Joe Cox got some form of vindication Saturday.

Georgia’s embattled fifth-year quarterback was an efficient 17-of-24 for 201 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Georgia’s 41-37 win over South Carolina.

“We were moving the ball well and running the ball well and kind of looking around like man, this is crazy, we weren’t expecting to be pounding it like this,” Cox said. “But that’s how it was, and it could be that way any Saturday.”

The Bulldogs did score 41 points, the most on either side of the rivalry since 1995.

But Georgia’s two biggest offensive weapons were arguably a pair of young cornerbacks – sophomore Brandon Boykin and freshman Branden Smith.

Smith, a high school track star, blazed through 61 yards and six Gamecock defenders on the way to his score a second-quarter touchdown. Boykin returned a kickoff for a score and a Georgia all-time record 100 yards before his high-flying interception set up a Bulldog field goal.

Cox had two turnovers: an interception returned for a touchdown that would have tied the game late had DeAngelo Tyson not blocked the subsequent extra point, and a fumble after 92,000 Georgia fans screamed when they saw the huge hit coming from his blind side.

Overall, Cox’s much-talked-about arm showed only brief glimpses of what could’ve have been construed as significant weakness.

Cox, who admitted he has had a sore arm since the summer and only throws two days a week in practice, now has two interceptions and two fumbles (both lost) on the season.

After two weeks full of controversy (battling the flu prior to and during his second career start against Oklahoma State in Week 1, rumors that he was no longer the Bulldogs No. 1 quarterback that revealed he had some arm issues), Cox got another shot at it Saturday.

It wasn’t sparkling, but it was enough for Georgia to pull out the win in their first conference game.

“I’m just happy for the guy,” said head coach Mark Richt. “A lot of guys work hard and deserve success, and he’s one of them.”

Added receiver A.J. Green, the Bulldogs’ leading receiver with six catches for 81 yards: “Joe did a great job. I’m glad he had this game that he had because now people can stop talking about how he’s not ready, whatever, whatever.

“Joe’s a great quarterback.”

Had the Bulldogs not pulled this one out, the talking and rumors might have continued to fly around Cox. But they did win a high-scoring, down-to-the-wire battle, and the “controversy” is on a hiatus for now.

“There’s probably still going to be a bunch of people that are going to say whatever they’re going to say,” Cox said, reiterating previous statements.

“But the only people that matter are the people that put these pads on, the guys that coach us, and the guys that are in our building.”