy Bennett missed one field-goal attempt and had another blocked.

"We had opportunities and we didn't take advantage of them," first-year Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "They took care of their chances."

Bennett still accounted for all of Georgia's points on three field goals, the last set up by Thornton's 29-yard return of a fumble recovery when South Carolina was trying to run out the clock.

The play began when Petty threw a seemingly safe pass to Watson coming out of the backfield. The running back was hit by Will Witherspoon as soon as he turned upfield, the ball spinning loose.

Thornton, a former running back, picked it up and took off down the sideline to the South Carolina 10.

Georgia, switching from David Greene to Cory Phillips at quarterback, got to the 1 before bogging down with a couple of critical penalties.

That forced Bennett to kick another field goal and cost Georgia a chance to build a more comfortable lead.

After Petty's touchdown pass, Phillips remained at quarterback instead of Greene, a redshirt freshman who was bothered by cramps on a humid night.

"Greene said he was OK," Richt said. "But I could tell he was still bothered by the cramps. I figured if he was not 100 percent and Cory could possibly give us a spark, I would go with Cory."

It didn't work out. Phillips was intercepted by Jeremiah Garrison to seal the victory for the Gamecocks, who struggled on offense much of the night.

"Both teams will look back and see what a great game it was," Holtz said. "We learned to play on the road in front of this loud, sellout crowd."

Petty was 19-of-29 for 193 yards and also led South Carolina's anemic ground game with 21 yards. Greene had 169 yards on 21-of-33 passing.

Watson took some of the wind out of crowd of 86,520, scooting down the right sideline for a 66-yard return on the opening kickoff. Lenny Williams delivered the key block, a crunching blow that had the Georgia bench calling for a clip.

The Gamecocks needed only six plays to reach the end zone from the Georgia 31. Petty converted a third-and-5 with a 10-yard pass to Carlos Spikes, and Andrew Pinnock finished off the short drive by powering over for a 1-yard touchdown just 2:46 into the game.

For the rest of the first half, the South Carolina offense was nonexistent. The Gamecocks managed just one first down and 14 yards on their next five possessions, going three-and-out four times.

Georgia piled up a 183-45 advantage in first-half yardage but settled for a pair of field goals by Bennett, who connected from 45 and 38 yards.

The Bulldogs squandered a couple of other scoring chances. Bennett missed a 44-yard attempt and Edwards dropped a pass in the end zone late in the first half.

Edwards had at least three drops in the game, but that one was especially critical when Greene, on the very next play, threw a pass up for grabs to avoid a sack and was intercepted at the goal line by Willie Offord.

"I dropped the ball," Edwards said. "I put the whole game on myself."

Bennett attempted a 37-yarder on Georgia's first possession of the second half, but it was blocked by Langston Moore.